ROMAN GLADIATORS

ROMAN GLADIATORS

What is a Gladiator?• Gladiator: One who wields a sword• Professional fighters who fought for the entertainment of civilians• Much like today’s fighters, they trained in schools• Only fought 3-4 matches per year• Paid if they were victorious

Who were the gladiators?• Typically prisoners, slaves, and prisoners of war• People who have lost their citizen rights• Free people who volunteered to fight• Females• Emperors staged their own gladiator fights, insuring that they were never wounded

How did this all begin?• Originated as a religious event• Claimed to be adopted by the Etruscans• First gladiatorial games was held in 246 BCE by Marcus and

Decimus Brutus, in honor of their father who had passed away

• The first games included the combat of three pairs of slaves• In 65 BCE, Julius Caesar organized 160 matches and built a

wooden amphitheatre just for this event• Eventually gladiatorial games became more popular and it

was more for entertainment purposes than religious

Female Gladiators

• Females were allowed to fight in the ring although there was much controversy about this

• Female fights brought larger crowds• Females did not wear helmets, to display their

hairstyle• Often fought by torch light against other

females or dwarfs

Achilla and Amazon

Where did they fight?

• The Colosseum• Arenas and amphitheatres throughout the

Roman Empire

Gladiator gear• fascina: harpoon• galea: visored helmet• galerus: metal shoulder piece• Gladius: sword• Hasta: lance• iaculum: net• manicae: leather elbow or wrist bands• ocrea: metal or boiled leather greave• parma: round shield• scutum: large oblong shield• sica: curved scimitar• subligaculum: loin cloth

Different types of gladiators

• Andabatae: jousting on horseback• Bestiarii: fought animals• Dimachaeri: fought with two swords• Equites: fought horseback with spear and

gladius• Essedari: celtics style charioteers• Hoplomachi: fully armored, fought with spear

and shield• Laquerii: used rope and noose

Gladiatorial Combat• Two Gladiators (typically two different types) would fight until

one is hurt or wounded• Wounded gladiator would hold up his index finger to represent

defeat• The crowd would then indicate whether they wished him to be

killed or spared• Thumb down meant kill, thumb up meant spare• More times than not, the crowd spared the gladiator• Rarely fought in teams• Humans verse animals• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVam_aG0kqg&feature=rel

ated

Gladiator lifestyle• Gladiators were housed in cells much like prisoners today• Fed three meals a day• Hygiene was very important in reducing the spread of diseases throughout the

gladiators• Only free men who volunteered to be gladiators were allowed to leave the

school

Free gladiators

• Gladiators were allowed to buy their freedom with money earned from fighting

• Often became teachers in the gladiator schools• Some returned to serve as gladiators again• They were adored by women; graffiti found in

Pompeii reads. “Celadus the Thracian, three times victor and three times crowned, adored by young girls.”

Most famous gladiators

• Flamma: was victorious 21 times, was defeated four times but the crowd spared him every time

• Priscus and Verus: Fought so evenly and courageously for so long that they both acknowledged defeat at the same time

• Caladus: “Caladus, the Thracian, makes all the girls sigh”

Death of a gladiator• About 1/5 of defeated gladiators were killed• Average life expectancy of gladiators was 27• It was thought that gladiators should never ask for mercy• Gladiators should not cry or flinch when being killed• Funerals of gladiators were expensive and involved long

cremation ceremonies• Families of deceased gladiators were given compensation

GLADIATOR, 2000• Russel Crow as elite gladiator Maximus• “Film is loosely based on historical events”• Problematic scenes:• Maximus is fictional• Combat was primarily one on one• Death was not as common as portrayed

American Gladiators (1989-1996)

• An American television show in the 90’s• A cast of amateur athletes competed against

the shows ‘gladiators’ in physical contests• Featured both male and female gladiators

Gladiators in the news today..Experts to preserve gladiator graveyardSponsored byStudy: Dr Michael WysockiPublished on Mon Jun 07 09:48:19 BST 2010

A team of experts from Preston’s university is helping to shed light on what is thought to be the world’s only well-preserved Roman gladiator cemetery.Skeletons, believed to be 2,000-years-old, have been brought to labs at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) after being unearthed in a residential area of York.Dr Michael Wysocki, a senior lecturer in forensic anthropology and archaeology at the university, said the finds were “internationally important discoveries”.One set of bones show bite marks inflicted by lions, bears and tigers, leading the experts to believe the area was once a gladiatorial arena.Dr Wysocki, who is leading the Preston team of forensic anthropologists and working with the York Archaeological Trust (YAT) to identify 80 sets of mostly male bones, said: “We don’t have any other potential gladiator cemeteries with this level of preservation anywhere else in the world.“The presence of bite marks is one of the strongest pieces of evidence suggesting an arena connection - it would seem highly unlikely that this individual was attacked by a tiger as he was walking home from the pub in York 2,000 years ago.”The dig for the remains, which has lasted 10 years so far, features in a documentary, ‘Gladiators: Back From The Dead’, due to be shown on Channel 4 next Monday.Kurt Hunter-Mann from YAT, who is leading the dig, said the gladiators appeared to come from different parts of the Roman Empire.He said that suggestions the men could have been soldiers or even criminals had been considered and dismissed.The expert said: “At present our lead theory is that many of these skeletons are those of Roman gladiators but the research is continuing and we must keep an open mind.”

http://www.lep.co.uk/lifestyle/experts_to_preserve_gladiator_graveyard_1_782515

What do you think?• Why do you think gladiators were held like prisoners?

– Gladiators were much more powerful than the average citizen and could be capable of forming a small, powerful army if they were not controlled.

• Why were gladiators often spared from death?– Gladiators were very costly to replace. Crowd favorites were always

spared.• How do gladiators compare to professional athletes today?

– Both gladiators and professional athletes are admired by the public.• Why would a free man volunteer to become a gladiator?

– Courage and honor. Gladiators were very well paid, allowing them to pay off any debt they had. Superior lifestyle than that of a lower class Roman.

Sources

• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html

• http://abacus.bates.edu/~mimber/Rciv/gladiator.htm