# Lions and tigers and bears--you'll die!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-youll-die/483831>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [January 31, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-youll-die/483831 "2009-01-31T04:09:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-youll-die/483831/1 "2009-01-31T04:09:47Z")

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> **[Were Christians really thrown to the lions?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343939/were-christians-really-thrown-to-the-lions)**

> [@Cecil](#):
>
> One well-loved event was the venatio, or hunt, often conducted amid elaborately constructed scenery, including real trees, rocky hills, artificial lakes, and the like.
> 
> 1. Roman executions typically were considered a form of public spectacle. When coinciding with a game day, they usually took place during the midday break between the morning animal hunts and the afternoon gladiator matches.

So, on those days you’d pay extra for courtside, but could still find your view blocked by a hill or tree? You’d have a better view in the nosebleeds.

> [@](#):
>
> The entertainment value of executions was apparently low due to their sheer number — many people found them boring, either leaving for lunch or sticking around and writing letters to friends about the tedium.

Tedium? If they wanted tedium an orator could read them St Perpetua’s diary. They’d be screaming for the slow, painful, and graphic deaths of her and her emo friends. Yeesh.

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**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-youll-die/483831/2 "2009-01-31T23:58:01Z")

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I remember reading in a guidebook that the Roman appetite for spectacle was so voracious that entire species were made extinct through combat in the arenas. Now, the guidebook was the 1990 Let’s Go Europe, so it may not have been as thoroughly fact-checked as the New Yorker…in any event, the Christians certainly had the better of it in the end, which is why, as I’m sure Kurt Warner will tell you, they play all four quarters.

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-youll-die/483831/3 "2009-02-01T03:08:32Z")

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According to this Wikipedia page, the European Lion may have been made extinct by Roman hunting, in addition to other factors. However, it’s not known if hunting them for sport in the arenas was a factor - it claims they pitted them against bestiarii and against other animals (but doesn’t mention prisoners or Christians).

> **[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 ...