The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion Page 7

  All sorts of battle staging and equipment was hauled through the trap doors into the arena using these same animal lifts.

  This is highly reminiscent of the Catching Fire arena, which the Gamemakers carefully create to resemble a clock in which wedges have different hazards. Everything is designed, built, and tested with elaborate detail.

  In 46 BC, Caesar threw another Games that definitely rivals the extravaganzas put on by the Gamemakers. Throughout Rome, gladiators fought on stages, athletes competed against each other, and there were horse races, military dances, plays, and fake sea battles in a pool arena built especially for the Games. These frivolities were followed by five days of gladiatorial combat featuring men versus wild animals. The finale of Caesar’s Games was a battle between two armies in the Circus Maximus; the battle included five hundred men on foot, thirty men on horses, and twenty elephants.

  Note the reference to Spartacus in the box titled, “Ancient Roman Games.” A Thracian captured by the Romans and sent to their Capua gladiator school, Spartacus eventually led a revolution against Rome in 73 BC.

  On a popular Hunger Games website (www.mockingjay.net), Suzanne Collins writes that “the historical figure of Spartacus really becomes more of a model for the arc of the three books, for Katniss. [Spartacus] was a gladiator who broke out of the arena and led a rebellion against an oppressive government that led to what is called the Third Servile War.”6

  For most men like Spartacus, death in the arena was a certainty. For captured prisoners of war, things couldn’t have been much worse. They received no mercy at all while training for the games and certainly none while fighting in the arena. After all, the Romans thought of them as enemies, scum, worthy of nothing but the most excruciating deaths.

  Spartacus was one of these men, a prisoner from Thrace, which later became known as Thracia when Emperor Claudius annexed it in AD 46. In Spartacus’s time, the Thracians dwelled primarily in an area of southeast Europe that today cuts through Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria. Spartacus served as an auxiliary soldier in the Roman army, but after he deserted, the Romans captured and enslaved him at the gladiatorial school.

  Ancient Roman Games: A Timeline of Atrocities Much Worse Than The Hunger Games

  ALMOST A THOUSAND YEARS OF CARNAGE

  509 BC

  The Romans conquered the Etruscans and founded the Roman Republic.

  The Etruscans held gladiator shows in theaters, at festivals, and at feasts. After spectators gorged on food, they were entertained by battles to the death of men, beautiful women, and children.

  Fourth century BC

  Lucania and Campania funeral games depicted by burial paintings show armed men fighting with spears, shields, and helmets. These funeral games were held in honor of important men who died. They were considered obligations.

  It’s possible that the funeral games evolved from the ancient Greeks, who held spiritually driven funeral games complete with human sacrifices.

  264–41 BC

  First Punic War.

  264 BC

  The year the First Punic War started, three pairs of gladiators fought in the Forum Boarium funeral games for ex-consul Junius Brutus Pera.

  252 BC

  Circus Maximus included 142 elephants transported by Caecilius Metellus across the Straits of Messina to mainland Italy after his victory over the Carthaginians. Some records indicate that the elephants were killed in the Circus Maximus.

  218–201 BC

  Second Punic War.

  216 BC

  The year the Carthaginians defeated Rome at Cannae, 22 pairs of gladiators fought in the Forum Romanum funeral games for ex-consul Aemilius Lepidus.

  186 BC

  Fulvius Nobilior introduced battles between men and wild animals in the ring.

  174 BC

  Seventy-four pairs of gladiators fought in the four-day funeral games for Titus Flamininius’s father.

  169 BC

  Gladiators competed against 63 wild animals plus 40 bears and some elephants.

  167 BC

  Aemilius Paullus introduced death by wild beasts into the games. Specifically, wild animals shredded and gutted non-Roman-citizen deserters from the Roman army.

  149–6 BC

  Third Punic War.

  80 BC

  Pompeii amphitheater built.

  73–71 BC

  Spartacus revolted. Especially strong men had been trained for decades in gladiator schools, with one of the most prominent schools situated in Capua. Men of diverse ethnicities were trained here, including Thracians, Greeks, Syrians, Gauls, Spaniards, and Macedonians. In 73 BC, 80 gladiators escaped from Capua led by 3 men: the Thracian, Spartacus; and 2 Gauls, Crixus and Oenomaus.

  65 BC

  Caesar hosted an extravagant gladiator event.

  55 BC

  Circus Maximum included man versus wild beasts.

  46 BC

  Caesar hosted another extravagant gladiator event, this time including group battles and several Romans from noble families.

  29 BC

  Statilius Taurus amphitheater built.

  27 BC

  Roman Empire founded by Emperor Augustus. He mandated that gladiator games would be held every year on fixed dates as well as additional dates that he would add at whim. He pit tens of thousands of men against each other and against wild animals. In his time, there were 176 official feast days, of which 10 were reserved for gladiator events, 64 for chariot races, and the rest for theater. Augustus’s shows massacred 3,500 animals, including crocodiles, lions, bears, and leopards.

