Seeing a show
In Ancient Rome, people went to see a 'show' in 3 main venues: the hippodromes or circuses, the amphitheatres and the theatres. Only citizens were permitted to watch the 'shows', admission to the shows were free and they were also provided free bread. This was the way the government used to keep their citizens happy.
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/2/1/24218504/1166071.jpg)
In the hippodromes or circuses, the most popular event was the chariot racing. Chariots pulled by 2 to 4 horses were driven around the ring at very high speeds. There were 4 teams competing represented by 4 different colours: red, white, blue and green. Supporters would wear clothes with colours of their supporting team. There were other sporting events held in the circus such as wrestling, but chariot racing was by far the most popular. The first circus was the Circus Maximus which was built by the Rome's King Tarquin at around 500 BCE. It was the largest stadium ever and could hold 250,000 people.
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/2/1/24218504/5994600.jpeg)
In amphitheatres, the ancient Romans enjoyed watching gladiator fights and feeding of Christians to lions. There were also mock sea battles using ships, animal fights were later introduced and became very popular. The gladiators were criminals, prisoners of war, slaves or people who were paid to fight. The fights were very violent with high mortality rates, nearly half of the gladiators died each show and many animals were killed. The first known amphitheatre was built at Pompeii during 80 BCE and the most famous amphitheatre was the Colosseum in Rome which held more than 50, 000 spectators.
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/2/1/24218504/6422027.jpeg)
For those ancient Romans who did not enjoy violence, going to the theatres could be another option. In the theatres, Romans could watch plays of classical style, either tragedies or comedies. Women were originally forbidden to watch comedies but this rule was eventually lowered. All actors were male slaves, and the women were not allowed to act and men or young boys played their parts. The actors wore smiling or sad masks during the play, brown for men and white for women. During the play, two actors would perform a role, with one speaking the lines and the other miming the actions to match the script. Besides plays, pantomimes were also shown in theatres. In pantomimes, one male dancer wore a mask, he did not say any words but only used actions and dance to perform a simple story, usually based on a well-known myth. The dancer would be accompanied by musicians and singers during the show. Another type of show performed in the theatre was the mimes. In mimes, both men and women were allowed to act and there was dialogue. The actors did not sport masks and the mimes were usually adventure stories with sex and violent scenes.