Why did gladiators fight

Free men also volunteered to be gladiators auctorati and, by the end of the Republic, comprised half the number who fought. Often, they were social outcasts, freed slaves, discharged soldiers, or former gladiators who had been liberated on retirement but chose to return for a period of service. Often, they were compelled but sometimes prompted , as "a number of Italian towns vied with one another in holding out financial inducements to undesirables among the younger generation" Tacitus, Histories , II.

When a member of the Gracchi fought as a retiarius , the scandal was all the greater because his face could be seen. Indeed, writes Tacitus, the year AD 63 of Nero's reign "witnessed gladiatorial displays on a no less magnificent scale than before, but exceeding all precedent in the number of distinguished women and senators disgracing themselves in the arena" Annals , XV. Commodus AD enthusiastically participated as a gladiator. Boasting of victory in a thousand matches, sparring with his hapless opponents slicing off in the process, say Cassius Dio, "the noses of some, the ears of others, and sundry features of still others, LXXIII.

This prospect was considered so outrageous by those closest to him that, fearing for their own lives, they had him assassinated the day before he was to take office.

Originally, captured soldiers had been made to fight with their own weapons and in their particular style of combat. It was from these conscripted prisoners of war that the gladiators acquired their exotic appearance, a distinction being made between the weapons imagined to be used by defeated enemies and those of their Roman conquerors. The Samnites a tribe from Campania which the Romans had fought in the fourth and third centuries BC were the prototype for Rome's professional gladiators, and it was their equipment that first was used and later adopted for the arena.

The Samnite wore an elaborate helmet galea , a wide leather belt balteus reinforced with bands of metal, a large oblong shield scutum , a sword gladius , so called, says Isidore of Seville, XVIII. Two other gladiatorial categories also took their name from defeated tribes, the Galli Gauls and Thraeces Thracians.

By the time of Augustus, the Samnites were allies of Rome and the name disappeared, to be replaced by the secutor pursuer , the class in which Commodus competed. The secutor usually was matched against the more nimble retiarius , who was armed with a trident and a net to ensnare the opponent, and protected only by a shoulder piece galerus on the left side.

Fittingly, they sometimes fought against the heavily armed murmillo , whose helmet had a fish-like crest. They, in turn, usually competed against the thraex , who carried a scimitar sica and a small square shield, or hoplomachus , who fought with a small round shield, and carried a lance and short straight sword. Because of the smaller shields, both wore long greaves. Often, protective leather straps fasciae were wrapped around the arms and legs, as well.

There were even more exotic types: the essedarius , who fought from war chariots in the fashion of the British Celts and probably were introduced by Julius Caesar after his invasion of that island; the equites , who entered the arena on horseback; the laquearii , who, says Isidore of Seville Etymologies , XVIII.

One of the most bizarre were the andabata , whose helmet effectively acted as blindfolds as he groped in the dark. It was important that these different types of gladiators be appropriately paired, the advantage of one being compensated for by the strength of the other. There could be no virtue in defeating a weaker opponent.

Gladiators were to be evenly matched but not identically so. The retiarii were lightly armed but mobile, the secutores and murmillones protected but weighted down by their armor. It was this asymmetry that was considered so intriguing. Each type had its own particular weapons, strategies, and skills, and only by comparison could they be demonstrated.

Gladiators who were similarly armed, therefore, rarely competed against one another. Most contests, in fact, seem to have been between the thraex or retiarius and their more heavily armed adversaries, between what the public favored as parmularii or scutarii small-shield and big-shield men.

Gladiators also participated in simulated naval battles naumachiae on large artificial lakes or even in the arena of the Colosseum, which originally could have been flooded for such shows. The bestiarii were not gladiators, as such, but fought for their lives in the arena against wild beasts.

The venatores were specialists of wild animal hunts venationes. The popularity of these cruel spectacles was such that, by the time they were abolished in AD during the consulship of Flavius Anicius Maximus, tens of thousands of animals had died, and entire species were no longer to be found in their native habitat, all having been captured or driven away.

There were no more hippopotamuses in Nubia or elephants in northern Africa; the lions which once had been represented in Assyrian reliefs were gone. Either five thousand or ten thousand animals were reported to have died in the dedication of the Colosseum; eleven thousand died in the celebration of Trajan's conquest of Dacia; and Augustus boasted that, in the twenty-six venationes presented in his reign, thirty-five hundred animals had been killed.

When Pompey presented elephants and the first rhinoceros at the Circus Maximus, he did so in part to demonstrate his power over even the strongest of beasts. Gladiatorial games originally had taken place in the Forum, where temporary stands were erected. According to Cassius Dio, Julius Caesar, "built a kind of hunting-theatre of wood, which was called an amphitheatre from the fact that it had seats all around without any stage" XLIII.

These implements of dismemberment and self-defense are also laid out in thematic pairs, highlighting the typical matchups between certain classes of fighters. The perfect way to complement a visit to the Colosseum, the Gladiator museum will immerse you in the gritty reality of gladiatorial hand-to-hand combat. Despite being part of the slave class in ancient Rome, gladiators were lauded and admired for their bravery and proclivity to dish out extreme violence for the viewing pleasure of the Roman public.

