Assignment on the Colosseum

[Angrboda]

Look into the history of "Breads & Circuses". There's a fascinating PBS special on the Colisseum, Nova I think, but IIRC, it's about duplicating their technology, but I also remember interesting history involved. I would concentrate on the changes that specific Emperors implemented, and how it fit with their policies, and particularly the economic and class effects of the games. (Might want to also explain how and in what measure 'Bread' mattered, and how the two were balanced; just a guess.).

They were still having Breads & Circuses even at the time of the invasion by the Goths. The Goths didn't originally seige the city, but chose to use attrition instead, cutting off all influx of food and supplies in order to starve them out. There is a cute story, probably apocryphal, about how the spectators were watching the gladiators fight, rather far into this war of attrition, so they were all starving to death, and a gladiator fell. The crowd immediately began asking how much they wanted for the gladiator, and the meat of his body. They were that bad off. And yet the games went on; rain or shine. (IIRC, that was the techology in the Nova special; they tried to duplicate some sun awnings that ringed the stadium at the wall.)