  2 BC

  Pompey killed 260 lions and 36 crocodiles in the arena.

  AD 41–54

  Emperor Claudius ensured that citizens received correct allotments of grain and held brutal gladiator battles at lunchtime. In The Hunger Games, not only do the impoverished receive grain allotments, but the officials eat like pigs during tribute training, and before, during, and after the Games.

  AD 64

  Nero’s amphitheater burned down. Nero introduced women into the gladiator arena.

  AD 70

  Colosseum aka Flavian Amphitheater construction began.

  AD 80

  Colosseum opened with a huge Games lasting several weeks, in which 9,000 wild and domestic animals were slaughtered, followed by gladiatorial combats.

  AD 107

  Trajan’s victory over the Dacians celebrated with enormous gladiator event, which included the massacre of 11,000 animals.

  AD 149

  Antoninus Pius staged a show that included the slaughter of rhinoceroses, tigers, lions, elephants, hyenas, hippopotamuses, and crocodiles.

  AD 225

  Gordianus I held a gladiatorial battle featuring the hunt and slaughter of 200 deer, 100 wild sheep, 10 elk, 200 red deer, 100 bulls, 30 wild horses, 300 ostriches, 150 bears, 30 wild donkeys, and 200 chamois.

  AD 281

  Circus Maximus was turned into a forest arena including 1,000 deer, 1,000 ostriches, and 100 wild boar, ibex, gazelles, and other herbivores. They were killed by tame lions that didn’t provide enough deadly titillation for the public.

  AD 325

  Constantine started eliminating the sentencing of people to death in the arena.

  AD 367

  Valentinianus I banned the death of Christians in the arena.

  AD 404

  Gladiator games in the Colosseum ended.

  AD 476

  Roman Empire collapsed.

  Spartacus led a revolt of the two hundred gladiators imprisoned at the school in what would later be called the Third Servile War. Lentulus Batiates, the owner of the school, heard about the imminent uprising and segregated his gladiator prisoners. Regardless, Spartacus successfully escaped with a total of seventy-eight gladiators and a handful of household slaves and wives.

  The men grabbed weapons and equipment from a cart on the Capua streets, fought the men guarding the city gate, escaped into the countryside, and headed toward the dormant Ve
suvius volcano, which became their fortress.

  Claudius Glaber, the Roman commander in the Vesuvius area, led his military forces up a narrow path leading toward the volcano, and they then blocked access, figuring Spartacus and his men would be trapped without food or water. However, Spartacus was waiting for troops to find him, and he’d prepared for it. He and his men had made rope ladders from the vines growing at the volcano site, and the rebel force dropped on the ladders down the cliffs and escaped Glaber’s clutches. A brilliant tactician, Spartacus then led his men around the mountain and attacked Glaber’s army from the rear.

  At this point, Rome sent a senior officer, Publius Varinius, and thousands of troops to defeat Spartacus and his small gladiator force. But ever the brilliant military tactician, Spartacus was ready for this move by the Romans, too. He gathered thousands of escaped slaves to help his men defeat the Romans, and again, the slaves defeated the Roman troops.

  Tens of thousands of slaves—not only men, but also women and children—from all over southern Italy left the farms and workshops where they were imprisoned and joined forces with Spartacus. The rebels marched to Thurii, which is now known as Terranova.

  Desperate, the Romans sent Consuls Lucius Gellius and Lentulus Clodianus with four legions of men to head off and destroy the rebels. They did manage to kill one group of rebels led by Crixus. But again, Spartacus and his forces overcame and defeated the men under both consuls. In a cruel twist of fate, Spartacus forced hundreds of Roman prisoners into gladiator battles, where they killed each other.

  Spartacus moved on. The rebels defeated another Roman leader and his men, this time to the north, and then Spartacus turned back toward the south. He had originally planned to march over the Alps.

  Campania fell to Spartacus, as did Lucania.

  Now even more desperate, the Romans sent Marcus Licinius Crassus and another army of men after Spartacus. Crassus had served in the military and had sufficient skill to avoid an open clash against the rebels. Instead, he wore them out. He chased them for weeks, and he killed those seeking food and supplies. Spartacus was driven to the deep south, into the very toe of Italy. Crassus’s plan was to trap Spartacus’s forces by the sea and watch them starve to death.

  Spartacus enlisted pirates to help his people escape by boat to Sicily. However, the pirates took his money and left him trapped in mainland Italy with all his men.

  Trapped by Crassus, Spartacus led his exhausted men in open battle. Crassus had indeed succeeded in wearing them out.

  On the banks of the River Silarus, Spartacus was killed, and with his death, the entire rebellion died.

