ZJ+Art+and+Enterianment+-+Going+Out+-+Rome

=Going Out in Rome=

Are you ready to go out in Ancient Rome? In Rome, people went out to several places for entertainment. Some of these were:
 * Theatrical Performances
 * Chariot Races and the Circus Maximus
 * Gladiator fights and the Colosseum in Rome

Theatrical Performances
Theatrical performances was one the most common ways for entertainment in ancient Rome. It was a performance put on by actors that entered a stage through doors on the side of the stage. The actors wore colourful masks and costumes as they sung, danced and mimed to help the audience reconize the characters from far away. They loved watching plays so much that there was a theatre in each city. Each theatre could fit at least 7,000 people as they sat on half circles facing the stage.

Chariot Races
There was an enormous stadium called the Circus Maximus in Rome. It was built for the Chariot Races and could hold 250,000 people. There was a big oval track for horses to run on that were owned by groups of people called factions. The people attending the race could bet on the factions, not the horses. Each faction had about 1-3 chariots each with a hired chariotee pulled by 2-4 horses. Each chariot was reconized by the colour of the clothes the chariotee was wearing. For other entertainment dogs, ostriches or camels were used to pulled the chariots.

Gladitor Fights
The Amphitheaters were shows in an arena called The Colosseum. It was an oval shaped building that was 160 feet tall with four stories of windows, arches and columns, big enough to fit 45,000 people. The arena was mostly used for gladiator matches and they had sand on the ground to soak up blood. Gladiators were very popular. They were usually criminals, slaves, prisoners and volunteers. There were four main types of Gladiators. - Murmillo - These types fought with helmet, shield and sword. - Retiaritus - These types were lightly armoured with a net, trident and a dagger. - Samnite - These types fought with sword, visor, helmet and a shield. - Thraeian - These types fought with a round shield, scimitat (backward curved blade). Most events lasted the whole day. They had wild animal matches in the morning and then there was gladiators fighting with the animals or gladiators fighting with eachother in the afternoon.

What is different today?
Plays still happen today but in a theatre. There is not as many people so they all can see the performance better. There are no more chariot races with factions. There are races with horse and people bet on the horses. There is no more gladiator fights. Today people don't find it very entertaining. And they don't like seeing animals or innocent humans fighting.