circle”) in Rome was the most famous example. Th e chari-
oteers belonged to four diff erent teams or “factions”—Blue,
Green, White, and Red—which were part of an organization
that covered the entire Roman world. (Th e emperor Domi-
tian created Gold and Purple “expansion teams” in the late
fi rst century c.e., but they did not last.) A race might involve
one chariot of each color, or there might be two or four of
each color, which allowed for team tactics in the race. Chari-
oteers were generally free or freedmen, not slaves; they got a
share of the purse for races they won, and the best became
fairly wealthy. Chariot races took place at the civic or reli-
gious festivals called ludi (“games”) along with theatrical per-
formances and other entertainments. Th ey were a standard
part of the major annual ludi and were also typically includedin games given in celebration of military victories or other
special occasions.
At Roman sporting events, unlike most Greek ones, the
audience included both men and women. Elaborate rules dic-
tated who could sit where, with the best seats reserved for sen-
ators and the wealthiest equestrians (also known as equites,
just below patricians in the Roman social order). Most cities
in the provinces had amphitheaters and chariot racetracks:
Gladiator combats and chariot races were popular through-
out the Roman world. Although some intellectuals found the
games boring or unsophisticated, most Romans seem to have
enjoyed them. Th e emperor Augustus (r. 27 b.c.e.–14 c.e.) in-
cluded the games he sponsored in his list of major achieve-
ments, and Suetonius in his biographies of the fi rst 12 Caesars
always tells us what kinds of spectacles they staged.
Th e sports and games that Romans played on their own
were far less dramatic. Upper-class men might go to a Greek-
style gymnasium or a palaestra (wrestling school) to exercise
and socialize. Th e public baths were another place for rec-
reation, open to Romans of all classes and both sexes. In all
these places people would talk, have snacks, and play games.
Mosaics from Ostia, Sicily, and Pompeii show people playing
with balls ranging in size from soft balls to large exercise balls.
Although we do not know the rules of the games, the pic-
tures and literary references indicate that there were throw-
ing games and kicking games. Adults and children, men and
women all played ball games.
Th e Romans also played games much like modern board
games. Th ere were gambling games with dice and gamesThe Roman amphitheater in the port city of Dyrrha-
chium (Durrës), in Albania, is the largest in the Bal-
kans, the city being a Roman stronghold in their wars
with the kings of Macedon. During the Roman civil
war between Julius Caesar and the Roman Republic,
Caesar’s rival general Pompey used Dyrrhachium as
his base, with a series of engagements fought there in
49–48 B.C.E. The famed orator and statesman Cicero
had lived in the city 10 years earlier when he was ex-
iled from Rome. However, it was not until the reign
of the emperor Hadrian (r. 117–38 C.E.) that con-
struction of the amphitheater began on the side of
the rocky hill that overlooks the city. Although the
city was formerly Greek, there is little trace of Greek
design in the architecture of the building, which was
primarily for gladiators, and the showing and killing
of wild animals—a popular Roman pastime.
The amphitheater could hold some 15,000 to
20,000 spectators and was no doubt popular with
the many landless, discharged Roman soldiers settled
in the region. The whole of the structure has not yet
been excavated, with some later buildings occupying
the east and west sides of the arena, where many of the
people would have sat during the gladiatorial perfor-
mances. The amphitheater was used until 1081, when
the town was attacked by the Normans, and then the
stones became a source for building elsewhere in the
city. Work did not begin on the excavation of the am-
phitheater until 1966, when Albania made great play
of the Roman use of slaves and prisoners as gladia-
tors. They opened up the underground tunnels where
gladiators and wild animals had been held. The animal
chambers were found to have neatly rounded corners
to prevent the animals from injuring themselves when
they charged out into the arena to be killed.DYRRHACHIUM
Roman terra-cotta sculpture of two gladiators fi ghting, fi rst to second
century c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)1056 sports and recreation: Rome0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1056 1056 10/10/07 2:30:55 PM