  Crassus crucified six thousand rebels on crosses that stretched all the way from Capua to Rome. He hoped to get credit for defeating Spartacus, but general Gnaeus Pompeius, commonly known as Pompey, killed five thousand rebels and took credit for ending the rebellion.

  The story of Spartacus has been featured in numerous films, the most famous being 1960s Spartacus directed by Stanley Kubrick for Universal Pictures. It cost a fortune to make: $12 million in 1960 dollars. In 1991, the Los Angeles Times estimated that it cost $110 million in 1991 dollars.7 The film starred Kirk Douglas as Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as Marcus Licinius Crassus.

  Oddly, after the premiere, Kubrick commented, “I am disappointed in the film. It had everything but a good story.”8

  Spartacus was a captured auxiliary member of the Roman army.

  Katniss never serves as a Peacekeeper or in any military unit related to the Capitol.

  Spartacus was a gladiator, who fought in the arena to entertain the citizens and leaders of Rome.

  Katniss is a tribute, a form of gladiator thrust into the arena by lottery, and she fights to entertain the citizens and leaders of the Capitol.

  Spartacus leads and becomes the symbol of the rebellion of slaves in ancient Rome.

  Katniss becomes the symbol of and then leads the rebellion of the Panem people against the Capitol. The people are no better than slaves. They have no freedom, and they work to provide food, products, and services to the Capitol. Some are slaves in the most traditional sense—the Avoxes, for example, who serve as domestic servants.

  Spartacus forces Roman prisoners into gladiator battles.

  Katniss votes at the end of Mockingjay to send the Capitol’s children into a new Games, though her vote probably hides her true reasoning. My guess is that Katniss cast her vote expressly to keep President Coin at bay. After all, she and Haymitch exchange a glance, and then he votes with her as if understanding her true intentions: to kill Coin later. It was Coin who ultimately was responsible for dropping the bombs that killed Prim. It was Coin who wanted to quash the Capitol, just to gain power and replace one evil empire with her own.

  Let’s summarize the similarities between Spartacus and Katniss:

  Panem and its Gamemakers are similar to the ancient Roman government in that both societies massacred people in public displays to keep everyone under control. Public punishment, in both cases, served to demonstrate the tight hold, the absolute power, that the governments held over the people. Torturous death is considered a great way to keep people obedient and subservient.

  As in the world of The Hunger Games, the ancient Romans also publicly flogged disobedient citizens. These whippings occurred in the public square, or Forum. Again, The Hunger Games parallels are clear: During the first Games, Rue tells Katniss that in District 11, where crops are grown, if someone dares to eat anything in the fields, the government officials publicly whip the person in front of all the citizens (The Hunger Games, 202). And in the second book of the series, the Head Peacekeeper, Romulus Thread (who replaces Seneca Cray after the old Peacekeeper is killed) whips Gale to a bloody pulp in District 12’s public square (Catching Fire, 104). Katniss is whipped, as well.

  While public beatings continued to take place in the district squares in the world of The Hunger Games, in ancient Rome, things were a bit different. The flogging and execution of criminals and slaves, which at first were festivities accompanied by musicians and heralds, slowly shifted to the arena.

  But in The Hunger Games, in addition to the Games, to keep people in line, District 12’s Peacekeepers build a new whipping post, as well as a gallows for hanging people and a stockade (Catching Fire, 128). Further punishment includes massive starvation, closing the mines where people work, and burning down the Hob where people procure food and other necessary items (Catching Fire, 129–31).

  The Circus Maximus in ancient Rome included chariot races called ludi circenses. Originally, the chariot races weren’t particularly brutal and deadly, but over time, they evolved and both animal and human deaths became common. In The Hunger Games, the tributes aka gladiators ride in supposed glory in their chariots around the City Circle filled with cheering fans. For the opening ceremonies in her first Game, Katniss shares a twenty-minute chariot ride with Peeta (The Hunger Games, 68–69).

  It’s interesting to note that the annual Hunger Games pit twelve couples against each other; that is, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts. Accordingly, at the opening ceremonies, there are twelve chariots, one for each couple. The Circus Maximus originally included twelve chariot races in a full day’s program. Later, the number was increased to twenty-four.

  Many gladiators in ancient Rome were professionals and well trained in all manners of fighting, including the use of weapons, just like the Careers in The Hunger Games. They fought against the beasts and common people who were ill-equipped, in most cases, to defend themselves. In The Hunger Games, winning tributes return home with prizes of housing and enough food for their families. In ancient Rome, the winners of gladiatorial battles also obtained greater freedoms and profits. However, it should be noted that Hunger Games tributes are selected by lottery, whereas the gladiators were either professionals or those imprisoned due to kidnapping, slavery, or perceived criminal activities.

  The ancient Roman, Plutarch, documented the fact that the gladiators ate lavish
public banquets before their battles. Ditto, in The Hunger Games, tributes eat incredibly rich meals before entering the arena.