Timeline of Roman History
BCE
Any date that specifically relates to the games is in bold.
| 753 | Legendary foundation of Rome by Romulus, the first king of Rome |
| 629 | Reign of L. Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome and the first Etruscan king; Circus Maximus supposedly laid out during his reign |
| 509 | Tarquinius Superbus, last king of Rome, expelled; Rome becomes a Republic. Creation of the office of consul |
| 500-450 | Creation of the office of Tribune of the Plebs |
| c. 496 | Rome defeats Latin League forces and Tarquinius Superbus and sons at the Battle of Lake Regillus |
| 396 | Rome sacks and destroys the Etruscan city of Veii |
| 390 | Rome sacked by the Gauls |
| 343-341 | First Samnite War ends with Rome capturing Capua and northern Campania |
| 338 | Dissolution of the Latin League |
| 326-304 | Second Samnite War ends with Rome conquering most of central and southern Italy |
| 298-290 | Third Samnite War ends with Rome in control of most of the Pennisula of Italy, with only Greek cities in the extreme south and the Po Valley in the North outside that control |
| 280-275 | Pyrrhic War. War against the Greek city of Tarentum and King Pyrrhus of Epirus. First time elephants are seen Italy |
| 275 | M. Curius Dentatus displays 4 elephants in Rome |
| 264-241 | First Punic War (against Carthage) fought in Sicily and North Africa |
| 264 | Decimus Junius Brutus has 3 pairs of Thracian type gladiators at munera for his father |
| 252 | Lucius Metellus displays and slaughters 100 elephants captured from Carthaginian forces in the First Punic War |
| 229-228 | First Illyrian War; ends with the surrender of Queen Teuta of Illyria |
| 220-219 | Second Illyrian War ends with the defeat of Demetrius of Pharos and Roman victory |
| 220 | Circus Flaminius built by Gaius Flaminius[1] |
| 218-202 | Second Punic War fought in Italy, Spain, and North Africa |
| 216 | Battle of Cannae. Roman defeat at the hands of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general results in c.50,000 Roman deaths |
| 216 | Lucius, Marcus, and Quintus Lepidus have 22 pairs of gladiators fight over 3 days for their father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus |
| 206 | Scipio Africanus gives a gladiatorial type show for his father and uncle in New Carthage, Spain. (The participants were his soldiers, rather than gladiators, and they were volunteers.) |
| 202 | Battle of Zama results in the victory of Scipio Africanus the Younger over the Carthaginian general Hannibal |
| 201 | 25 pairs of gladiators appear at the munus for M. Valerius Laevinus |
| 200-197 | Second Macedonian war against Philip V of Macedon |
| 197 | Philip V defeated at Battle of Cynoscephalae by Rome and her allies, including the Aetolian League, led by Titus Flamininus |
| 192-188 | War with Antiochus the Great of Syria |
| 189 | M. Fulvius Nobilior defeats the Aetolians at Ambracia |
| 186 | M. Fulvius Noblilior holds 10 days of ludi, including a hunt with lions and leopards at a cost of 80,000 sesterces, to celebrate his victory in the Aetolian War |
| 183 | 60 pairs of gladiators fight over 3 days in the munus for Publius Licinius |
| 174 | Titus Flamininus has 74 pairs of gladiators fight over 4 days at his father’s munus |
| 171-168 | Third Macedonian War ends with the defeat of the Perseus, King of Macedon, and the Aetolian League |
| 169 | First venatio held as part of annual ludi circenses[2] |
| 168 | Third Illyrian War |
| 149-146 | Third Punic War |
| 107 | Gaius Marius elected consul for the first time |
| 91-88 | Social War between Rome’s Italian Allies (the Socii) and Rome |
| 88 | Sulla’s march on Rome |
| 74-66 | Third Mithridatic War ends with Pompey the Great’s victory over Mithridates VI of Pontus |
| 73-71 | Spartacus revolt (Third Servile War) |
| 70 | Stone amphitheatre built in Pompeii |
| 67 | Pompey the Great clears the Mediterranean of pirates |
| 67 | Lex Acilia Calpurnia permanently excludes candidates convicted of electoral bribery from office. Lex Roscia sets aside 14 rows of seats in the theatre for members of the Equestrian order |
