The first gladiatorial contest at Rome took place in 264 BC as part of aristocratic funerary ritual, a munus or funeral gift for the dead. Munus is a duty paid by descendants to a dead ancestor. This ceremony was done annually, or in five year intervals. Until the late first century, the gladiatorial games were private ceremonies. The second century AD scholar Festus had suggested that the Gladiatorial games be a substitution to the sacrifice or prisoners on the tombs of great warriors. In the story the lliad, Achilles sacrifices twelve Trojan boys over the tomb of Patroclus. The idea that blood could restore the life of these great warriors was what drove the Romans to do this. When the Gladiatorial games became a public event, it was like football or basketball games to today's everyday citizens. But gladiator games were an all day event, and took place in monstrous amphitheatres. …
