In ancient Rome, within the program of a day of shows, it could not miss the damnatio ad bestias of convicted. The people who had transgressed the laws committing crimes against the Roman state were sentenced to death and, in some exceptional cases, the execution was carried out in public as a warning against the defendant and public enjoyment. The place of the fatal outcome was the building used for other shows including hunting (venationes) or gladiatorial games (munera). In other words, they were forums, circuses and amphitheaters, during the festive days. The executions also had their own space on the agenda of amusements: at noon, giving to the most squeamish attendees the opportunity to return to their homes for eating, so they could return in the afternoon to see the gladiatorial games. If at first they were mere executions, eventually they became more complex shows, called by some authors ‘mythological dramas’, in which a play was staged. The only objective of this spectacle was the final death of the convict. There were necessary three elements in those representations: the person who was going to die, and, as a secondary actor, the animal which was going to perform the execution. The play was just an excuse to execute the death penalty.Dentro del programa de un día de espectáculos en la antigua Roma no podía faltar la damnatio ad bestias de condenados. Aquellas personas que habían transgredido las leyes contra el Estado eran condenadas a muerte y, en algunos casos excepcionales, la ejecución se realizaba en público para escarmiento del reo y disfrute del público. El lugar del fatal desenlace era el edificio destinado a otros espectáculos como cacerías (venationes) o luchas de gladiadores (munera), es decir, los foros, circos y anfiteatros, durante las jornadas festivas. Además, tenían su propio espacio en la agenda de diversiones: el medio día, dando así oportunidad a los asistentes más aprensivos para volver a sus casas, comer y regresar por la tarde a ver las luchas de gladiadores. Si al principio se trataban de meras ejecuciones, con el tiempo pasaron a realizarse complejos espectáculos, denominados por algunos autores como «dramas mitológicos», en los que se escenificaba una obra teatral. El único objetivo de todo este montaje era la muerte final del reo. En estas representaciones eran necesarios básicamente tres elementos: la persona que iba a morir, la puesta en escena y, a modo de actor secundario, el animal que iba a realizar la ejecución, siendo la obra simplemente una excusa para llevar a cabo la pena de muerte.