A lot of the participants in the arena weren't criminals or even prisoners; many were contracted athletes. Death battles were, if I recall correctly, fairly uncommon as it's more expensive than just beating the crap out of each other and being able to walk off after.
A lot of things occurred in the arena, including public executions (often of Christians). The money that the arenas made was astonishing, relatively dwarfing that of modern athletics. Much of that money went to athletes, but there was a whole industry around it, including, I believe, gambling.
Some really crazy events happened there; they even had a mechanism of converting the center for use in naval battles and stuff.
Just as an added note;
A lot of the participants in the arena weren't criminals or even prisoners; many were contracted athletes. Death battles were, if I recall correctly, fairly uncommon as it's more expensive than just beating the crap out of each other and being able to walk off after.
A lot of things occurred in the arena, including public executions (often of Christians). The money that the arenas made was astonishing, relatively dwarfing that of modern athletics. Much of that money went to athletes, but there was a whole industry around it, including, I believe, gambling.
Some really crazy events happened there; they even had a mechanism of converting the center for use in naval battles and stuff.
The center for naval battles! I have never heard that before. I am most familiar with the amount of saints that have died in there though.