 The context of the Punic Wars and Rome's near-disastrous defeat at the Battle of Cannae (216 BC) link these early games to munificence, the celebration of military victory and the religious expiation of military disaster; these "munera" appear to serve a morale-raising agenda in an era of military threat and expansion.The next recorded "munus", held for the funeral of Publius Licinius in 183 BC, was more extravagant.It involved three days of funeral games, 120 gladiators, and public distribution of meat ("visceratio data") – a practice that reflected the gladiatorial fights at Campanian banquets described by Livy and later deplored by Silius Italicus.