Gladiator
Gladiators (
Latin gladiatores) were professional fighters in ancient
Rome who fought against each other and against wild animals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of spectators. These fights took place in arenas in many cities during the
Roman republic and the
Roman Empire.
The word comes from
gladius, the Latin word for a short
sword used by legionnaires and some gladiators.
The origins of gladiator fights lie probably in the
Etruscan custom of ritual human sacrifices to honor the dead. The first Roman fights took place in
264 BC in the Forum Boarium, by Marcus and Decimus Brutus, at the funeral of their father.
Gladiator games (called
munera, singular
munus) took place in
amphitheatres (like the
Colosseum) and took the latter half of the day after the fights against animals (
venationes) and public executions (
noxii). Initially rich private individuals organized these, often to gain political favor with the public. The person who organized the show was called the
editor,
munerator, or
dominus and he was honored with the official signs of a magistrate. Later the emperors would exert a near complete monopoly on staging the
ludi circenses, "games" which included hunts of wild animals, public executions and gladiator fights. There was usually musical accompaniment.
Gladiators were typically picked from prisoners of war, slaves, and sentenced criminals. There were also occasional volunteers. They were trained in special gladiator schools (
ludi). One of the largest schools was in
Ravenna. There were four schools in Rome itself, the largest of which was called the
Ludus Magnus. The
Ludus Magnus was connected to the Colosseum by an underground tunnel. Gladiators often belonged to a troupe (
familia) that traveled from town to town. A trainer of gladiators or the manager of a team of gladiators was known as a
lanista. The troupe's owner rented gladiators to whoever wanted to stage games. A gladiator would typically fight no more than three times per year.
Gladiator could be also a property of a rich individual who hired lanista to train him. Several senators and emperors had their own favorites.
Criminals were either expected to die within a year (
ad gladium) or might earn their release after three years (
ad ludum) - if they survived.
Different gladiators specialized in different weapons, and it was popular to pair off combatants with widely different equipment. Gladiator types and their weaponry included:
- Andabatae: Fought with visored helmet and possibly blindfolded and on horseback.\n* Cimachaeri: Carried two short swords (the gladius)\n* Bestiari: Fought against beasts, usually with spears.\n* Equites: Fought on horseback with a spear and gladius, dressed in a full tunic, with a manica (arm-guard)\n* Essedari: Charioteers in Celtic style.\n* Hoplomachi: Fully armored, based on Greek hoplites. They wore a helmet with a stylized griffin on the crest, woollen leg wrappings, and shin-guards. They carried a gladius and a small, round shield, and were paired with mirmillones or Thraces. They apparently became Samnites later.\n* Laquerii: Lasso Laqueatores were those who used a noose to catch their adversaries\n* Mirmillones (or murmillones): Wore a helmet with a stylized fish on the crest, as well as a manica. They carried a gladius and an oblong shield in the Gallic style. They were paired with hoplomachi or Thraces.\n* Provocatores: Fought with the Samnites but their armament is unknown (might have been variable, hence the term "provocators")\n* Retiarii: Carried a trident, a dagger, and a net, and had at least naked torso, no helmet, and a larger manica. They commonly fought secutores or mirmillones.\n* Samnites: Carried a long rectangular shield, visor, plumed helmet and short sword. The name came from the people of the same name Romans had conquered.\n* Secutores: Had the same armour as a murmillo, including oblong shield and a gladius. They were the usual opponents of retiarii. \n* Thraces: Had the same armour and weapons as hoplomachi, but instead had a round shield and also carried a curved dagger. Their name came from Thracians, and they commonly fought mirmillones or hoplomachi.
Gladiators usually fought in pairs (
Ordinarii), that is, one gladiator against another. However, sponsor or audience could request other combinations like several gladiators fighting together (
Catervarii) or specific gladiators against each other even from outside the established troupe (
Postulaticii). Sometimes lanista had to rely on substitutes (
supposititii) if requested gladiator was already dead or incapacitated. Emperor could have his own gladiators (
Fiscales).
At the end of a fight, when one gladiator acknowledged defeat by raising a finger, the audience could decide whether the loser should live or die. It is known that the audience (or sponsor or emperor) pointed their thumbs a certain way if they wanted the loser to be killed, but it is not clear which way they pointed. It is possible that they pointed their thumbs upwards if they wanted the loser to live, and downwards if they wanted him to die; or, they may have done the opposite, pointing downwards if they wanted the gladiator to live. Another possibility is that they raised their fist but kept their thumb inside it if they wanted the loser to live, and pointed down to signify death. A gladiator did not have to die after every match - if the audience felt both men fought admirably, they would likely want both to live and fight for their amusement in the future. A gladiator who won several fights was allowed to retire, often to train other fighters. Gladiators who managed to win their freedom - often by request of the audience or sponsor - were given a wooden sword as a memento.
The attitude of Romans towards the gladiators was ambivalent: on the one hand they were considered as lower than
slaves, but on the other hand some successful gladiators rose to celebrity status. There was even a belief that nine eaten gladiator livers were a cure for epilepsy. Gladiators often developed large followings of women, who apparently saw them as sexual objects. This may be one reason that many types of gladiators fought bare-chested. It was socially unacceptable for citizen women to have sexual contact with a gladiator, but Faustina, the mother of the emperor
Commodus, was said to have conceived Commodus with a gladiator (Commodus likely invented this story himself).
Despite the extreme dangers and hardships of the profession, some gladiators were volunteers (called
auctorati) who fought for money; effectively this career was a sort of last chance for people who had gotten into financial troubles.
Their oath (which
Seneca describes as particularly shameful) implied their acceptance of slave status and of the worst public consideration (
infamia). More famous is their phrase to the emperor or sponsor before the fight:
Morituri te salutant ("Those about to die salute you").
Some
emperors, among them
Hadrian,
Caligula,
Titus Flavius and Commodus also entered the arena for (presumably) fictitious or rigged combats. Emperor
Trajan organized as many as 5000 gladiator fighting pairs. Gladiator contests could take months to complete.
Female gladiators also existed; Emperor Commodus liked to stage fights between dwarfs and women.
One of the most famous gladiators was
Spartacus who became the leader of a group of escaped gladiators and slaves. His revolt, which began in
73 BC, was crushed by
Marcus Licinius Crassus two years later. After this, gladiators were deported from Rome and other cities during times of social disturbances, for fear that they might organize and rebel again.
The Greek physician
Galen worked for a while as a gladiator's physician in
Pergamon.
Gladiator fights were first outlawed by
Constantin I in
325 but continued sporadically until about
450. The last known gladiator competition in the city of
Rome occurred on
January 1,
404.
Gladiators in Science Fiction
\nGladiators are sometimes mentioned in science fiction, being depicted in the film The Running Man; as well as the games Battletech, Quake, and Unreal.
References
\n* Thomas Wiedemann: Emperors and Gladiators, Routledge 1992 \n* James Grout: Gladiators, part of the Encyclopædia Romana, http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html
See also
\n*Gladiator (2000 movie)\n*Gladiator (insect)
Category:Ancient Rome
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