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They see me rollin', they hatin'
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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Most historical societies make public spectacle out of executions, tbh. Rome was only exceptional in that the executioners and criminals were sometimes the same people.
Some historical societies had public executions, but it was a punishment, not a 'game' for the rich and powerful to enjoy.
I don't think you understand how much public executions were regarded as entertainment in many societies; nor do I think you understand what a mass (rather than elite) phenomenon attending the gladiator games was, nor do I think you understand that most gladiators who fought to the death were condemned criminals for crimes considered exceptionally heinous.
I think it was usually more of a warning. But I've read that this was apparently a thing in Shakespearean England.
'Ordinary' Roman citizens were still above average in the Roman caste hierarchy.
Yeah, like getting caught defending their countries from the Romans.
Imagine if Donald Trump kidnaps a bunch of random Iranians and forces them to fight alligators for the entertainment of 'ordinary' US citizens. That would be the modern equivalent. (And why does that sound like something he would actually try to do?)
Not just Shakespearian England, but also the post-Roman Germanic polities, Celtic societies, Early Modern Europe, Industrial Age Europe, etc.
Public executions used to be an occasion for picnicking even as late as the 'enlightened' 19th century AD, when norms regarding death began to get a bit more squeamish.
The notion of death alone as a reason for horror is very modern.
It wasn't just citizens who attended the games, man.
Noxii were more often bandits, rapists, murderers, etc. There simply wasn't enough of an influx of war prisoners most years to allow for them to be wasted as arena fodder. Even when war prisoners were used in the gladiator games, it was usually as damnati, who were not expected to die, not noxii, who were expected to die. Why would you waste warriors who had already indicated that they were willing to submit to Rome's mercy by simply killing them, after all?
Rebels were sometimes condemned as noxii, though.