Sports in Ancient Slovenia

Roman sports originated as religious and mortuary rituals. Chariot races, potentially the oldest discipline, were held to ensure bountiful harvests, while gladiatorial contests were part of funerary festivals. These games soon grew into spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators, not unlike modern sports events. Organising games of such scale and scope required a well-developed infrastructure. For towns, having circuses and arenas meant high prestige, additionally enabling them to fulfil one half of the promise of panem et circenses. The competitors mostly came from the lower classes, including slaves and criminals, but this did not prevent professionalisation. The organisations that trained gladiators and racing teams functioned much like professional sports clubs. This included selling a wide variety of sports-themed memorabilia to spectators and fans, of which there must have been some in Roman Slovenia as well, judging from small finds. They would have been familiar at least with the games of Poetovio and Emona. The latter town probably housed a gladiatorial school as well.