Gladiators vs Animals in Ancient Rome

The first wild animal show was to celebrate a military victory

In 164bc Rome defeated the powerful North African city of Carthage. The victorious general, Publius Cornelius Scipio, gained the nickname Africanus. He brought back to Rome hundreds of African animals, such as elephants, crocodiles and lions. After parading the animals through the streets, he included them in his gladiatorial games.

One elephant hunt went badly wrong

In 79BC the general Gnaeus Pompey staged a wild elephant hunt with 20 elephants in a temporary arena in Rome. The crowd was protected by a tall iron fence, but two of the elephants charged at the fence, smashing it down. They were quickly killed by hunters, but several people had been injured.

The design of the arena changed to allow wild animal hunts

As the wild animal hunts, or venationes, became more popular the need to keep the watching crowd safe meant changes to the arena had to be made. The arena was sunk about 3 metres into the ground and surrounded by a vertical wall of smooth stone. No animal could leap up the wall or break it down, so the spectators were safe from attack.

Some animal shows were utterly bizarre

The Romans loved to see animals fighting each other. Sometimes a group of lions or wolves would be set to attack zebras or deer. At other times two hunters would be set to fight each other. They were often chained together to encourage them to fight. Some pairings were very odd. A snake was set against a lion, a seal set to fight a wolf or a bull against a bear.

Lions were set to fight tigers

One of the most popular animal fights was when a lion was set against a tiger. So many lions and tigers were sent to Rome to die in the venationes that they became extinct in some areas of North Africa and the Middle East.

I Don’t Believe It

The Romans loved watching animals that had been trained to perform tricks. One famous animal trainer put on shows in which an ape drove a chariot pulled by camels.