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Forms of entertainment in Ancient Rome
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The Ludi was commenced as religous festival but over the time, the entertainments aspects of the Ludi became more important than the aspects for religion.
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The top 3 forms of entertainment in the Ludi were theatre performances, circuses, and the amphitheaters.
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Ancient Romans designed built to fit in people to view free entertainment. Each arena was specifically built to hold thousands of people and were special to hold a certain event.
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Chariot racing was one of ancient Rome's most popular and oldest forms of entertainment. They were held in circuses and each chariot had a different color. Winners of these famous races would be well known, and have guaranteed fame for himself and the town they were representing.
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Plays were a good form of entertainment for the people of anicent Rome. The actors in these plays were always male slaves. Actors always wore masks and wigs. An orchestra would be playing at times throughout the plays. Admission was free for citizens,
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Public Baths were meant for all ages no matter and available for nearly every type of class. Baths were usually part of an everyday life routine. These baths were meant for socializing, leisure, used for marketing clothing, foods, ointments and used for portico shops as well.
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Simple games that we have now such as board games, leap frog and hide-n-seek are shown in Ancient Roman art and history. These games were played by both children and adults.
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Amphitheaters held different type of shows to entertain people. There were shows such as gladiator fights, either fighting eachother or wild animals. Slaves would also be forced to fight in these shows.
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Not only did gladiators and animals fight in the arenas but the Emporer Commodus as well. Emperor Commudus often fought about both the wild animals and gladiators.
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Gladiator fights were held in the famous Colosseuem. Other events held in the colosseuem would be animal circus acts, animal hunts, mocking of sea battles that involved ships and animals fighting animals,
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The arenas were all these events occured were called Circuses. The Circus Maximus was the oldest and largest arena.
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The Circus Maximus was one of the many arenas that held the famous chariot races. One of the most interesting facts about the Circus Maximus is that women were allowed to attend the races in this arena.
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Hunting was not only a necessity for food but people also hunted for fun ay they do today. it was one of the most enjoyed things to do for leisure.
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The ancient Romans invented the mime. Mimes would be in arenas and acted by performing with speaking and only using body movements.
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In Ancient Rome, a holiday called Lupercalia was made to honer love and was alike today's holiday Valentine's Day. The young people of Ancient Rome chose their future spouses by drawing names from a hat. Some relationships lasted and others did not.
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Gladiatoral fights were probably either the second or most post popular form of entertainment. There were different types of gladiators playing a role in these matches. First was he Samrite, the Murmillo, the Retiaritus, and finally the Thrax.
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Music was also a great form of entertainment. The most popular musical instruments played at the time were the lyre, trumpets, panpipes, lute, organ, tympani, flutes, and the kithra.
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Not only were the fierce sports and other board games but ball games were played as well. These found ball games were called Expulism Ludere, Trigon, Roman Ball, Harpastrum and Field Hockey.
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Another popular leisure activity would be dinner parties. During these parties, people could socialize, enjoy music and other entertainment, and dine well. These parties usually only happened for the upper class Romans.
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An old soldier drill ground was eventually converted to a track and field playground. Ancient young Roman men came and gathered at the Campus to participate in sports like wresting, archery, boxing, jumping and foot racing.
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The ancient Roman men enjoyed doing many things to entertain themselves. For example, among them would be, fencing, swimming, riding horses, wrestling and throwing. Women would never take part in these activities.
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The actors performing would try to win the audiences praise by wearing costumes, masks and showing their best acting skills. If the role of an actor was to die, an actual condemned man would take the role and would actually be murdered on the stage.