Voloshin D. Gladiatorial Combats as Political Mass Spectacle and Instrument of “Social Training”

D.A. Voloshin*

GLADIATORIAL COMBATS AS POLITICAL MASS SPECTACLE

AND INSTRUMENT OF “SOCIAL TRAINING”

In this article gladiatorial combats are presented in their sociopolitical aspect as an important element of election campaigns in provincial towns and as means of reinforcing of the Roman Emperors’ authority and power. Gladiatorial combats having played an important role in every day life of the Roman population are shown in their connection with the leading political processes of the considered period. The author defines the key political and ideological aspects of the problem, allowing modern researchers to speak about permanent historical experience of “technologies” of the Roman politicians. Using the discursive method and speaking about modern issues the author shows how urgent the problems of manipulation of social mind of electorate, distortion of the reality and harm of the politics of intensive “social training” are nowadays. The author pays attention to the importance of learning the historical lesson of the Roman Empire where performance for the first time in European history became a powerful political instrument.

See full version of the paper in Russian.