Brutal Public Executions in Ancient Games

Public executions were a common midday event during the games and could be extremely brutal.

The condemned, often criminals, slaves, or enemies of the state,

were subjected to "damnatio ad bestias" (condemnation to beasts), where they were

either tied to a pole for wild animals to attack or forced to run around the arena pursued by

beasts. Sometimes, they were even given minimal weapons to fight the animals,

though survival was nearly impossible. These executions were conducted both to punish and to

entertain the public. Often, the executions included a variety of animals such as lions,

bears, bulls, boars, tigers, leopards,