Gregory Aldrete

Even a humble working person who hired themselves out for labor, the Romans thought that was innately demeaning because you're using your body for someone else's benefit or pleasure. So they didn't have this notion of the dignity of hard labor or something. They thought the only noble profession was farming. Okay, because there you generate something and you're producing it for yourself.

Even a humble working person who hired themselves out for labor, the Romans thought that was innately demeaning because you're using your body for someone else's benefit or pleasure. So they didn't have this notion of the dignity of hard labor or something. They thought the only noble profession was farming. Okay, because there you generate something and you're producing it for yourself.

Even a humble working person who hired themselves out for labor, the Romans thought that was innately demeaning because you're using your body for someone else's benefit or pleasure. So they didn't have this notion of the dignity of hard labor or something. They thought the only noble profession was farming. Okay, because there you generate something and you're producing it for yourself.

But if you work for someone else, you're demeaning yourself. And gladiators are the worst of the worst, right? You're performing for someone else's pleasure. So on the one hand, they're very low status. But on the other hand... Successful gladiators get famous. People admire them. Women find them attractive. They're celebrities. And so this is the status dissonance, right?

But if you work for someone else, you're demeaning yourself. And gladiators are the worst of the worst, right? You're performing for someone else's pleasure. So on the one hand, they're very low status. But on the other hand... Successful gladiators get famous. People admire them. Women find them attractive. They're celebrities. And so this is the status dissonance, right?

But if you work for someone else, you're demeaning yourself. And gladiators are the worst of the worst, right? You're performing for someone else's pleasure. So on the one hand, they're very low status. But on the other hand... Successful gladiators get famous. People admire them. Women find them attractive. They're celebrities. And so this is the status dissonance, right?

You have these people who on the one hand formally are very low status in society but yet are very popular on the other hand. Another kind of myth about gladiators is that they were just dying all the time. I mean, you watch movies, and again, they'll always throw a bunch of gladiators and they all die.

You have these people who on the one hand formally are very low status in society but yet are very popular on the other hand. Another kind of myth about gladiators is that they were just dying all the time. I mean, you watch movies, and again, they'll always throw a bunch of gladiators and they all die.

You have these people who on the one hand formally are very low status in society but yet are very popular on the other hand. Another kind of myth about gladiators is that they were just dying all the time. I mean, you watch movies, and again, they'll always throw a bunch of gladiators and they all die.

I think some scholar did a study of – there's like 100 fights we know of where we know some details, and I think 10% of those ended in the death of one of the people. So gladiators are a lot more like boxing matches. Yeah.

I think some scholar did a study of – there's like 100 fights we know of where we know some details, and I think 10% of those ended in the death of one of the people. So gladiators are a lot more like boxing matches. Yeah.

I think some scholar did a study of – there's like 100 fights we know of where we know some details, and I think 10% of those ended in the death of one of the people. So gladiators are a lot more like boxing matches. Yeah.

where you're watching a display of skill between two people who are more or less evenly matched in terms of their abilities and probably they'll survive though there's a chance that one of them might get injured in fact one might die um Having said all that, in the end, you really are having people fight and potentially die for the pleasure of an audience.

where you're watching a display of skill between two people who are more or less evenly matched in terms of their abilities and probably they'll survive though there's a chance that one of them might get injured in fact one might die um Having said all that, in the end, you really are having people fight and potentially die for the pleasure of an audience.

where you're watching a display of skill between two people who are more or less evenly matched in terms of their abilities and probably they'll survive though there's a chance that one of them might get injured in fact one might die um Having said all that, in the end, you really are having people fight and potentially die for the pleasure of an audience.

And anthropologists and Roman historians like to speculate, why did the Romans do this? The Romans address it. I mean, there's a famous thing where a Roman says, we Romans were a violent people. We're a warlike people. And so it's fitting that we should be accustomed to the sight of death and violence. It kind of works.

And anthropologists and Roman historians like to speculate, why did the Romans do this? The Romans address it. I mean, there's a famous thing where a Roman says, we Romans were a violent people. We're a warlike people. And so it's fitting that we should be accustomed to the sight of death and violence. It kind of works.

And anthropologists and Roman historians like to speculate, why did the Romans do this? The Romans address it. I mean, there's a famous thing where a Roman says, we Romans were a violent people. We're a warlike people. And so it's fitting that we should be accustomed to the sight of death and violence. It kind of works.

There's a more symbolic interpretation that says the amphitheater is an expression of Roman dominance, a symbolic expression, because what you have are all segments of Roman society gathered together to control the fate of others. So you have foreigners, you have wild animals, you have criminals, you have other people.

There's a more symbolic interpretation that says the amphitheater is an expression of Roman dominance, a symbolic expression, because what you have are all segments of Roman society gathered together to control the fate of others. So you have foreigners, you have wild animals, you have criminals, you have other people.