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A gladiator ( Latin: gladiator, "swordsman", from gladius, "sword") 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.
May 3, 2018 · Learn about the ancient professional fighters who entertained the Roman public with deadly combat in large arenas. Discover the origins, types, weapons, armour and classes of gladiators and their role in Roman society.
- Mark Cartwright
- Michael Waters
- Marcus Attilius. A free-born Roman, Attilius enrolled in gladiator school seemingly of his own volition—making him part of a small but elite pool of gladiators who volunteered to fight.
- Spiculus. Spiculus attended gladiator school in the Italian city of Capua, where he must have shown immense promise. In his first amphitheater match, he squared off against Aptonetus, a veteran gladiator and free Roman who had won 16 fights.
- Commodus. Today, Commodus is best known as the “mad” emperor whose disastrous rule from 180 to 192 A.D. marked the end of Rome’s golden era (also known as the Pax Romana).
- Flamma. The Syrian-born gladiator, who rose to fame under the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117 to 138 A.D.) , is best known for the length of his career, and for being awarded his freedom four times—and repeatedly turning it down.
May 24, 2024 · Learn about gladiators, professional combatants in ancient Rome who fought to the death or for mercy in various classes and styles. Find out how gladiators were recruited, trained, and entertained the crowds, and how they influenced politics and culture.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- They weren’t always enslaved. Not all gladiators were brought to the arena in chains. While most early combatants were enslaved peoples and people who had committed crimes, grave inscriptions show that by the 1st century A.D., the demographics had started to change.
- Gladiatorial bouts were originally part of funeral ceremonies. Games in the Colosseum. Many ancient chroniclers described the Roman games as an import from the Etruscans, but most historians now argue that gladiator fights got their start as a blood rite staged at the funerals of wealthy nobles.
- They didn’t always fight to the death. Hollywood movies and television shows often depict gladiatorial bouts as bloody free-for-all, but most fights operated under fairly strict rules and regulations.
- The famous “thumbs down” gesture probably didn’t mean death. If a gladiator was seriously wounded or threw down his weapon in defeat, his fate was left in the hands of the spectators.
Learn about the history, types, training, and fame of the gladiators, the warriors of the arena that fought to the death for Roman entertainment. Discover the difference between gladiators and other forms of gladiatorial combat, and the story of Spartacus, the most famous gladiator of all.
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Oct 28, 2019 · Learn about the origins, types, and risks of the gladiatorial games in the Roman Empire. Find out how gladiators were trained, fed, rewarded, and sometimes executed for the entertainment of the crowds.
