The Romans were more about lions -- Libyan lions, specifically. These animals (if they existed, and likely they did) are extinct now -- supposedly because Roman animal-hunters destroyed the population, hunting them down for use in the arena.
According to ancient sources they were up to 7 feet long and had saber-like teeth. One of the more famous incidents was when one of them nearly killed Emperor Hadrian, and his boytoy Antinous took it out with a spear-thrust, saving the Emperor's life -- a scene immortalized on a marble frieze or two.
The Romans did some incredibly twisted and cruel stuff in the arena -- sad as it is to say, as horrifying as "Sign of the Cross" is, it's nearly G-rated to what more likely happened in the arenas across the empire (not just at Rome -- in fact I've read that the arena in Ephesus was more known for its excesses of cruelty).
But yes, they did train animals to do certain things to the female (and male) captives bound to stakes on the arena floor. All just another segment of the day's festivities...
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14 years ago
Lions--certainly existed. Known as the Barbary Lion, they were found in the Atlas mountains of Northern Africa. This was the largest subspecies of lion and the last one in the wild was killed in 1922.
Tigers--Caspian Tigers were found in modern Turkey and around the Black Sea. This tiger subspecies also lasted into the 20th century.
Elephants--the Atlas Elephant was found in North Africa and apparently lasted into the middle ages. These are the elephants which Hannibal used. They were a relatively small subspecies, smaller than the Indian Elephant and much smaller than the African Elephant.
Gorilla--the Romans did not know about gorillas.
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