The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City by Stephen Dando-Collins Page A

with Nero. A vacant seat beside the emperor awaited the editor of the games.
     
    As the sun rose, trumpets heralded a parade around the arena by all taking part, to the cheers and applause of the spectators. Competitors were led by the editor, Vatinius, who rode in a chariot. He was followed by uniformed bestiari , the animal fighters. All the staff of the amphitheater, slaves and freedmen alike—from those who raked the blood-soaked sand covering the arena’s floor to medical attendants and arena musicians playing flute, lyre, trumpet, horn, and water organ—were uniformly dressed.
     
    Next came the gladiators, the star attractions. Most were slaves and had ridden to the amphitheater in closed carriages. Now, wearing purple cloaks richly embroidered with gold, the gladiators paraded around the arena waving and gesturing to the crowd. Behind them came slaves bearing their armor and weapons. There were many types of gladiator, with varying types of weapons and tactics. The rebel gladiator Spartacus had fought in the Thracian style, for example. Spectators followed not only individual gladiators, but also particular fighting styles.
     
    Perhaps two in ten of these gladiators were free men who had voluntarily taken to the gladiatorial life, for money, for thrills, for adulation. Even the occasional Equestrian or senator down on his financial luck took to the arena, to the horror of the Roman elite. Just months before this, female gladiators had appeared during the traditional ten days of gladiatorial contests held at Rome in December. Some had been ladies of distinction, from noble families. These volunteer female fighters had fought each other, not male combatants.
     
    Now, the parading combatants halted in front of the arena’s tribunal and faced the emperor. “Hail, imperator !” they chorused. 4
     
    Vatinius’ program was a “crowded” one, according to Tacitus. 5 It would have seen gladiators or troops engage in carefully orchestrated mock combat during the morning, with wooden weapons and muffled shields, as a preliminary to the later, bloodier contests. Flavius Josephus, who would witness Rome’s legions in training just three years from now, would describe legion drills as bloodless battles, and their battles as bloody drills. Vatinius may also have put on “acts”—panthers drawing chariots, lions releasing live hares from their jaws on command, tigers licking the hand of their trainer, elephants kneeling before the emperor’s tribunal and tracing out Latin phrases in the sand with their trunks. Poet Martial and author Pliny the Elder witnessed such acts in the amphitheater and recorded their enjoyment of them.
     
    The execution of criminals and beast hunts filled the middle of the day. Wild animals were released into the arena together with criminals condemned to death, with the audience enjoying what followed, as spectators ate their lunches. Once the prisoners had met their end, the beast-fighting bestiari then went against the larger animals, “hunting” and slaughtering them with javelin, fork, sword, knife, and bow and arrow. Frequently, some animals were permitted to live until the next spectacle, but occasionally, an editor would advertise that no animal would be spared at his games.
     
    These beast hunts came to be the single most popular attraction of Roman spectacles. After Vespasian became emperor, five years after Nero’s visit to the Beneventum munus , he would order a purpose-built amphitheater erected at Rome for beast hunts. He named it the Hunting Theater. Later generations called it the Flavian Theater. This was the Colosseum. Through its early history, the Colosseum would see many more beast hunts than gladiatorial contests.
     
    Only in the afternoon did the best gladiators take to the sand. Many gladiators were made rich by the prize money on offer and by the gifts from admirers, including the emperor. Nero’s favorite gladiator and the most famous of his day was Spiculus,