Thrive/History Gladiator project

Roman Gladiators

Summary

Gladiators were captured slaves, hardly even considered humans by the Roman population. They had no status in the Roman world and could eithter perish in the coluseem, or become a legend and win their status back. There was 2 dozen types of gladiators, but only 8 are well known.

Rules of the Colosseum

Gladiator fights would often end in a stalemate. There were gladiator referees who would end the fight if both gladiators were too wounded to continue.

At the end of a fight, the king looked to the crowd to decide who would win. Depending on what the crowd wanted, he will either raise a thumbs up or thumbs down - for mercy or for death. Then the victor would either back away or deliver the killing blow.

Gladiators were Celebrities

Famous gladiators were praised for their skill and bravery. Their blood was believed to have magical powers and women often dipped their hair in it. Also, gladiator sweat was sometimes put in perfume. There were some, however, who veiwed gladiator games as barbaric and foolish. Christians thought the fights to be inhumane and brutal. So, in 325 B.C. Emperor Constantine, thought to be the first christian emperor, banned the games.

Different types of gladiators

Retiarius

Murmillo

Velites

Dimachaerus

Samnite

Thracian

Secutor

Laquerius

Female Gladiator

A female gladiator is called a Gladiatrix. There were some Roman women and girls who loved gladiator fighting and felt left out. So in 66 A.D., the Gladiatrix were created. At first, most of the Roman population scorned them because they thought gladiator fighting should strictly be for men. Many scholars were critical and many people did not attend the games, but since they were something new, the people slowly began to like the idea and gladiatrixes became almost as popular as male gladiators.

Famous Gladiators

Crixus

Crixus was a Gallic slave, captured in battle, who later escaped and became a rebel leader in the Third Servile War.

Spiculus

Spiculus was a very popular gladiator. He was a favorite of the Emperor Nero who gave him many gifts. Spiculus was one of the most feared gladiators.

Emperor Commodus

Commodus was a fan of gladiator combat. He was one of the few galdiators who was not a slave, but he used his position as a free Roman to set up fights against weak and handicapped opponents.

Priscus and Verus

Priscus and Verus were two of the best gladiators of their time. They fought each other, battling for hours and entertaining the crowd so much that, in the end, both were declared victors and given the rudis. This granted them freedom.

Gladiator Fights

Hoplomachi (Armed Fighters)

Bestiarii (Beast Fighters)

The two main kind of fights were either man vs. man or man vs. beast

Man vs. beast were the second, most common fight invented when slaves and criminals asked to fight beasts instead of men. They were loved by the crowd because they showed human dominance over animals.

This was the most common gladiator and the first to be created. In these fights, different kinds of gladiators were paired against each other to fight to the death.

Roman Gladiators