Hunts involving the slaughter of animals, especially fierce ones by other animals or by human "bestiarii" or fighters of wild beasts and sometimes of criminals by animals which were a major spectacle in Rome from 186 B.C.: The venationes supposedly displayed the ingenuity and generosity of a sponsoring politician and the reign of Rome and its power over nature by procuring exotic species (lions, panthers, bears, bulls, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and elephants).