How to capture a lion
An 1,800-year-old cemetery on the outskirts of the Roman legionary fortress town of York has been found to contain a skeleton whose pelvis was bitten by a lion. Since most of those buried there were decapitated young men, the victim was surely a gladiator. That lion must have been a major entertainment coup for the soldiers. During the reign of the emperor Augustus, 400 tigers, 250 lions and 600 leopards were slaughtered in the gladiatorial arena, together with bears, wolves, elephants, boars and other wild animals. This was one important way to win the favour of the plebs and was a very big business, employing thousands of men across the
