APRIL 5 th :
Venationes Munera Gladiatoria ( quarters ) Certamen Historicum 2 Certamen Latinum 2
__________________________________
VENATIONES :
Presented by : Marcus Cassius Philippus
Marcus Cassius Philippus
is here to announce the results of the Venationes for Nova Roma. The stands are
full of our citizens waiting in anticipation for the bloody action to start.
Here it is:
The roar of the audience is deafening as the mostly naked and surprisingly
gorgeous gladiatrix, Bobita the Retiaria, whose contract is owned by the
honorable Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus enters the sandy arena. Everybody knows
where and with whom she sleeps! This lithe little blonde from Pannonia has the
cruelest reputation of any gladiator or gladiatrix in many a year. She is
absolutely fearless and shows it in the way she swaggers out into the arena
twirling her net. A hush comes over the crowd as the lion named Liokos owned by
Caius Arminius Reccanellus charges into the arena from his opening cage. Long
drool hangs from his massive jaws as he stares her down. He circles Bobita as
she cautiously turns to follow his movements. Suddenly Liokos springs up at her
and in an eyeblink decapitates the beautiful young woman. She doesn't feel a
thing but inexplicably finds herself staring sideways from the ground at her own
falling body a few feet away. It is violently gushing blood from the neck high
into the air and the realization of what has just occurred shows on her face
before she fades away into death. The crowd is stunned at the shortness of the
engagement. Lentulus wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. He will miss his
little tigress, but not as much as the money he just lost.
After the arena is cleared out of the bloody and partially eaten headless corpse
and the lion is recaged the arena is now ready for the next engagement. The
honorable Quintus Fabius Uranicus has provided these games with his
extraordinarily bloody Thraex, Ultramontanus. As he enters the arena there is no
doubt in anyone's mind that this ex-butcher's apprentice hates animals as he
shouts vile curses at the caged beasts set into the concrete walls surrounding
the arena. A tiger named Tigrinus, also owned by Reccanellus looks just as
starved as his other entry. He growls hungrily at Ultramontanus as he exits his
cage crouching under the lifting gate. He circles around the gladiator gauging
him before charging directly at his prey. Ultramontanus does something
unexpected, while the tiger is circling, he has cut open his left inner forearm
which holds his small rectangular scutum (shield) with his sword and has bled
into a rag that he pulled out from beneath his manica (arm guard) and now throws
near the tiger. The tiger is confused by the smell of this little gift and
sniffs at it instead of charging him. This is exactly what Ultramontanus
expected and uses this distraction to blind side the tiger with a quick forward
dive with his sword thrusting ahead. He manages to stab Tigrinus in the side of
his neck as the surprised tiger turns to face him. The tiger goes down wounded.
The crowd boos the gladiator for this unmanly trick. Ultramontanus could care
less. He gesticulates at the crowd and exits the arena happy to be alive to
fight again.
Again the arena is made ready for the next fight. This time Ursula, a small
female bear is set lose from her cage. The resemblance in the way this bear
enters the arena compared to Bobita is uncanny. She has also been provided by
Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus. Lentulus seems to have a thing for small cruel
females, we won't go into it here but it is worth mentioning. A wild boar named
Faex provided for our entertainment by Quintus Fabius Uranicus charges out of
his cage directly at the small bear and knocks her over backwards and starts to
shake his head directly into her belly attempting to gore her with his horny
tusks. The bear quickly and instinctively rolls away from her adversary as she
swipes at him with her claws. As soon as she is back on her feet she quickly
runs away from the boar. The boar gives chase but is abruptly stopped by the
walls of the arena. Faex has climbed up the wall and as the audience scrambles
out of her way screaming in horror she runs up through the seating and out
through one of the vomitoriums (exits) of the arena into the streets. We hope
she is captured and killed quickly before she kills anyone in her panic. Faex is
declared the winner and is carefully herded back into his cage by the arena
slaves. The crowd is wildly applauding.
Next up is a rhino named Attila, owned by Lentulus, who hasn't fared well at
these games so far and is starting to look worried about his finances. This is
his third and final entry in these games and the Subura bookies sitting close by
are smiling at him avariciously. Rumor has it that his luxurious villa in
Pompeii is very much at stake in these games. His rhino is to fight a wicked
wild boar named Miss Piggy owned by Diana Octavia Aventina. Both animals are
uncaged and the wild boar upon seeing her adversary keeps her distance by
running around the arena very close to the walls. The rhino just stands there
turning his head to keep his eyes on her as she continues to run around and
around the arena. The crowd starts to get fidgety as the rotations continue.
Finally, a guard throws a pilum (spear) down into the arena just in front of her
and in order to avoid running into it she turns and continues to run but this
time, towards the center of the arena and the waiting rhino. As she
unfortunately passes close in front of him he explodes into her, picks her up by
his long horn and hurls her about five meters up into the air. She twirls twice,
high in the air and is instantly killed as she lands on her head breaking her
neck with a very audible crunch. A small cloud of dust plumes up as she settles
on the sand and the rhino instinctively stamps out what he thinks is a small
fire as rhinos are known to do. In this case totally flattening Miss Piggy, the
boar who thought she was really a unicorn, into what resembles a ham pizza. An
great sigh of relief escapes Lentulus's mouth as his buxomly female companion
hugs him wildly. She is looking forward to staying at his great seaside villa in
Pompeii during the heat of the Roman summer which is fast approaching.
