Have we as a society let our own interest and or obsession with sport and contest change the way we see ancient Rome? The simple answer is yes, we as a society like to look down on our ancestors and our past so we can tell ourselves that we have become better than the people before us. An example of this is the Roman gladiators first, you might think of how these gladiators would right to the death but in reality, this didn't happen very often and even if it did take place death was very rare in the arena. So why do we only talk about the fights that could turn deadly and not about the animal hunts that would also take place? I believe it's because we want to feel better about our own society. We might not have people fighting with amour and swords killing each other for the people's entertainment, but don’t we have fights where two opponents beat each other until one gets knocked out or gives up. How does this make us better than the people who came before us? The Romans would have a rare fight between men but only when the emperor would say so but we have a regular schedule for our fights. We see ads promoting fights, so why do we focus on the less common parts of our ancestors? So we can feel better about ourselves.
