It's Playmobil set #4270, which the company simply calls "The Arena," and sells for a cool $95. But let's be clear: This is a Roman amphitheater, complete with gladiators, ferocious wild animals, watch guards, Emperor and representative member of the polis Romana.
On the box, that Roman citizen appears to have her thumb held down. "Why?" your child might ask.
"Well, darling, she is asking the Emperor to require that one of the gladiators in the ring -- probably the losing one -- be killed in front of everyone," is the right answer, of course.
"And what are the animals doing there? Is it like a Zoo?"
"No, my love, they are released into the arena to either kill the gladiators or be killed by them. People thought it would be fun to see what happened."
Start to explain what actually occurred in these places, and the questions will come in torrents: "What if the animals didn't want to fight that day?" "Why couldn't the gladiators fight just until they were tired?" "Why did the Emperor get to just decide if people lived or died?" "Why did people like to see fighting to the death?"
Really, can you play "Roman Arena" and not open yourself -- and your young child -- to these questions? Not to mention the slavery, the treatment of prisoners of war, the rape by animals, the carefully-staged, brutal executions of prisoners and martyrs.
Maybe you could refuse to explain anything to your kids about the realities of the Roman arena (although why, then, would you give them this particular Roman set?), but they'll still work at least some of it out. Kids are smart. They have older siblings and aunt and uncles with tin ears for age-appropriate materials and soon you'll have a full blown Coliseum operating in your living room. And, truly, can't that wait? Absolutely, people need to know this stuff. Perhaps even teenagers should be let in on the full-on depravity of ancient Rome -- but at this age?
I'm trying to think of another children's play set that would provoke more a unwelcome dive into the depravities of man than a play-Roman amphitheater. A Playmobil Guantanamo, perhaps. Or Playmobil Nazi death camp. And their horrors -- at least -- were not compounded by the added grotesquerie of their being considered mass entertainment at the time.
Pirates, I know, could be terribly mean. Knights could be as cruel as it gets. The Egyptians had their nastier practices. But I'm fine with all the Playmobil sets featuring those historical types -- cannons, cutlasses and all. I'm even okay with the other Roman stuff. A great play set-up (a castle, a house, a ship) can house all the imagined kindnesses and casual cruelties that team through any 5 to 10 year-old's mind each day. But that negative play can end when the child's need for it ends.
But when was the Roman arena anything but a theatre of (literal) cruelty?
You can guess what won't be making it onto the short list for Michael's next birthday. Not that he particularly noticed the Arena set, mercifully. He'd found something much more fascinating.
"Dad, when we are rich, can we get this?" he asked, pointing to a giant plush and vibrantly colored giant snake. It was big enough to eat the poor boy whole and I think -- when we are rich -- it will make a lovely gift.