# How many people, total, died in the Roman Colosseum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036 "2003-08-22T22:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/1 "2003-08-22T22:53:24Z")
…I think it’s pretty much “all there” in the thread title. I figure this knowledge would come in handy if I a) Ever manage to visit Rome myself, or b) Want to “make a scene” while watching a romantic movie set in the Eternal City. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/2 "2003-08-22T23:05:01Z")
Everything I’ve ever read, says that you can’t trust any estimates. It seems that gladiator’s were too highly paid to be allowed to be killed frequently, so it was a rare occurance. Generally, the accounts will give an estimate of the number of folks killed during some _other_ guys reign, and not whomever the current Ceaser happened to be. So if you’re looking for a copy of the _Roman Sporting News_, ya probably ain’t gonna find it. Of course, I fully expect one of our Doper historians to show up shortly after I post this and prove me totally wrong. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/3 "2024-11-20T17:06:15Z")
@APB (Does 21 years count as “shortly”?) ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/4 "2024-11-20T19:27:45Z")
Well, since you ask… Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard attempted some back-of-the-envelope calculations in their 2005 book, _The Colosseum_. Beard completed that after Hopkins had died and, as Hopkins was always good on statistics, this was presumably one of the bits he had drafted. Their ‘best tentative guesstimate’ was that there may have been about 8,000 human deaths in total (not just gladiators) _per annum_ in arenas across the whole empire, of which about 2,000 may have been in Rome (pp. 93-4). But that was clearly offered as not anything more than a very rough guess. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/5 "2024-11-20T20:04:25Z")
Is this just about gladiator fights? How about the Christians used as lion food? ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/6 "2024-11-20T20:18:11Z")
That was my first thought as well. Interesting topic. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/7 "2024-11-20T21:01:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Is this just about gladiator fights? How about the Christians used as lion food? It was all deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/8 "2024-11-20T22:10:43Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Everything I’ve ever read, says that you can’t trust any estimates. It seems that gladiator’s were too highly paid to be allowed to be killed frequently, so it was a rare occurance. Not all events in the Colosseum were gladiator matches, though. There were also public executions, or fights so lopsided that they amounted to the same thing, and events that weren’t supposed to involve deaths but sometimes did accidentally. I’ve heard, for instance, that animal-tamer shows were very popular, where a performer would be showing off some dangerous animal, but just like now, sometimes the animal decides to take a bite out of the tamer. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/9 "2024-11-21T01:44:10Z")
The Perfect Master on Christians and lions: > **[Were Christians really thrown to the lions?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343939/were-christians-really-thrown-to-the-lions)** ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/10 "2024-11-21T02:18:16Z")
Is it OK for me to say it is amazing to see a FQ thread that was quite the interesting topic, and it received a grand total whopping response number of ONE back in 2003! Wow! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/11 "2024-11-21T02:59:09Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > It seems that gladiator’s were too highly paid to be allowed to be killed frequently, so it was a rare occurance Right- the real “professional” gladiators were too valuable to kill off- not that they didnt occasionally die. > [@TriPolar](#): > > How about the Christians used as lion food? Maybe a few, but- > **[Were Christians fed to the lions?](https://www.badancient.com/claims/lions-christians/)** > > We all think we know that Christians were regularly fed to lions by pagan Romans, and this likely did happen. But is it an isolated phenomenon specifically targeted at a new and radical sect? ### CONCLUSION _Many men and women were killed by diverse beasts in Roman arenas for a diverse list of offences. Statistically, at least one of the Christians condemned to damnatio ad bestias was killed by a lion, but the very mundanity of this death from a Roman perspective meant that it has faded into historical obscurity. As for Christian sources, their bias, purpose and dating render them unsatisfactory evidence._ _It is for this reason that we have rated this claim as misleading._ > [@Chronos](#): > > There were also public executions, or fights so lopsided that they amounted to the same thing, Right- they’d give the condemned a wood sword and sent him vs a armed and armored gladiator. IIRC this was kinda comedy act in a way. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/12 "2024-11-21T21:08:50Z")
What would happen if the intended victim prevailed by some chance? Like the guy with a wooden sword conked the gladiator on the head and killed him. Would he be released? Or would they just send out another gladiator to finish him off? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-total-died-in-the-roman-colosseum/197036/13 "2024-11-21T21:12:02Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > What would happen if the intended victim prevailed by some chance? Like the guy with a wooden sword conked the gladiator on the head and killed him. Would he be released? IIRC, in the earlier days, yes, he was released.