T he first steps to ending the gladiator games occurred during Constantine the Great's rule. He issued an edict to ban gladiator games in 346 A.D. He was under pressured by the fathers of the church from the Nicean Council. In the edict, anyone sent to the arenas should be redirected to the mines to work instead. But this edict was either ignored or temporary followed for only a short time. Constantine finding the games irrestiable, still encourage the games to be played in Etruria and during the annual festivals in Rome. After a little more then a century, changes were underway in Rome. The official religion was Christianity and the Roman empire was now ruled under Constantine II. He made his mark by officially banning soldiers and officials taking part in gladiator games. This was an edict that was truly followed.

Next came Valentinian I, who prohibited any Christians to be sent to the gladiator schools. In 399 A.D. the emperor Honorius closed down what would be the last gladiator school in the eastern province. One of the greatest impact that led to the abolishment of gladiators occured during a match. During a gladiator match, a monk jumped in and tried to pull apart the fighters,to a greate extent this angered the crowd for disrupting the fight. Eventually the crowd turned on the monk and tore him to pieces. This infuriated the emperor and the general public to such an extent that led to Honorius to completely abolishing gladiators and their games all together in 499 A.D.