Shortly after the rhino and the boar carcass are removed from the arena two
bears enter. One, owned by Quintus Fabius is named Pilosus. He faces the bear
named Shardik, owned and greatly hated by Diana Octavia. Shardik is heavily
favored at eight to one odds by the bookies and does not disappoint them as he
makes quick work of Pilosus. Shardik completely disembowels the hapless Pilosus
in about the time it takes to pull a small hanky out of a Toga's sinus (pocket).
The crowd roars in approval and Shardik is automatically slated to advance to
the finals.
The semi-finals are now ready to go on.
First up is Liokos the lion against Ultramontanus the Thraex. Ultramontanus
again does his little blooded rag trick, this time with the blood of one of the
carcasses, but this time the lion does not fall for it. He is after all, not all
that hungry after tasting the delicacy of Bonita's more than ample breasts and
one of her pale thighs for brunch. He wishes he could have gotten one of her
feet to use as a tooth pick. He is interested in only one thing...getting this
over with so he can take his mid-day feline nap after such a nice meal. He
cautiously circles around the gladiator in increasingly tighter and tighter
circles and when the egocentric gladiator gesticulates angrily at the crowd for
the booing he has been receiving since he entered the arena this time around,
the lion pounces on him.
Ultramontanus barely gets his small scutum (shield) up in time to prevent having
his head taken off just like Bobita but is thrown to the ground by the impact.
He wraps his legs and arms around the torso of the lion in a desperate attempt
to avoid his gaping mouth. Liokos shakes him off and gets a hold of his manica
(arm guard). Off comes Ultramontanus's arm. He lets out a blood curdling scream
as the blood gushes out of his right shoulder. The scream ends suddenly as
Liokos clamps on to his throat and shakes his head violently. Another
decapitated corpse to clean up. Liokos lifts his blood soaked maned head and
roars loudly at the audience then saunters back to his cage for his catnap. The
crowd goes into a roar of its own approvingly.
Attila the rhino and Faex the boar next enter the arena. This boar is ignorantly
unimpressed by the rhino and unwittingly charges it. Attila emits the rhino
equivalent of a chuckle as it easily wards off the boar's charge. The boar looks
confused, he has never experienced anything like this animal who chuckles at his
best attack. He is shaken badly by this and starts to turn away towards his
cage. The rhino, without any hesitation rams him from behind and skewers him
like a pork shiskabob from his anus to his mouth on his enormous horn. It's over
quickly and he parades around the arena with Faex impaled on his horn.
Liokos is extremely angry at being awakened to fight again and he roars as he
enters the arena. This time he faces Attila who is visibly agitated from all the
parading he has been doing with Faex impaled on his horn. It took quite a while
to get him to release his prize since no one was willing to do it. Finally a
squad of the arena's guards gets him to drop the boar and they don't even bother
to remove the boar carcass because of Attila's aggressive behavior. It is at
this moment that Liokos enters the arena. Liokos charges and pounces on Attila's
back, digging his claws and fangs into the rhino as he continues to run amok in
the arena. Attila does everything that he can to get Liokos off of his back. he
jumps, he runs, he charges the wall head-on but nothing will dislodge the angry
lion from his back. Finally he rears up and the lion slides off. Attila, tired
and not willing to give fight anymore runs and rams into his cage door breaking
it open. He pushes it out of the way and instantly disappears into the dark
tunnels of the arena under the stands presumably looking for his stall. The
audience is ecstatic with the performance of the lion.
Liokos is not allowed to retire into his cage this time, further infuriating
him. The final match is now on between him and the heavily favored bear named
Shardik. Diana bets against Shardik hoping that he will be killed. She despises
Senator Palladius for making a gift of him to her. The bastard has hated her
ever since she ignored his amorous advances during the Saturnalia festivities a
couple of months ago. She hopes that the senator loses heavily on this bout. She
has learned from her spies that he has bet heavily on Shardik. She has sent her
agents around the city to find out what animal the senator is terrified of in
order to give him that as gift in return.
Shardik enters the arena and the two animals cautiously eye each other at a
distance. Liokos begins his attack by crawling very close to the ground,
appearing to be as small as possible to his opponent. Liokos charges him without
any further hesitation. Shardik gets a paw up in time to prevent Liokos from
getting him by the neck. This has just cost him his paw and part of his foreleg
now ripped to shreds. He falls backward with the lion falling on top of him and
going to town with his lower claws on the hapless bear's belly. The bear tries
desperately to kick him off with his three remaining limbs but by now Liokos has
him by the throat and quickly dispatches him with a violent shake of his great
maned head. The crowd explodes into applause.
The winner of the Venationes is Liokos the lion, owned by Arminius Reccanellus.
