Games of Distraction: Bread and Circuses in the Roman Empire

This is the story of how subsidized grain and violent gladiatorial games were part of a Machiavellian political strategy by the Roman elite to keep the masses under control.

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Sources Consulted:

Beard, M. (2015) SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (London: Profile Books).
Brantlinger, P. (1983) Bread and Circuses: Theories of Mass Culture as Social Decay (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).
Fox, R.L. (2006) The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome (London: Penguin Books).
Killeen, F. (1953/54) ‘Bread and Circuses,’ Journal of Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, 25:3/4, 67-77.
Machiavelli, N. (Translation Constantine, P.) (2009) The Prince (London: Vintage Books) quote p.69.
Potter, D. (2013) The Emperors of Rome: The Story of Imperial Rome from Julius Caesar to the Last Emperor (London: Quercus Editions Ltd).

Note: the sources consulted to construct this narrative do not necessarily endorse the narrative constructed.

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