# How did the lions get to Rome? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662 "2010-10-10T03:12:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/1 "2010-10-10T03:12:30Z")
Back when Romans fed Christians to lions, how did the lions get to Rome? I know that they bought them from traders, but how were they transported to Rome? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/2 "2010-10-10T07:58:57Z")
There used to be lions in Europe. > **[History of lions in Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Lion)** > > The history of lions in Europe is based on fossils of Pleistocene and Holocene lions excavated in Europe since the early 19th century. > The first lion fossil was excavated in southern Germany, and described by Georg August Goldfuss using the scientific name Felis spelaea. It probably dates to the Würm glaciation, and is 191,000 to 57,000 years old. > Older lion skull fragments were excavated in Germany and described by Wilhelm von Reichenau under Felis fossilis in 1906. These are estimat Historical ... ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/3 "2010-10-10T08:36:05Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > There used to be lions in Europe. In addition there was a lively trade from North Africa, which at one time was far more megafauna-rich than it is today. The [Barbary Lion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_lion) lasted into the early 20th century and it was a short boat trip from Tunis to Rome. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/4 "2010-10-10T13:19:24Z")
They took that left turn at Albuquerque. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/5 "2010-10-10T13:40:51Z")
How did they capture live animals in the days before tranquilizer guns? Traps and such? It sounds pretty scary. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/6 "2010-10-10T14:40:28Z")
Just to be clear, [we don’t really know if the Romans fed Christians to lions.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2841/were-christians-really-thrown-to-the-lions) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/7 "2010-10-10T14:53:33Z")
Catueducts. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/8 "2010-10-10T16:08:40Z")
From that link: > [@](#): > > In his Natural History Pliny the Elder tells us lions were originally hard to catch (the idea was to chase them into covered pits), but later it was discovered they could be subdued by throwing a cloak over their heads. Elephants were captured and tamed by beatings and starvation. A major source of animals was the Roman army, which had a special rank (venator immunis) for those in charge of animal procurement. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/9 "2010-10-10T16:40:13Z")
John H. White Jr., former transportation curator at the Smithsonian Institution wrote that the Romans transported animals in cages from tropial Africa for arena games. White cited this as the earliest known form of containerized transportation of goods\* \*John H. White, Jr., “Containers: An Idea Whose Time Came Centuries Ago,” \*Intermodal Age \*Oct. 1985, pp.42-44 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/10 "2010-10-10T16:56:05Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How did they capture live animals in the days before tranquilizer guns? Traps and such? It sounds pretty scary. Human life was alot cheaper in the olden days. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/11 "2010-10-10T18:06:32Z")
So was animal life. It’s a lot easier to capture animals when you don’t have to worry about the supervision by the Humane Society. In other words, who cares if three lions die before you’re able to capture one live one? ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/12 "2010-10-10T18:18:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So was animal life. It’s a lot easier to capture animals when you don’t have to worry about the supervision by the Humane Society. In other words, who cares if three lions die before you’re able to capture one live one? And you ship 25 and only 3 survive the trip. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/13 "2010-10-10T19:19:55Z")
Traps? They could work metal or just dig a big hole and bait a lion to it or lure it into the hole. I mean I am sure one got out of its cage at least once ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/14 "2010-10-10T19:24:24Z")
Are we discounting the fact that they can be bred in captivity? ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/15 "2010-10-10T21:54:38Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > > How did they capture live animals in the days before tranquilizer guns? Traps and such? It sounds pretty scary. > > Human life was alot cheaper in the olden days. Yeah, maybe they used Christians to capture the lions. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/16 "2010-10-10T23:22:15Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > how were they transported to Rome? As cubs? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/17 "2010-10-11T01:03:15Z")
First Class all the way, as befitting the kings of the jungle. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/18 "2010-10-11T01:34:56Z")
I recall reading in some of Cicero’s letters a young aedile (Caelius?) pestering the orator to send him panthers for upcoming games. This was when Cicero was govenor of Cilicia near the Black Sea. That’s not lions, I know, but it indicates that the transport of exotic animals across large stretches of the empire was a well-managed business. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/19 "2010-10-11T03:18:08Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > There used to be lions in Europe. > > [History of lions in Europe - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Lion) I did _not_ know that. Huh. So many species, gone forever. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662/20 "2010-10-11T03:27:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How did they capture live animals in the days before tranquilizer guns? Traps and such? It sounds pretty scary. Ever heard of a [sop for Cerberus](http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-soptoCerberusgivea.html)? I’ll bet folks were clever enough to work that trick with non-mythological beasts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-lions-get-to-rome/556662.md?page=2)