gladiators
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Of ancient Rome's many forms of public entertainment, the most famous and most important was the gladiatorial games or combat. Although there were other forms of entertainment, such as chariot races, gladiatorial games became one of the more attractive and idolized forms of freedom for Rome's society. Gladiatorial games were thought of as a simple form of entertainment to the crowd, much like a game of football or wrestling is today. The Etruscans introduced this type of contest and are recognized; in many Roman sources as a key in its development. However, the gladiators and the gladiatorial games we know of today are the result of the Roman culture and the way they grasped the idea and made it famous to it's people.
Before any emperors took the thrown, gladiators (also referred to as "funeral men") were used mainly for the honoring of a recently deceased family or friend. The family of the person who had passed away would assemble a display of power and wealth, with a fight between gladiators, to give the people an idea of the influence and meaning the deceased had possessed in life. Men writing their wills often made requests for this type of commemoration in connection with their funeral ceremonies. This form of gladiatorial combat had been going on in Rome and its surrounding provinces since the mid-3rd Century B.C...