Evasion and distraction are social controls that a government body can use to hide deficiencies or divert attention from issues that may cause discontent among the population. It is important to distinguish between the two; distraction refers to anything that can divert the attention of the population from the inadequacies of the government, while escapism refers specifically to taking people’s minds out of the situation they find themselves in, in order to escape anything that bring discontent into their lives. .

Distraction

Distraction was a tool that emperors could both use to divert attention from current objectionable events. The imminent risk of war increased anxiety within Roman society, the development of gladiator show it could demonstrate the continued competence of Rome’s governing body, even during a crisis (Futrell 2006). Not only could he gladiator show distract citizens from contemporary problems, but could also “erase public memory of political mistakes” of the past (Shelton 1998, p333).

The distraction of war was an obvious connection, however distraction could also be used to keep “the population entertained and away from mischief” (Lewis and Reinhold, 1990, p. 142). Auguet (1994, p. 185) added further weight to this point of view by describing gladiator show as “a first-rate medium for entertaining people”. Grant (1967, p. 104) also agreed with this concept, exclaiming that the emperors wished the “potentially unruly and dangerous population of the city” to “have fun”, adding the idea that this would keep them “quiet”.

As noted above (see Literature Review), the first reported date of the gladiator show was in 264 ECB and at the time of the First Punic War. The second recorded date of the gladiator show it was not until 216 ECB again coinciding with a year of war in which the battle of Cannae took place (Shadrake 2005). This leaves a gap of almost 50 years in which there is no record of any gladiator show have taken place in the Roman Empire. It seems too much of a coincidence that these two sets of gladiator show placed almost 50 years apart, they just happened to fall in times of conflict. A more likely explanation is that these gladiator shows they were put on to distract people from the turmoil of war. Another explanation is that there gladiator shows which fell within this 50-year gap, but weren’t particularly noteworthy, and further publicity was generated for these two re-recorded games for the purpose of distracting the masses.

Evasion

Escapism may well be the biggest social control factor that gladiator shows had on his audience. In contemporary society there are a number of escapisms that are available even to those who do not have a large disposable income. Some of the most popular escapism in modern society, such as television, the Internet, movies, and computer games, were not accessible to the Romans. It is true that they had food, literature and recreational games, but none of these can be compared to the influence that television and the Internet have on today’s society. This is where the gladiator shows came into play; they provided the audience with a complete distraction from their mundane everyday life. The camaraderie of sitting among your peers, the historical stories told by some of the shows, and the chance to wrap yourself in the glory of Rome, provided the ideal escape from the troubles of war, disease, political instability that might otherwise have plagued you. most detrimental to the psychology of the population.

Kyle (2007, p301) stated that attendees at gladiator shows, used them to “escape their deplorable living conditions”. Shelton (1998, p. 334) elaborates further, stating that political figures hoped that these diversions would “take people’s minds off problems like unemployment and food shortages.” According to Shelton (1998, p349) viewing the gladiator shows would allow “people who feel powerless and abused” to find “some satisfaction in seeing pain being inflicted on others.”