Saturday 16 August 2014

Italy


Do you ever wander what was it like to live in the past? Being a gladiator, for instance? I have to agree with Mina that they must have had a difficult and dramatic life indeed. The word gladiator comes from the Latin word for sword - gladius, so gladiators are in fact swordsmen. 
Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the arena. Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death.
The games reached their peak between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, and they finally declined during the early 5th century after the adoption of Christianity as state church of the Roman Empire in 380, although beast hunts (venationes) continued into the 6th century.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad this card arrived! I had a hard time at the post office; language barrier and grumpy post office worker :D So I had to post them from a tobacco shop, hence the not-so-pretty stamp. But it arrived yay!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sending a postcard can be a real adventure sometimes :D It arrived safely, as you can see. Thank you :)

    ReplyDelete