Take this with a grain of salt. After all, Europeans could only contemplate why Colosseum was needed somewhere at the start of XX century. Before that, the modern concept of &quot;stadium&quot; as a place of mass watching of sport performed by professionals was unknown.<p>Yes, we only then caught up to Rome.<p>Gladiators were perhaps boxers and ice hockey players of Roman age. Yes, it was dangerous and traumatic, but rarely lethal and very famous.