 Little literary evidence survives of the activities of the gladiatorial training and fighting ( ludi ) . They appear to have followed the standard format of the Roman games : animal entertainments in the morning session , followed by the executions of criminals around midday , with the afternoon session reserved for gladiatorial combats and recreations of famous battles . The animal entertainments , which featured creatures from throughout the Roman Empire , included extravagant hunts and fights between different species . Animals also played a role in some executions which were staged as recreations of myths and historical events . Naval battles formed part of the spectacles but whether these took place in the amphitheatre or on a lake that had been specially constructed by Augustus is a topic of debate among historians . 
