Competing in, and winning, athletic competitions was for them a kind of religious ritual, as well as being good training for soldiers. These included track and field events, and also chariot-races. The Romans , not long afterward, developed a rather different kind of athletic entertainment. By around 300 BC, the Romans would gather around to watch two armed men fight each other to the death for entertainment. These men were sometimes slaves, who were forced to fight, and sometimes poor men who were being paid to fight.
Nobody is sure how gladiatorial games got started.
They may have had something to do with funerals at first. In the Islamic Empire , gladiatorial games and chariot-racing went out of fashion, although men continued to fight animals as entertainment. Less deadly team sports now came more into style, particularly polo, which was also taken over by the Eastern Roman Empire. Horse-racing remained popular, and knights fought each other for prizes in tournaments.