Sending in

the wild lions…

and corn chips!

In an angry country divided by a long list of contentious issues — politics, war, religion, race, class — it is extraordinary that so many of us can come together to celebrate a single event, like a colossal football game.

We learned Monday that about a third of all Americans, 106.5 million people, watched Sunday’s Super Bowl game, making it the most-watched TV show in U.S. history.

The Super Bowl is remarkable: part theater, part ritual combat, with a dash of sexuality and comedy thrown in. But the impulse to pit man against man seems ancient.

It’s hard to miss how the modern graphics, music, animation and sound effects all combine to produce a clash of modern gladiators; perhaps nothing does that more clearly than the heavily armored Fox “robot” who prances and air boxes on the screen.

Consulting the multi-footnoted “gladiator” entry in Wikipedia, we found the following:

“A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals and condemned criminals.”

Although our modern gladiators are not armed, violent confrontations are the highlight of the show. There are often a sprinkling of criminals on the field, and the wild animals are now just symbols and names — Colts, Lions, Tigers, Jaguars, Eagles and Rams.

As the Roman centuries rolled on, the gladiatorial games grew more and more “lavish and costly,” which certainly mirrors the growth of our Super Bowls.

Thousands of people came to circular coliseums with elevated levels of seating, clearly forerunners of our massive stadiums. And feasting and drinking were a big part of the celebration, as they remain today.

The combatants wore armor, including helmets, but they often fought to the death. While our injured gladiators are sometimes carried from the field, exceedingly few die of their injuries.

The ancient gladiators often had sponsors who spent “extravagantly on self-promotion.” These were often politicians and other powerful people, rather than today’s corn chip and soft drink makers.

And the ancient events provided “cheap, exciting entertainment for large audiences.” Unless you’ve spent heavily on a big-screen TV, a good Super Bowl party is still pretty cheap and entertaining.

In ancient Rome, the games were directed by “editors.” No kidding. Today, editors simply pit politicians against each other.

Although “coaches” now play the role of “editors” and direct the modern combatants, TV commentators provide a running interpretation of events on the playing field.

The Romans often used slaves to do their fighting. Our modern combatants are paid, and quite handsomely at that.

And the ancients also mixed a little humor with the bloodletting, allowing clowns to stage mock fights between events. Today, we break up our football action with funny ads involving inept men trying to obtain girls, beer or pizza.

Perhaps the Roman historian Titus Livius summed things up best: “A man who knows how to conquer in war is a man who knows how to arrange a banquet and put on a show.”

Indeed, in a nation at war and mired in a recession, a banquet and show are a welcome reprieve.