| 65 | Julius Caesar proposes to have 320 pairs of gladiators fight at his munus in honour of his father; number scaled back due to senatorial fears |
| 63 | Lex Tullia is passed prohibiting candidates holding munera during their campaigns for office (some exceptions were allowed) |
| 58 | M. Aemilius Scaurus builds a magnificent temporary theatre in Rome |
| 55 | Pompey the Great finishes his stone theatre, the first permanent theatre in Rome, and holds games for its opening |
| 52 | Gaius Curio builds a revolving wooden theatre for his games in Rome |
| 49-45 | Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great |
| 48 | Julius Caesar defeats the senatorial forces under Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus |
| 46-5 | Tunnels are created under the Forum Romanum at the orders of Julius Caesar |
| 45 | Julius Caesar holds games in honour of his daughter Julia (d. 54) |
| 44 | Julius Caesar assassinated |
| 42 | The aediles for the Ludi Ceriales hold gladiatorial shows instead of the normal chariot races, marking the first appearance of munera in regular shows. Battle of Philippi ends with the defeat of senatorial forces under Brutus and Cassius by the army of Mark Antony and Octavian |
| 31 | Battle of Actium and Octavian’s defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra makes Octavian the sole ruler of the Roman world |
| 29 | Statilius Taurus builds the first permanent, stone amphitheatre in the Campus Martius |
| 27 | Octavian is voted the title of Augustus and becomes the first emperor of Rome |
| 22 | A decree of Augustus bans the appearance of elites in the arena (this law may cover women as well as men) |
| 9 | Fires and repaving of the Forum Romanum result in the destruction of Caesar’s tunnel system |
CE
Any date that specifically relates to the games is in bold.
| 11 | A law forbidding freeborn girls under 20 from appearing in the arena is passed (the law is not extant, but is mentioned in the senatorial decree from Larinum; see below) |
| 14 | Death of Augustus. Tiberius becomes emperor |
| 19 | A senatorial decree found in Larinum, a town in Southern Italy, repeats Augustus’ ban on equestrians and the sons and grandsons of senators appearing on the arena floor or on stage and specifically says that the daughters, grand-daughters and great-grand-daughters of senators cannot appear on stage or in the arena and that law applies to the wives, daughters, and grand-daughters of equestrians |
| 27 | Collapse of a temporary amphitheatre at Fidenae kills 50,000 people |
| 40 | Circus Vaticanus (also known as the Circus of Caligula and Nero) built (roughly) where the Vatican now stands. At this stage this was probably only a race track surrounded by statues, rather than a built up Circus |
| 41 | Caligula assassinated; Claudius becomes emperor |
| 54 | Claudius dies; Nero becomes emperor |
| 57 | Nero’s wooden amphitheatre built in the Campus Martius (later burns down during the great fire of Rome); Nero forbids provincial governors and procurators from giving munera, venationes and theatrical shows in their provinces |
| 59 | A riot in the amphitheatre in Pompeii between the residents of Pompeii and those of Nuceria, a local town, results in Nero banning games from Pompeii for ten years |
| 64 | Great Fire of Rome |
| 66-73 | First Jewish War |
| 68 | Nero’s suicide means the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty |
| 69 | Year of the four emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and, finally, Vespasian). Vespasian becomes the first Flavian emperor |
| 79 | Death of Vespasian; Titus becomes emperor |
| 80 | Titus holds inaugural games at the Colosseum (the construction was completed later under Domitian); 5,000 animals are killed and an unknown number of gladiators fight |
| 81 | Titus dies; Domitian becomes emperor |
| 86 | Founding of the Capitoline Games by Domitian; these features both athletic and literary competitions and chariot racing |
