Monica's Personal Blog #4

Personal Blog #4

There was something absolutely fascinating I found in my research. When reading Sports in Ancient Times by Nigel Crowther I came across an interesting sentence. It was commonly believed that gladiators fought to the death in the Roman Colosseum, but this book stated that was not true. The opposite was true saying that gladiators rarely fought to the death and saw it as a mark of dishonor if they killed their opponent in combat. "A fallen fighter would drop his shield and raise a finger of his left hand in an appeal for mercy" (108). This is curious to me seeing that pop culture has created this culture as a giant spectacle of death. However there interesting thing is there was honor in an arena sport that was meant for distracting the public from the political issues of the time. What is up with that? I keep drawing back to The Hunger Games in my mind to drive the points just a bit clearer in my mind, but it just works so well. The political problems, the spectacle, and the honor of the games. Even though these people are sentenced, they are taking their training seriously in preparation for the games. In that last sentence it perfectly applies to both the real situation and the fictional story. Last week's personal blog I was trying to wrap my head around how there was this structure and respect around something that was a glorified execution or petty entertainment for the wealthy. But after reading the book and using that information to connect it to The Hunger Games it makes so much more sense in my mind. I know we are supposed to stay away from the present day, but using those connections strengthen my understanding of the past.