Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power

by Alison Futrell

From the center of Imperial Rome to the farthest reaches of ancient Britain, Gaul, and Spain, amphitheaters marked the landscape of the Western Roman Empire. Built to bring Roman institutions and the spectacle of Roman power to conquered peoples, many still remain as witnesses to the extent and control of the empire. In this book, Alison Futrell explores the arena as a key social and political institution for binding Rome and its provinces. She begins with the origins of the gladiatorial contest and shows how it came to play an important role in restructuring Roman authority in the later Republic. She then traces the spread of amphitheaters across the Western Empire as a means of transmitting and maintaining Roman culture and control in the provinces. Futrell also examines the larger implications of the arena as a venue for the ritualized mass slaughter of human beings, showing how the gladiatorial contest took on both religious and political overtones. This wide-ranging study, which draws insights from archaeology and anthropology, as well as Classics, broadens our understanding of the gladiatorial contest and its place within the highly politicized cult practice of the Roman Empire.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Daniel C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because the author is a professor at the university where I did a degree and I had just taught my class the term alma mater. It really is a very academic book and most of it either went over my head or wasn’t of much use for a teacher trying to enrich a unit on gladiators for teenagers. I admit the topic doesn’t need all that much enrichment to begin with. The chapters on the Etruscan origins, role of Nemesis, and human sacrifice were pretty engaging for me. The rest was more appropriate for someone doing research on who builds amphitheaters and what sort of contracts they use.

[Laura Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not qualified to critique a lot of the history and theory that goes on here so I'll leave that to others. I would have liked to see more use of primary texts that described how Romans and others interacted with the arena, though of course there are a lot of fascinating insights to be gleaned from the archeological record (which is most of what Futrell sticks with). Also, while the book deals with munera exhaustively and quite well, I would have liked to see a little more interest in the specific subject of damnatio ad bestio, but there is some discussion.