Moral Dilemmas

With every choice in life there is a little voice inside our head that always asks “is this the right thing to do?” Immediately, it weighs through the pros and cons of all the different outcomes and one proceeds to make the choice he or she thinks is best. That voice weighs all of ones inner beliefs against the choice that is about to be made. Inner beliefs entails a variety of things but especially ones morals. As seen in the DeFelice reading, there are three particular acts associated with specific locations that are deemed to be immoral. I am going to proceed by examining one of these acts in close detail as I partake in it as well.

Hi my name is Geoffrey and I probably have a gambling addiction. Now, I do not gamble in the traditional sense: playing cards games, dice, the typical casino actions. Rather, I sports bet. My love affair with sports has resulted in me partaking in this activity for the last year. Boy has it been a wild year. I love basketball so I mostly bet on the NBA games. I thought I knew something about the sport, but quickly realized while I may know the sport, I don’t know how to gamble on it. Small petty bets on one game a day quickly started to become betting on three or so games a day and it has grown to be a vicious cycle.

I harp on gambling because it was done back in Pomepii as well. While they did not have online betting servers, like todays world, I tried to find the various games besides the normal gladiator fights that they’d bet on. It can be deduced from various mosaics and graffiti that the betting took place in the various bars throughout the city. From pictures like [A] (at the bottom) to simple wall paintings at popina that read “fighting over gambling will not be tolerated”, one can see that a game with dice is being played. For the actual name of the game, I’m unsure and lack resources in finding out. What we do know is that as dice were found in Pompeiian ruins as well it was clearly a popular game. Another image discovered is a picture of cockfighting [B]. Cockfighting turned out to be a popular sport back in the day. It is said to be passed down from the Etruscan. Calling it a “sport” makes me laugh to be quite honest. Allegedly, roosters were fed onions and garlic to strengthen them for the all important battles at hand.

Gambling was very illegal and frowned upon morally as everyone knows. Of course that didn’t stop anyone including emperors from partaking. The drinking and aggressive culture spurred from the events could lead to fights which is why it was considered an immoral act As one who gets very animated about gambling I can only try to fathom how violent the situations became back in ancient times. There is one event where gambling was legal. Funny enough, it is actually a festival named Saturnalia in honor of the god Saturn. The festival is known for the rare event where slaves and masters were considered equal and were allowed to gamble at the same tables. This festival lasted numerous days and entail raucous partying. How ironic is it that an immoral act of gambling is legalized for a festival of the gods? What does this tell us about religion in ancient Pompeii.

After studying these gambling techniques and activities, I try to rationalize my own decisions in gambling….at least I’m not getting into fights?