Venatio - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Venatio was a form of entertainment in Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

amphitheaters involving the hunting and slaying of wild animals. Exotic wild beasts from the far reaches of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

were brought to Rome and hunts were held in the morning prior to the afternoon main event of gladiator

Gladiator

A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...

ial duels. The hunts were held in the Roman Forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...

, the Saepta, and in the Circus Maximus

Circus Maximus

The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...

, though none of these venues offered protection to the crowd from the wild animals on display. Special precautions were taken to prevent the animals from escaping these venues, such as the erection of barriers and the digging of ditches. Very few animals survived these hunts though they did sometimes defeat the "bestiarius", or hunters of wild beast. Thousands of wild animals would be slaughtered in one day. During the inauguration of the Colosseum

Colosseum

The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...

over 9,000 animals were killed.

Not all the animals were ferocious, though most were. Animals that appeared in the venatio included lions, tigers, elephants, bears, deer, wild goats, dogs, rabbits and camels. Some of these animals were trained and, instead of fighting, performed tricks.

Revered for its ferocity, the lion was extremely popular in venationes and gladiatorial shows. While dictator, Caesar used a staggering 400 lions (imported primarily from North Africa and Syria) in the Circus, where the inclusion of the foreign animal loaned his shows extra panache. Savage images of the lion were not exclusive to the arena, however. Sculptures of lions devouring prey were often used on sepulchers as symbols of the voraciousness of death.

Obtaining the animals from the far-flung corners of the empire was an ostentatious display of wealth and power by the emperor or other patron to the populace, and was also meant to demonstrate Roman power of the whole human and animal world and to show the plebs

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

of Rome exotic animals they might never see otherwise.

Executions

Following the venatio in the order of daily events were the execution of convicted Roman citizens of lower status, the humiliores. Usual forms of execution included burning at the stake

Execution by burning

Death by burning is death brought about by combustion. As a form of capital punishment, burning has a long history as a method in crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft....

, crucifixion

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

, or ad bestias (when the prisoner is left alone in the ring with one or more wild animals).
Ancient writers suggest that during these executions, most respectable men and women went for lunch instead of staying to watch.

Roman emperors often sentenced serious criminals — who then became known as bestiarii — to fatal encounters with the beasts in the Colosseum — an ancient "death sentence". The criminal met his fate in the context of an elaborate play; instead of a happy ending, though, the main character of the production — the convict — was mauled by a bear, whom he fought without weapons or armor. These were the lowest social class

Social class

Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

of participants in the games.
Such gory dramas were common at the program Emperor Titus

Titus

Titus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....

arranged to dedicate the Colosseum in AD 80. That lavish show lasted 100 days. Throughout the festivities more than 10,000 prisoners and 9,000 animals were slaughtered.

Executions

See also