The technical answer is that it was the bronze age. So, not much aside from unswamping the swamp where the Forum is now. No small feat, but certainly no lions. lol :-p

Most of the time, to my knowledge, the gladiators and gladiatrixes (the few women that there were) would actually survive many years. They were like WWE pro-wrestlers of the time period and many had very lucrative careers.

Also, generally speaking, being fed to the lions was reserved for heretics and other enemies to the Roman state (read: Christians). They were put to death in many different ways, but they were sometimes put to death by angry animals who’d been harassed previous to being released into the arenas.

If/when you get to the Colosseum, you’ll see a large cross on the outer wall facing toward St. John in Laterano and the Via del Fori Imperiali. The Colosseum was made a holy site by the Roman Catholic Church due to the large amount of martyrdom which took place there during the Pagan times of the Empire. Many early Christians were killed for their beliefs in the Colosseum and other places around the Empire.

I hope I didn’t bore you too much. ;-)