The only ones happier than him are the bookies who took in millions of cesterces
on the favorite Shardik...and of course Diana who has finally gotten rid of the
hated Shardik : )
Humbly submitted from the stands of the arena with a much lighter purse,
Marcus Cassius Philippus
__________________________________
MUNERA GLADIATORIA ( quarters ) :
Presented by : Quintus Iulius Probus
Today is a sunny day at Circus Maximus where the Munera Gladiatoria begins
with the first fight of the quarters, the fight between 2 of the finest
gladiators: Rus, a Retiarus sponsored by hon. citizen Arminus Recanellus
and Spartacus a Murmillo owned by the quaestor Cornelius Lentulus.
The crowd is noisy and plenty of shouts announce the entrance of
Spartacus,who managed to gain the respect of the citizens and after that
enters Rus who's great blue eyes broke a lot of the ladies hearts.
The fight begins.
Encouraged by the feminin side of the audience Rus attacks first throwing
the net over Spartacus, but this one calculate his moves very good and
strafes left before the trident strike of Rus. Rus continues to attack in
force not leting Spartacus other way but back.
Spartacus waits for a breach in the defense of Rus, and when Rus take a
step too much in his attack Spartacus manage to straf right and come in
the back of Rus putting the Gladius at the Retiarus neck.
With Rus fighting brave and madly, and husbands softened by their wives
words, Rus' life is spared
The second fight of the finals is between Kuntakinteh a Thraex owned by
the same honorable Arminus Recanellus and Oenomaeus who is also a Thraex
owned by the questor Cornelius Lentulus
The audience is delirious at the hearing of the battle between two
Thraexes.
First enters Kuntakinteh the strong Nubian full of scars that shows that
he rather dies but loose. He is followed by Oenomaeus who gained the
respect and fear of the audience. When he roars and attacks nothing will
stay in his way. The fight begins both gladiators have the same equipement.
Kuntakinteh attacks just to test the oponent strenght and then falls back
really quick. Oenomaeus sees the move but decide to stay in defense waiting for
the next moove.
Kuntakinteh begins his real attacks with his Sicca that have seen many
victories but few victims because is well known that he never kills for
pleasure. Oenomaeus strafe and defend behind the Parmula but then he roars
really loud that the crowd is stoned, and begins a massive attack on
Kuntakinteh and one of his hits is followed by a massive flow of blood
from Kuntakinteh neck. Kuntakinteh folls to the groud and gives his last
breath and for the first time in his life Oenomaeus falls to his knees and
put the sword gently on
Kuntakinteh chest showing his respect for his enemy. That was a bad day for
Arminus Recanellus but a very good one for Cornelius Lentulus.
The third fight is between Brutus a Hoplomachus owned by hon. Fabius
Uranicus and Retiarus the Viking as the name says a Retiarus owned by the
charming Octavia Aventina.
And the fight begins.
Brutus throws himself in the battle even knowing that he has no chance in
front of the Viking. Retiarus the Viking strafe and begins an attack like
the hell on Earth but by surprise Brutus manages to stay alive and
unharmed. With the last drop of his attack Retiarus the Viking , who is
well known by his escapades in the ladies bedrooms, throws the net over
the head of the unexperienced gladiator and grab his neck looking at the
crowd to find the answer to brake it or not, but the crowd decides to
spare the life of Brutus because he had show no fear in fighting one of
the most feared gladiators.
The last battle for today is being fought between Orpheus a Murmillo owned
by the same honorable Fabius Uranicus and Baro a Hoplomachus owned by the
sweet lady Aurelia Falco Silvana.
The fight begins with Orpheus attacks on Baro who is also known as the
Clumsy, but do not judje him wrong because that is his fighting technique.
Orpheus continues with the attacks on Baro who is falling on the ground
because of a wrong step made in the left side when strafeing, Orpheus rise
his sword but Baro rolls over and breach the defense
of Orpheus ending a blitz fight. The crowd spare the life of Orpheus but
does not realize even now what happened and how could a gladiator who made a
wrong step win a battle so quick.
The quarters are over the crowd is going home comenting about the shortest fight
that they ever seen.
______________________________
CERTAMEN HISTORICUM 2 :
Presented by : Tita Artoria Marcella.
1. Questions :
Question #3:
The Battle of Zama was
the name given by Cornelius Nepos roughly 150 years after the battle occured.
What other name was the battle known by? (1pt.)
Question #4:
Scipio's use of cavalry
turned the tide at Zama and led to his victory and the subsequent surrender of
Carthage. (2 pts.)
a) What were the names of the two men
that led his cavalry units?
b) What were the terms of Carthage's
surrender?
2. Answers :
Question #3:
The Battle of Naraggara
Question #4:
Carthage was confined to a certain area in Africa; but self-governing within its
borders. All of its other dependencies outside Africa, including those in
Spain, were to be surrendered to
Rome. Carthage had to return any prisoners of war and deserters, surrender all
war elephants, and give up all warships except ten triremes.
Carthage was required to pay a war
indemnity of 10,000 talents over a period of fifty years, in instalments of 200
talents each year.
100 hostages were to be handed over.
Carthage was to return to Masinissa
all the lands which had belonged to him and/or his ancestors.
Carthage was not to make war on any
people outside Africa at all, and none in Africa without the consent of Rome.
