What were the sports in ancient Rome?

When we talk about sports in ancient Rome, gladiator fights or chariot races will undoubtedly come to mind. However, the Romans had a wide variety of physical exercises, and not all of them were big shows meant to entertain the public.

In this article we will see what they were the main sports that were practiced in ancient Rome and, above all, what meaning did they have in the context of Roman society.

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Rome, a culture of sport

Sport is as old as the human being. Usually, ancient Greece is located as the beginning of sport as a discipline, but we should go back much further in time to find the true origin of the sport.

All, absolutely all cultures have had some physical expression, either as part of a religious ritual or simply as entertainment and/or strengthening the body. Rome, of course, was no less. But what was the meaning of sport in ancient Rome?

religion and spectacle

As in all ancient cultures, sport in Rome began as a religious expression. It had already happened in Greece, because let's not forget that the Olympic Games and other Greek sports disciplines were destined to satisfy the gods.

Sport was, then, a ritual sacrifice that men offered to the divinity.

At first, Rome was not immune to this religious influence. In fact, the first Roman sporting events did not stop being, effectively, religious rituals. In its sport history, Juan Rodríguez López gives a very clear example: when, in the first years of Rome, the soldiers returned from their military campaigns, there were famous horse races, for the sole purpose of thanking the gods. The winning horse was sacrificed, and its blood offered to the divinity.

We find this religious content, as we have already pointed out, in Greece, which had such an influence on Roman culture. But we must not forget either the Etruscans, the mysterious people of unknown origins who were already established in Lazio when the first Romans arrived.

This town practiced various sports and, according to Antonio J. Monroy and Gema Sáez, authors of History of sport, from Prehistory to the Renaissance, it was the Etruscans who transferred the mere taste for the show to Roman culture. Thus, we find a marked contrast: from Greece, the Romans acquired the sacred sense of sport; of the Etruscans, entertainment, which would lead to the famous ludus Roman.

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Sport as a unifier of peoples

If there has been an eminently conquering culture, this has undoubtedly been the Roman culture. Its cultural influence extended throughout the Mediterranean area and even beyond (the British Isles and northern Europe) and, obviously, the expression of sport was part of this culture.

The Roman sport becomes, in this way, a binder of cultures. Amphitheatres, circuses and baths rise up in all corners of the empire, and entertainment is globalized. Thus, gladiator shows, chariot races or naumaquias (simulated battles ships) multiplied throughout the Roman world and became an identification tool cultural.

The baths were a very important building within Roman culture (as we will see in the next section), since sports were practiced there, let's say, privately; that is, those that were not intended for mass entertainment. Let's see it next.

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The practice of sport in the Roman baths

It is necessary to get rid of the Roman thermal buildings as a place only for personal hygiene. Could not be farther from the truth. Actually, what comes closest to the baths of ancient Rome are our current gymnasiums: a place where you can not only access bathrooms (swimming pools), but also to practice sports and meetings social.

In the Roman baths, countless sports were practiced. Let's analyze them one by one.

1. He spectacle pugilum, or the boxing antecedent

Related to the Greek pankration, but apparently much bloodier. The calls spectacle pugilum they were hand-to-hand fights between two men, trying to knock each other down and knock each other out. There were no current boxing rounds, so the fight ended with the fainting or voluntary departure of one of the fighters. The winner was the one who managed to knock down his opponent three times.

The opponents went out to fight dressed in a kind of shorts and with their hands protected by the caesti, leather gloves with metal reinforcement on the knuckles. We can imagine that, with such an element, blood and torn flesh was common in this type of show.

The spectacles pugilum They had two aspects: that of mass entertainment and that of training and personal entertainment. The first used to be held in the circus, in the breaks between races, and the second took place in the arena of the baths. Any man who entered the enclosure could practice the pugilum with another; Generally, this second, more private modality was not as violent as the one that took place in circuses, since its only intention, apart from having fun, was to exercise the body.

2. The fight or fight

Similar to the previous modality, but with the difference that tripping was allowed in the fight. In the same way that he pugilum, the winner was the one who made the opponent touch the ground three times with any part of the body.

3. He quinquertium

This sport modality combined different exercises: discus or javelin throwing, jumping, running and wrestling.

Of Greek heritage (like the vast majority of Roman sports), the discus or javelin throw was very common in the arenas of the baths. The practitioner was allowed three attempts, in which he had to throw the object as far as possible.. Equally popular were the runs and the jumps that, since they did not require any special object, could be practiced even at home, if there was enough space.

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4. The ball games: the harpastum and the trigon

In the more restricted area of ​​the baths, ball games enjoyed great popularity, since they allowed not only to exercise, but also to have fun with friends. The most popular were harpastum and the trigon:

He harpastum

Surprisingly similar to current American football, the harpastum had a number of players between five and twelve, divided into two teams. The players had to pass the ball to the members of their team and prevent it from being kidnapped by those of the opposing team. It was played with harpasta, a ball filled with sand.

He trigon

This type of ball game only had three players, located at each of the vertices of a triangle. The rules were simple: the players had to pass the ball to each other. On this occasion, the ball was made of very hard and heavy materials to prevent it from bouncing.

5. The swimming

The Roman baths were equipped with the natatio or swimming pools, which were generally outdoors. These pools allowed users to tone their bodies by swimming and, incidentally, cool off in hot weather. Archeology has left testimony of Roman pools impressive that have nothing to envy our current pools.

The sports-show

Until now we have described the sports that were practiced in the privacy of the baths. But what about those that were practiced under the watchful (and often merciless) gaze of the public?

1. gladiatorial fights

Probably, due to its extreme violence, this type of spectacle seems to us to be anything but sport. But gladiator combat was one of the most popular entertainments in the Roman world, and We cannot take a tour of the Roman recreational and sporting events without mention them.

Gladiators were slaves who had been trained for this purpose.. They were tremendously popular, and the public revered them as if they were the rock stars of the day. The most daring gladiators with the best figure became, in this way, a true sexual symbol.

The combats took place in the amphitheater and were usually hand-to-hand between two gladiators, although it was also common for several groups to face each other. It was the star spectacle of the Roman games, perhaps only surpassed in expectation by the naumaquias or naval battles.

2. The naumaquias or naval battles

Due to the difficulty involved in organizing them, both logistically and economically, they were relatively rare, but when they were offered, they broke all audience records. These were re-enactments of naval battles, for which the amphitheater was filled with water and real ships were introduced. It was a colossal spectacle that, like most Roman shows intended for the great masses, often ended in a bloodbath.

3. the venations

This type of Roman fun it was based on the exhibition of animals, generally exotic. To a public that never left their city, it seemed astonishing to contemplate an elephant, a lion or a tiger. Generally, the exhibition was accompanied by fights between animals, or even between men and animals.

And the women?

At this point, it is logical that a question arises. Could Roman women have access to sports? The answer is yes.

The baths were intended for both men and women. Both sexes shared facilities, and this, of course, in a society as puritanical as the Roman one, unleashed a multitude of criticisms in the most conservative sectors. Even so, this is a reality that continued to exist well into the empire.

Women practiced sports in the arena, dressed in a kind of bikini, as shown in the famous mosaic of the Villa del Casale, in Sicily.

In it, we observe a few women doing various sports: weight lifting, discus throwing, races and ball games, which proves that, in practice, women had access to the same type of sports as men. men.

Of course, among the upper classes it was not well seen for a woman to drop into the hot springs. In fact, prostitutes abounded in them, who went to look for clients among athletes. In some baths it was common to find a brothel, as evidenced by the remains of the baths of Pompeii.