Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how the phenomenon of mass social rituals, produced and enjoyed collectively by large segments of a social community, have been a consistent element of human civilization from earliest times. The paper looks at how Donald Kyle, in his "Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome", examines one of the most famous, and notorious, examples of this phenomenon: the inventive public slaughter of humans and animals in the arenas of ancient Rome. This paper critically reviews Kyle's text and his primary arguments, with particular comparative reference to similar practices of ritualized violence in ancient Aztec civilization. This comparative analysis is shown to reinforce Kyle's contention that such mass ritualized violence is of enormous political, social and even religious significance as a culturally unifying practice.

From the Paper:

"The phenomenon of mass social rituals, produced and enjoyed collectively by large segments of a social community, have been a consistent element of human civilization from earliest times. Donald Kyle, in his "Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome", examines one of the most famous, and notorious, examples of this phenomenon: the inventive public slaughter of humans and animals in the arenas of ancient Rome. This essay will critically review Kyle's text and his primary arguments, with particular comparative..."

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