What purpose did they serve gladiator in Rome?

I heard a while ago that the reason they had gladiator matches in ancient Rome was to keep the public satisfied and away from political issues. Is this true or false or can anyone explain this to me what exactly the reason was.|||Gladiator match's- think of them as old version of 'survivor'. Public entertainment in simpler, rougher times. Remember that many of the gladiators were war prisoners and criminals, untrustworthy slaves- the games were a form of public execution a lot of times. Killing by wild animals- 'bestirium' could get expensive, having the condemned people kill each other was cheaper and made a lesson, the few survivors were incentive to fight better to survive, made better spectacle. Disruptive Romans were reminded that troublemaker could end up with them in arena at pointy end of 'gladius'(short stabbing sword) or wrapped in net being poked by trident of Retorius. Mixed weapons fights of 'barbarians' was a little training lesson for some of the troops, made for a political lesson also- Roman weapons and training were what kept 'barbarians' out of Rome- don't complain about some costs and troops behavior. .|||Well, a tried and true method of keeping the "plebs", as they were so often referred to in HBO's Rome, happy was to give them Bread and circuses.





The circuses in the early days were horse races, the word circus came from a name for a race course.





The gladiatorial games evolved from an Etruscan custom known as funerary games. An important person would die, and his family would sponsor duels to the death in his honor, featuring slaves as the combatants.





The idea of using slaves for this was carried on by the Etruscan subjects who overthrew the Etruscans as the gladiatorial games. They later began holding contests at other times than funerals for the important men. By the late first century BC, Julius Caesar found that sponsoring games and handing out free food would get the "plebs" on his side, when it came time to vote for the post of consul, a post he very much wanted. This post was held by two different men, for one year only, and they were elected by the common people, of the plebean class.





The games continued this practice under the Empire, bread would be thrown to the crowd at the beginning of the day, and the games went on all day long. Bread doesn't sound like much, but it was the foundation of the Roman diet at the time. This was a more whole grain bread, generally more nutritious than the variety we eat that has had most of the nutrients bleached out and then re-added.





The gladiatorial games continued into the Common Era, banned by Constantine the Great in the fourth century. After that, the games were horse races once again.|||It was just for fun like corrida, or boxe or wrestling. It was for the game, the beauty of death and violence. Like a Tarantino movie, except for real.|||Gladiators were also used for perfomed racail or reglious cleansing. The Colossusem was used


to train to soliders for combat.