| 96 | Domitian assassinated; end of the Flavian dynasty. A sixty-five year old senator called Nerva becomes emperor |
| 97 | Nerva adopts Trajan as his heir |
| 98 | Nerva dies; Trajan becomes emperor |
| 100-150 | An inscription by Hostilianus from Ostia, Rome’s port, mentions that he was the first to exhibit female gladiators there |
| 107 | Trajan’s triumph celebrating his victory over Dacia; 10,000 gladiators fight and 11, 000 animals are killed |
| 109 | Games are held for the opening of the Baths of Trajan which last 117 days; 8,000 gladiators fight, and more than 10,000 animals are killed |
| 117 | Trajan dies; Hadrian becomes emperor after Trajan appoints him on his death bed |
| 138 | In his dying days Hadrian adopts Antonius Pius; Antonius Pius becomes emperor |
| 177 | Legislation sponsored by the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus tries to limit the cost of gladiatorial shows |
| 192 | Assassination of Commodus |
| 193 | Septimius Severus becomes emperor, beginning of the Severan Dynasty |
| 200 | A decree of Septimius Severus bans female gladiators |
| 202 | Martyrdom of Perpetua |
| 211 | Caracalla becomes emperor with his brother Geta; Caracalla kills Geta |
| 213 | Caracalla extends citizenship to all freeborn residents of the Roman Empire |
| 218 | Elagabalus becomes emperor |
| c. 220 | Sessorian Circus built beside Severan palace in Rome |
| 222 | Elagabalus assassinated. Alexander Severus becomes emperor |
| 306-312 | Circus of Maxentius built just outside Rome on the Via Appia |
| 330 | Constantinople becomes the imperial capital |
| 397 | Last reference to the imperial gladiatorial ludi |
| 417-423 | Valentinian III restores the Colosseum, which had been damaged in an earthquake |
| 523 | Maximus, a Roman aristocrat, holds the last recorded venatio in Rome |
| 532 | Nika riot in Constantinople involving faction supporters causes major havoc and destruction |
definition
The chief military and civilian commander of Rome. Two were elected each year and competition to become consul was incredibly intense as it represented the apex of a political career. After their term in office consuls could go on to be governors of provinces, where, under the Republic, they were wont to rob the provincials blind in order to recoup the costs of their political campaigns.
A magistracy without imperium, it was founded in 494 BCE to protect the interests of the plebs. It was a sacrosanct office – meaning that harming one in office was a capital offence – and from 449 BCE onwards any tribune could veto any legislation that he felt was not in the interest of the people. Originally there were only two, but that number expanded to ten; their powers were circumscribed by the Dictator Sulla, but quickly restored by Pompey the Great in 54 BCE.
Literally “gift”, “duty”, or “favour”, particularly one owed to the dead. As gladiatorial shows were given to honour the dead and in accordance with vows they were called munera. A munus in this sense was a private obligation and thus the cost was paid by whoever vowed it, not the state. Later the munera were integrated into the other games and incorporated into imperial spectacles.
A ludus may refer to any type of school, including a gladiatorial one. Ludi also refers to games, the public games held as part of religious rituals.
Beast hunts, sometimes in staged settings. A wide range of domestic and exotic animals were hunted. Although dangerous, a venatio was not necessarily fatal for the hunters, who were given weapons and had some protection.
Circus games. This covers any chariot racing; the Ludi circenses were held in conjunction with other annual, religious festivals.
The first rank on the cursus honorum, the course of public offices, these magistrates were in charge of maintaining public buildings and space and supervised and organized the public festivals. There were two types of aedile, curule, and plebeian.
A term used sometimes for the starting gates in chariot races and the Circus Maximus. It also refers to Ostia, Rome’s port.
