Re:The Surprising Roots of Ancient Rome's Gladiator Fights
by rawgabbit on Friday January 12, 2024 @05:42PM
(#38975172)
Rome was not civilized by modern standards. They celebrated wars of conquest. They enslaved those who could not pay their capricious taxes. They were in Nietzsche’s phrasing acting out their will to power. A euphemism for doing whatever they can get away with.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:The Surprising Roots of Ancient Rome's Gladiator Fights
by majoe on Saturday January 13, 2024 @05:17AM
(#38978625)
Civilized is such an overloaded term. What you and other commenters are lamenting is a lack of human rights, not a lack of civilization.
We often take human rights for granted, but in antiquity (less so in the Middle ages) the only rights, that you could possess, were by virtue of your citizenship.