Gladiators

No literary source tells us much about how gladiators were trained. For that, we have to rely largely on artistic evidence, and this detailed essay, illustrated with artifacts from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is an excellent point of entry. Note, especially the oil lamp from Cyprus, which shows a gladiator practicing swordplay against a stake. Roman soldiers trained in much the same way.

This page explores what we know about gestures made by the crowd during gladiatorial matches. Spectators used a pollice verso (turned thumb) to signify a gladiator should be killed. It is unclear, however, which way that thumb was turned. Up is more likely than down. Alternatively, the thumb may have been jabbed toward the throat.

Although the vast majority of gladiators were male, a few—as this article explains—were female. Female gladiators fascinated and unsettled Roman spectators because they shared the “masculine” courage displayed by their male counterparts. Their stage names likened them to the Amazons and heroines of Greek myth.

This article—taken from an old classical dictionary—outlines what ancient texts tell us about gladiators. Although archaeology has come a long way since it was written, the textual evidence has not substantially changed. For a better context, follow words hyperlinked in the article to translations of the original sources.

The odds of surviving to retirement were not good, and even after they were freed, many gladiators returned to fight dangerous—but lucrative—“exhibition matches.” Many more stayed in the orbit of the arena by becoming trainers or referees. Others went on to more surprising careers, including politics.

The Hippodrome had room for about 80,000 spectators (more than the Colosseum, but less than Rome’s Circus Maximus). It was simultaneously Constantinople’s premier entertainment venue and its greatest political theater: the emperor routinely watched the games, and sometimes communicated with the crowd through a herald. The worst riot in Byzantine history, the Nika Revolt, began when the factions of the Hippodrome united in opposition to Justinian.

A detailed summary of the most common gladiator armatures, illustrated by ancient artistic sources. As the article indicates, there were multiple types, though only a half-dozen or so were popular at any given time. All the armatures were highly stylized and designed specifically for the arena. Gladiators, incidentally, tended to not make good soldiers on the rare occasions they were drafted into the legions. The article's text is based almost entirely on Alison Futrell’s The Roman Games, one of the best books about gladiators.

This is a translation of the Roman poet Martial’s Liber Spectaculorum (Book of Spectacles). Martial’s epigrams, which describe the Colosseum's inaugural games, provide an exceptionally vivid description of the day's events. Among other things, they describe the elaborate executions—sometimes modeled on the Greek myths—that took place at noon.

Not all who fought in the Colosseum were gladiators. Some faced wild animals instead—and they had a different name. This explainer unpacks the role of the bestiarii, from trained fighters to condemned prisoners, and how their brutal battles became one of ancient Rome’s most feared and deadly forms of entertainment.

Sold into slavery and forced to be a gladiator, Spartacus ultimately took the fight outside the arena and revolted against the Romans. This article dives into the history of the rebel leader. Spartacus was originally from Thrace, a part of ancient Europe that included parts of modern-day Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece. Exactly what led to his enslavement is unclear, but it likely involved ancient Rome's attempt to subjugate Thrace.