This chapter explores the spectacles of gladiators, bare-knuckle boxing, and the early theater. Wild, violent bodies were banned in Rome and America: the gladiator excluded from civic participation and protections; boxing matches banned through much of the nineteenth century. Both bodies were marked by wounds, but even more by a brashness and ruggedness that was contrary to standards of elite decorum. These bodies were the object of elite condemnation as uncivilized, uneducated, and unrefined. And these bodies were the object of the gaze, put on display to perform to the expectations of the audience. The problem is that boundaries of exclusion prove to be permeable. And these boundaries prove to be permeable because the lawless, uncivilized bodies replay the role of violence in constituting a founding identity. The conquest of wild, lawless nature in the name of civilization required a type of body, one that could act with similar violent wildness. To the chagrin of certain elites, the taboo body comes to be valorized, grafted and grafting itself onto the rugged origins embedded in the founding ideal.

Violence played a significant role in Roman identity, and images of war and violence were pervasive throughout the Roman world. The myths and history of Rome are filled with brutal acts of rape, fratricide and war. Scenes of violence appear in nearly every medium of representation in both public and private settings, on grand public monuments and small, personal objects. A Roman house might have images of violence on its walls and floors, with subjects ranging from mythological brutality to gladiatorial combats or military conquest. Violent myth and battle scenes adorned tombs and sarcophagi, and of course, triumphal monuments bearing scenes of victory and conquest stood in public spaces for all to admire. Although domestic, funerary and public representations of war and violence had specific functions within their contexts, they exhibit commonalities. Violent images were a means of visualising power in the Roman world. They served as reminders of Roman power structures: the power of citizens over non-citizens; the power of Roman men over women, children, slaves and clients; and the power of the emperor over his subjects as well as foreigners and anyone who threatened the welfare of Rome.

Athletic competition played an important role in ancient Greek and Roman culture. From the earliest days, competitive athletics included the combat sports of boxing, wrestling and pankration. Though athletic combat sports continued during the Roman period along with the increase in agonistic festivals and retained their popularity and importance, the spectacle of gladiatorial combat itself also spread throughout the Roman Empire, including the Greek eastern sections. Combat sports presented the spectator with extreme acts of violence which were potentially even fatal. But that violence was controlled and purposive. It took place in ceremonial contexts – funerals, or religious festivals primarily – with athletes wearing special uniforms: nudity in the case of combat athletes and identifiable armaments for gladiators. The fights were not violent chaos or murderous free-for-alls, but regulated and controlled by rules and expectations, all monitored by referees and the watching people themselves. These games were able to give visible expression to the values and ideology at the heart of Greek and Roman societies: courage, skill and discipline, perseverance to victory against all adversity and at all costs, even one’s life, and the ostentatious demonstration of personal excellence. The public nature of the performances is critical: it must be seen to be legitimised. Victory in such combat was worthy of immortality.