06-17-2013, 01:24 PM
Execution ad bestias - throwing people to the lions, bears, or other savage beasts - was one of the most notorious aspects of Roman public entertainment. But how was it actually done? Was it enough simply to introduce a number of starved animals and a number of prisoners into an arena and leave them to get on with it?
Mosaics from North Africa show some prisoners tied to poles mounted on little carts, while others are apparently being herded around by men with whips. In both cases, the prisoners seem to be used as live bait for venators or other bestiarii. Would an animal normally attack a bound captive in this way, though?
Other sources indicate that the victims were supposed to fight the animals in some way. On occasion the number of victims seems to have been quite high - even allowing for exaggeration. Panegyric VI (12.3) claims that the 'great numbers' of captured Bructeri killed in the area at Trier in 308 'wore out the raging beasts'...
Does anyone know what methods might have been used to make the animals attack and kill the victims in such numbers, or alternatively how the entire grisly spectacle might have been organised into 'entertainment'?
Mosaics from North Africa show some prisoners tied to poles mounted on little carts, while others are apparently being herded around by men with whips. In both cases, the prisoners seem to be used as live bait for venators or other bestiarii. Would an animal normally attack a bound captive in this way, though?
Other sources indicate that the victims were supposed to fight the animals in some way. On occasion the number of victims seems to have been quite high - even allowing for exaggeration. Panegyric VI (12.3) claims that the 'great numbers' of captured Bructeri killed in the area at Trier in 308 'wore out the raging beasts'...
Does anyone know what methods might have been used to make the animals attack and kill the victims in such numbers, or alternatively how the entire grisly spectacle might have been organised into 'entertainment'?
Nathan Ross
