Rome killed many thousands of people & animals in elaborate public spectacles. This provocative book asks not only who the victims were, and why they were killed in such a brutal fashion, but what happened to their bodies.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Violent Spectacles and Roman Civilization; Chapter 2 The Phenomenon: The Development and Diversity of Roman Spectacles of Death; Chapter 3 The Victims: Differentiation, Status, and Supply; Chapter 4 Death, Disposal, and Damnation of Humans: Some Methods and Messages; Chapter 5 Disposal from Roman Arenas: Some Rituals and Options; Chapter 6 Arenas and Eating: Corpses and Carcasses as Food?; Chapter 7 Rituals, Spectacles, and the Tiber River; Chapter 8 Christians: Persecutions and Disposal; Chapter 9 Conclusion: Hunts and Homicides as Spectacles of Death;