The first form of entertainment that I am going to talk about are plays. Races and gladiator shows were more popular than the plays. There were four kinds of dramatic performances, Comedies, Tragedies, and the two most popular, Farces and Pantomines.

Since Roman theaters had no lighting facilities, plays were given during daytime. The average comedy required around two hours.

Each performance group had a manager, who was in charge of the actors. Gray wigs represented old men, Black wigs represented young men, and Red wigs represented slaves. A manager usually rewarded his actors with a free dinner when a performance was successful. By the time of Pompey the Great, many theaters were being built. Pompey built the first permanent theater in Campus Martius in 55 B.C., this theater was know

Chariot racers had racing companies which were much like sports teams, which had owners who paid the drivers and supplied them with a horse. There were six racing teams, Red , White, Blue, Green, Purple and Gold, all which were established at different times. Since there were great rivalry existed between these teems, it was not unusual to hire magicians to curse the opposing team, to bribe the drivers, or even to drug the horses. There were other common shows in the circus too, such as a risk in which too men jumped from horse to horse while going at full speed. Another popular show was the beast wars, in which wild animals were thrown in the arena to slaughter each other.

The name arena is derived from the word harena meaning sand. All arenas where covered by sand, and had seats and barriers surrounding them. Since the speed was not a great factor in Roman races the sand, the shortness of the stretches, and sharp turns did not create any kind of discomfort. Most Roman circus races, consisted of 7 laps, the distance did vary from arena to arena. It is said that each lap was around 2000 feet in Circus Maxentius.

Some topics in this essay:
Roman Entertainment, Amphitheatre Colosseum, Society Ludi, Pantomines Roman, Circus Flaminius, Purple Gold, Roman Colosseum, Pompey's Theater, Maxentius Chariot, Campus Martius, aspect roman, chariot races, wigs represented, roman entertainment, aspect roman entertainment, wild beasts, ludi circenses, naval battles, roman society, aspect roman society,