Editing Gladiator (section)

===Decline===
The decline of the gladiatorial ''munus'' was a far from straightforward process.<ref>{{harvnb|Mattern|2002|pp=130–131}}.</ref> The [[crisis of the 3rd century]] imposed increasing military demands on the imperial purse, from which the Roman Empire never quite recovered, and lesser magistrates found their provision of various obligatory ''munera'' an increasingly unrewarding tax on the doubtful privileges of office. Still, emperors continued to subsidize the games as a matter of undiminished public interest.<ref>{{harvnb|Auguet|1994|pp=30, 32}}.</ref> In the early 3rd century AD, the Christian writer [[Tertullian]] condemned the attendance of Christians: the combats, he said, were murder, their witnessing spiritually and morally harmful and the gladiator an instrument of [[pagan]] human sacrifice.<ref>Tertullian. ''De Spectaculis'', 22.</ref> Carolyn Osiek comments:
<blockquote>
The reason, we would suppose, would be primarily the bloodthirsty violence, but his is different: the extent of religious ritual and meaning in them, which constitutes idolatry. Although Tertullian states that these events are forbidden to believers, the fact that he writes a whole treatise to convince Christians that they should not attend (''De Spectaculis'') shows that apparently not everyone agreed to stay away from them.{{sfn|Osiek|2006|p=287}}
</blockquote>

In the next century, [[Augustine of Hippo]] deplored the youthful fascination of his friend (and later fellow-convert and [[bishop]]) [[Alypius of Thagaste]], with the ''munera'' spectacle as inimical to a Christian life and [[Salvation#Christianity|salvation]].<ref>Saint Augustine, ''Confessions'', 6.8.</ref> Amphitheatres continued to host the spectacular administration of Imperial justice: in 315 [[Constantine the Great]] condemned child-snatchers ''[[ad bestias]]'' in the arena. Ten years later, he forbade criminals being forced to fight to the death as gladiators:

<blockquote>
Bloody spectacles do not please us in civil ease and domestic quiet. For that reason we forbid those people to be gladiators who by reason of some criminal act were accustomed to deserve this condition and sentence. You shall rather sentence them to serve in the mines so that they may acknowledge the penalties of their crimes with blood.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40984834 Rescript of Constantine quoted by David Potter, "Constantine and the Gladiators"], ''The Classical Quarterly'', Vol. 60, No. 2 (December 2010), p. 597</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Mosaic museum Istanbul 2007 011.jpg|thumb|A 5th-century mosaic in the [[Great Palace of Constantinople]] depicts two ''venatores'' fighting a tiger]]
This has been interpreted as a ban on gladiatorial combat. Yet, in the last year of his life, Constantine wrote a letter to the citizens of Hispellum, granting its people the right to celebrate his rule with gladiatorial games.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/564626/Constantine_and_the_Gladiators David Potter, "Constantine and the Gladiators"], ''The Classical Quarterly'', Vol. 60, No. 2 (December 2010), p. 602</ref>

In 365, [[Valentinian I]] (r. 364–375) threatened to fine a judge who sentenced Christians to the arena and in 384 attempted, like most of his predecessors, to limit the expenses of ''gladiatora munera''.<ref>See Tertullian's ''Apologetics'', 49.4 for Tertullian's condemnation of officials who sought their own "glory" by sponsoring the martyrdom of Christians.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|1998|p=78}}. Compared to "pagan" ''noxii'', Christian deaths in the arena would have been few.</ref><ref>''Codex Theodosianus'', [http://ancientrome.ru/ius/library/codex/theod/liber09.htm 9.40.8 and 15.9.1]; Symmachus. ''Relatio'', 8.3.</ref>

In 393, [[Theodosius I]] (r. 379–395) adopted [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicene]] Christianity as the [[state church of the Roman Empire|state religion of the Roman Empire]] and banned pagan festivals.<ref>''Codex Theodosianus'', 2.8.19 and 2.8.22.</ref> The ''ludi'' continued, very gradually shorn of their stubbornly pagan elements. [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] (r. 395–423) legally ended gladiator games in 399, and again in 404, at least in the [[Western Roman Empire]]. According to [[Theodoret]], the ban was in consequence of [[Saint Telemachus]]' martyrdom by spectators at a gladiator ''munus.''<ref>Telemachus had personally stepped in to prevent the ''munus''. See Theoderet's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', 5.26.</ref> [[Valentinian III]] (r. 425–455) repeated the ban in 438, perhaps effectively, though ''venationes'' continued beyond 536.<ref>''Codex Justinianus'', 3.12.9.</ref> By this time, interest in gladiator contests had waned throughout the Roman world. In the [[Byzantine]] Empire, [[Theatre of ancient Rome|theatrical shows]] and [[chariot race]]s continued to attract the crowds, and drew a generous imperial subsidy.