Does history ever repeat itself? Maybe so because the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is, in a way, a repeat of the Greek myth about the Minotaur. In addition, the tributes, children sent to fight in The Hunger Games, train in the same way the Roman gladiators did in the past. Although The Hunger Games is purely fictional, pieces of history helped form the idea.

The Greek myths are very close in comparison to The Hunger Games in the way both types of stories have heroes and challenges to overcome. The gamemakers are like the Greek Gods in the way they control and look over the world of the heroes. The gamemakers assess the tributes. Greek heroes are like the victors of the hunger games in the way they are praised. In a Greek myth children are sacrificed to please a mythical beast called the Minotaur. In the case of the Hunger Games, the capitol of Panem, the country in The Hunger Games, is the one that is being pleased. Heroes in Greek mythology support each other just like in The Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games, Peeta supports Katniss to survive the game from the sideline. Katniss supported Peeta by healing him, feeding him, and later attempting double suicide with him so he wouldn’t be alone in death. While in the Minotaur myth, Theseus relies on Ariadne to help him kill the Minotaur, then escape the labyrinth with Ariadne’s magic string. Even though heroes are noble, they aren’t always what they are thought of to be. Theseus dumps Ariadne on a deserted Island when they were on a boat to go get engaged. The same thing happened to Peeta when Katniss said she was only pretending to love him.

On the other hand, the book is also closely related to the RomanHistory. The gladiators were used for shows in early times as far back as 324 BC. In the Hunger Games, tributes were used for shows as well. Just as people were congested in the Roman Coliseum to watch fights, so too are people in the capitol crowd around TVs during the hunger games. Just as the Gladiator fought wantonly, so too do the career tributes. Like in the Roman Coliseum, The Hunger Games take place in an arena. In both of the examples the tributes or gladiators fight man to man or against beasts. Another reason is in both the games and roman spectators watch for their amusement.

Even though there are similarities, there are also many differences. Some of the differences are very subtle, but others are very obvious. In the Greek myths, heroes are the children of the Gods. In the Hunger Games society, one could only be praised as a hero if one could survive the Hunger Games. Not only are stories told about Greek heroes, more than that some become legendary. In The Hunger Games the tributes do not become legendary because of their good deeds. The Roman Coliseum is a small desolate place where Gladiators are pitted against one another or lions, while in the hunger games the tributes are pitted solely against one another, and the arena they "play" in is very large. In the Greek myth about the Minotaur they sent 14 tributes, seven boys and seven girls, while in the Hunger games they sent 12 boy and 12 girl tributes.

History does repeat itself. The Hunger Games is like the Greek Myths and the Roman Gladiators. Now would you like to see your child slain on national television? If not, you can try to find a way to a better your future by studying the past.