Much like the sports stars of today, Colosseum gladiators were hero-worshipped by the masses, and for the most part, looked down on by the elite classes. Here are five of the most famous Colosseum gladiators. When tasked with fighting rampaging lions, leopards, tigers, and bears on a weekly basis, it helps to be either:.

Carpophorus was the most famous of all bestiarius, the order of gladiator that specialized in taking down the fiercest creatures the Roman Empire could procure. A military commander of the Third Servile War, Crixus was a Gallic warrior whose diminutive stature was belied by his insatiable zest for chopping larger opponents down to size in the arena.

Having been a military leader, Crixus was not a fan of violent servitude. So when a revolt broke out in the gladiator training school where he was imprisoned, Crixus made the most of the situation and escaped with the help of around 70 others. His group of renegade warriors was pursued across southern Itlay by the Roman army, and managed to win several bloody skirmishes before they were ambushed and overwhelmed by the superior numbers.

But if the legends are to be believed, his finest gladiatorial performance came in his last stand, where he cut helped cut down waves of not-entertained soldiers before succumbing to his wounds. Marcus Attilius, however, fell into neither of these categories.

A free-born man, who likely volunteered for a career as a gladiator as a way to clear his personal debts, Marcus Attilius went on to become one of the most successful fighters in the game. He made his debut against the universally feared Hilarus, who was on a fight win streak and was heavily favored. Attilius had other ideas…. His bloody exploits were chronicled in ancient graffiti on the Nocerian gate in Pompeii, and was discovered centuries later after the city was buried under many cubic miles of volcanic debris.

A man of sizeable ego who was never content with simply issuing the thumbs up or thumbs down at the end of a gladiator battle, Commodus longed for the visceral glory, brutal heroics and adoration of the crowd that came with being a gladiator. He even had a mini arena constructed in his palace, so that he could cosplay as a gladiator during his executive leisure time. Commodus hosted grand games which he, of course, starred in.

Each morning of the games he would shoot hundreds of animals and each afternoon, he would take part in gladiator contests, and amazingly win them all.

His antics eventually caught up with him though, and he was assassinated and declared a public enemy, having tried to rename Rome after himself and rebuild the city in his own megalomaniacal image. Perhaps the most famous gladiator of all though was Spartacus. The legend of this Thracian soldier-turned-gladiator-turned-fugitive has been told for millennia, and indelibly imprinted into western popular culture by the eponymous film directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Hollywood movies and television shows often depict gladiatorial bouts as a bloody free-for-all, but most fights operated under fairly strict rules and regulations. Contests were typically single combat between two men of similar size and experience.

Referees oversaw the action, and probably stopped the fight as soon as one of the participants was seriously wounded. A match could even end in a stalemate if the crowd became bored by a long and drawn out battle, and in rare cases, both warriors were allowed to leave the arena with honor if they had put on an exciting show for the crowd.

Since gladiators were expensive to house, feed and train, their promoters were loath to see them needlessly killed. Trainers may have taught their fighters to wound, not kill, and the combatants may have taken it upon themselves to avoid seriously hurting their brothers-in-arms.

Nevertheless, the life of a gladiator was usually brutal and short. Most only lived to their mids, and historians have estimated that somewhere between one in five or one in 10 bouts left one of its participants dead. If a gladiator was seriously wounded or threw down his weapon in defeat, his fate was left in the hands of the spectators. In contests held at the Colosseum, the emperor had the final say in whether the felled warrior lived or died, but rulers and fight organizers often let the people make the decision.

Some historians think the sign for death may have actually been the thumbs up, while a closed fist with two fingers extended, a thumbs down, or even a waved handkerchief might have signaled mercy. By the time the Colosseum opened in 80 A.

The building might as well have been painted red , but lets run through the facts and myths. What was the Colosseum actually used for? Gladiator fights were a big business. A gladiator could admit defeat by raising a finger, asking the referee to appeal to the editor to stop the fight. The final decision lay with the editor, who often listened to the crowd, typically bayed for blood, or if the fighter in question was particularly popular or longstanding, pleading for his life.

Whilst in the early years, death was the penalty for defeat, this changed as time went on. As the popularity of gladiator fights increased, however, the age-old principles of supply and demand kicked in. T hese fights were later banned by Emperor Augustus. From there, Hollywood must have picked it up and ran with it. Unfortunately, the painter did not have access to the text of Juvenalis to fact check. These men once were horn-blowers and attendants.

At every municipal arena, known as trumpeters in every village. It could have not been used at all! This is our most popular Colosseum tour due to the incredible access to non-public areas like the underground chambers. All admissions are included and it is lead by an English speaking licensed guided and Colosseum expert. Are you looking for the best food tour in Rome? Embark on a Trastevere food tour that offers an excellent introduction to some of the best food in Rome.