Resumen de Rechtliche Aspekte der Tierhetzen in Rom. Von der Republik bis in die Spätantike
Combats involving fights between a human and an animal were, in the Republic and Empire, a policy instrument as well as entertainment and were treated in a variety of ways by Roman jurists. Starting in the first century AD, as was the case in other facets of Roman spectacle, there were significant changes in staged hunts. Thus, in addition to slaves and free men, another group, in the form of convicted criminals, became increasingly important as protagonists. Infrastructure and organization were professionalized and helped bring vemtiones more into service of the emperors. It was, in the final analysis, the desire to manage their public image that motivated emperors to seek to organize and control animal combats. As the nature of the representation of the emperors changed in ways that were lasting and perceptible to those outside the emperors� immediate circle, the venationes continued in the Christian kingdoms of late antiquity.
