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Roman Gladiators

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A Brief History of Roman Gladiators

The first Roman Gladiators were believed to have been slaves forced to fight to the death at the funeral of Junius Brutus Pera, a distinguished Roman aristocrat. The year was 264BC and the fight was arranged by Pera's heirs as a tribute to his memory. Little did they realize that they were starting what was to become the most widely recognized form of Roman entertainment throughout the path of history.

Despite their status as slaves Roman Gladiators were like the modern day sports stars or musicians. Names such as Celadus, Attilus, and Felix elicited the same responses from women as the names David Beckham and Robbie Williams do today.

Gladiatorial spectacles soon became a way that someone could show how wealthy they were and as a way to display their power and influence. Forget about dressing your wife up in designer clothes, buying matching Ferraris and having a holiday house in the Hamptons if you couldn't sponsor a Gladiator Event then you were no one.

The picture above can be brought as a print from AllPosters

Most of the gladiators were slaves, although some were volunteers who took the gladiatorial oath in exchange for a down-payment. The Gladiatorial Oath gave the "owner" of the Gladiator the right to have the final say over the Gladiator's life thereby turning him into a slave.

Gladiatorial combats are most oft represented as ending in death whereas this was actually a rare occurrence. Gladiators were trained vigorously much like an elite athlete, they were fed and received medical treatment. All of these costs were managed by their owners so killing them would be like shooting the winner of the Kentucky Derby, a very costly expenditure.

Gladiator (Three-Disc Extended Edition)

Amazon Price: $15.45 (as of 06/01/2012)

If an event ended with a death then the sponsor of the event could be asked to pay more than a hundred times the cost of the surviving Gladiator. That meant that if the crowd were awarded bloodshed the sponsor was seen as being extremely generous. It also meant that he had to be in Donald Trump's or Rupert Murdoch's league to be able to afford the expense.

Celadus,

suspirium puellarum

Graffiti from the ruins of Pompeii show evidence that Gladiators had the same effect on Roman women as Brad Pitt has on the modern day woman. One such piece of graffiti can be translated as saying Celadus (a gladiator, advertisements for gladiatorial displays starring him have also survived at Pompeii) makes the girls swoon.

Could one of the gladiators portrayed in this print be the famed Celadus???

Buy this Gladiator print here!

As the crowds became accustomed to watching the Gladiatorial Displays they soon grew bored with mere man on man combat. The next step was introducing exotic animals into the arena, followed by allowing the execution of prisoners by these animals. These displays were the support act for the Gladiators.

Gladiators at Pompeii

by: Luciana Jacobelli

Amazon Price: $19.99 (as of 06/01/2012)

There were dissenting voices speaking against Gladiators during their hey day as there is about most things, but these were ignored by the masses. Even the Emperor Marcus Aurelius spoke out against Gladiators, yet he was well aware of their popularity and so sponsored legislation to keep costs of the displays at a reasonable level.

Eventually the tides turned when Theodosius I declared that Christianity was to become the sole religion of the Roman Empire in 380CE. Under the guise of Christianity Theodosius ruled that feeding humans to wild animals was un-Christian and no longer allowed. The news was received badly by spectators and there are reports of mobs retaliating against the Christians who tried to invoke the new laws.

One such angry mob, reportedly, murdered a Christian who interfered with a Gladiatorial Show and so the Emperor stepped in and banned all Gladiator contests. In 476CE a mere 96 years after Christianity was declared the sole religion the Roman Empire fell and with it any ideas of bringing back the Gladiator.

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Did You Enjoy Learning About Roman Gladiators?

I hope you found this page useful, if you're after more Roman reading please check out some of the pages listed below.

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nyclittleitaly Jan 6, 2012 @ 3:52 pm | delete

Fasinating time.

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I HATE ESSAYS Mar 28, 2011 @ 12:42 am | delete

Maaaan, only another 100 words to go now. thx

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me Feb 19, 2011 @ 2:40 pm | delete

it was very helpful it was intresting

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Megan Tingley Feb 15, 2011 @ 6:41 pm | delete

yes it was very helpful.

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MedievalCostumeArmor Jan 11, 2011 @ 3:01 pm | delete

Wonderful post! Gladiators had to fight long battles not only in the arena but throughout the dark years of medieval history, since the sport became very popular. very informative for a small Lens, feel free to check out some of my posts for similar Lenses!
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Interesting Roman Links

BBC - History - Gladiators: Britain's BBC brings you information on the Roman Gladiators.
The Roman Empire: A very well written web page on the Roman Empire.
Roman Gladiators Were Fat Vegetarians: Apparently the Roman Gladiators were fat vegetarians.........Austrian anthropologists have been examining remains of 70 gladiators find out their discoveries in this article.

This Roman Gladiator page was last updated by lou16 on 8th April 2012.

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