Can you imagine the conversation between two gladiators on the morning before they fight
in front of thousands of blood-thirsty spectators.
It might have gone something like this: “So, what have you got going on today Carpophores?”
“Oh, I was signed up for the ‘venationes’ so I’ll just be fighting a wild, vicious
beast from the other side of the world?
What about you Priscus?”
“I’ll be fighting a guy for my freedom today.”
“Nice.
Good luck with that.
By the way, who’re you fighting?”
“Versus.”
“Ouch, he’s a good guy that Versus.”
“Yeah…it is what it is.”
We’re not sure it would have happened just like that, but we’re probably pretty close.
Now, let’s go a bit deeper into the life of gladiators in ancient Rome.
It’s thought that the first gladiator schools came about around 100 BC.
They were known as “Ludi Gladiatorium”.
Inside those places were the, “Familia gladiatorium”, a kind of family of gladiators, and you had
a person known as the “lanista”.
His function was to not only train the gladiators, but to buy and sell them as well since most
gladiators were seen as property at the time.
He was the boss, and if his gladiators performed well, he could make some good money.
Some gladiators had been prisoners of war, and were usually referred to as noxii.
They were not really considered great fighters, and oftentimes their role in the arena was
only to have their blood spilled.
Then you had the damnati, and these were mainly slaves.
They could grow into formidable gladiators.
You also had people who were born free and just wanted to go to gladiator school for
a chance to earn money and fame, while yet others went because of debts they owed.
While there’s evidence of gladiators stretching back long before the first century BC, that’s
when it is thought that the events really got going.
Gladiator fights in amphitheaters were big business, and the events themselves were often
used to drum up support for a person in politics.
You might have heard of the term, “Bread and Circuses”, which is used in the context
of elite groups using entertainment to blind the masses from things such as corruption
and inequality.
If the masses had their blood-lust satiated on the weekends they might not complain so
much, or at least that was the idea.
To see how these gladiators lived, we can look at what was considered the greatest gladiator
school.
The “Ludus Magnus” was situated in Rome, and it was where the best gladiators would
want to end up.
So what really went down there?
First of all, after a man was selected to become a gladiator he was looked at by the
lanista and a medici, or doctor.
They would be looking to see if this man could hack it as a trained fighter.
He might look tough, but he certainly would need much more training.
New recruits were called “novicius”.
There were lots of different types of gladiator, too many for us to talk about them all in
detail.
Some might fight with different weapons, such as spears or swords, or might wear different
types of armor.
Some might be the net men, and others might specialize in fighting animals.
You also had different types of men who had signed up, such as those gladiators who went
to school to pay off debts.
These were called “Auctorati.”
Then there were criminals sentenced to death and those were called “Noxii’, just like
prisoners of war.
So, not all gladiators were alike and they were treated accordingly throughout their
training.
Whatever the case, all gladiators swore an oath to perform as they had been told to.
This oath was called the, “sacramentum gladiatorium.”
They basically signed a form that said if they didn’t perform well they agreed to
be beaten or burned or killed by the sword.
The Romans wanted spectacle to amuse the crowds, not men who hid in the corner of an arena
hoping a bear wouldn’t notice him.
The novices would go through some initial training, and after that they would be trained
for their first fight.
These guys were known as “Tirones gladiators”, or sometimes just, “Tiros.”
If they survived that first fight they were then veterans and were part of the “Veterani.”
During their training they never used weapons that might cause too much damage and they
weren’t supposed to hurt each other too much.
Gladiators lived in small cells and while they were often shackled when they weren’t
training, they were actually looked after quite well, at least when compared to the
lives of many other prisoners or slaves at the time.
This wasn’t because their owners had hearts of gold, but because they were valuable commodities.
If you wanted your gladiators to win, they had to be well-fed, well-rested, and they
had to have their health checked regularly.
They would be given water throughout the day to prevent dehydration, but they would also
be given three square meals a day.
These meals would include meat, fish, vegetables, cheese, milk, fruits and cereal, a diet that
was much better and more varied than that of many poorer Romans.
In light of this, it’s not surprising that some free men whose lives were not going all
that well signed up to be gladiators.
If they won they not only earned decent cash that gave them a much better standard of living
than most poor Romans, but the level of fame they could achieve made them almost like a
kind of pop idol or sports star of the day.
They just had to keep surviving.
On top of that, they could take hot and cold baths and when their muscles ached they received
massages.
Their daily routine wasn’t that much different from a modern day MMA fighter, although they
did have the downside of the loss of their freedom and the prospect of fighting a hungry
tiger.
On occasion women would sometimes be provided to these men, prostitution being a regular
part of Roman life, while free gladiators could marry and even have their own slaves.
The best meal a gladiator would get was the last meal before a fight.
It might be the last thing they ever ate and so it was always quite the ritual.
Even those condemned to certain death, the noxii, got this meal.
Before each fight, the combatants would also take care of their final affairs and say goodbye
to loved ones.
When the time for the games came the events were marketed Roman-style to get people’s
attention.
The event details were posted on billboards, explaining who was fighting; the posters would
also detail if any special animals were going to perform and who might be fighting one-on-one.
Paired fighters were called, “ordinarii”.
Posters might also state what music would be played, what food would be on offer, and
if anyone was going to be executed that day.
For most Romans, it was seen as sporting entertainment, not an inhumane bloodbath as we might think
of it today.
There were of course different ways of putting on events.
The games took place over hundreds of years and the arenas were spread far and wide.
Nonetheless, usually the games would start with a procession marching into the arena,
much like you’d see at a big sporting event today.
VIPs would follow, and civil servants would walk in with them.
They’d have documents that stated the power the magistrate had to take and give life,
while images of gods were paraded around to further acknowledge that the event was in
some way divine.
The last people to enter the arena would be the gladiators, now full on their last meal
and ready to fight.
The first fights would usually involve animals, and those that fought them were called the
“bestiarii.”
Those condemned to death might come next, who could be facing their fate in a variety
of different ways.
Sometimes death would even come by way of a very large beast just sitting on someone.
The Romans also liked to kill people by doing reenactments of certain myths or famous battles,
in which the condemned played the victims.
The last event would usually be gladiator combat, although sometimes before that the
fighters might put on a warm-up routine in front of the crowd, using wooden weapons and
not ones that could kill.
Gladiators could be fighting with any number of weapons, and those were chosen beforehand.
There could be as many as thirteen fights in one day, and each fight might take up to
20 minutes or more to finish.
Like modern combat sports events, the main event would be two top class fighters.
This is the event the people wanted to see.
There would be referees and the rules of combat had to be adhered to and the gladiators had
to show no fear.
But not all of these matches were fought to the death.
If an opponent was overcome but not dead, that might be the end of the match.
Some gladiators would show mercy, or they would look to the crowd or the local magistrate,
and ask them what he should do.
A gladiator who knew he was defeated might raise his finger and the ref could stop the
fight, but if the crowd wished him dead then he might be killed anyway.
In fact, many matches ended with the loser surviving, but some matches were billed as
“sine missione”, which meant no mercy could be given.
The fight had to end with someone dying.
These matches that didn’t allow mercy were eventually banned.
The crowd liked certain gladiators and it annoyed them if their favorite fighter was
killed.
Imagine watching your favorite team play in a championship game, lose, and get killed
right after.
It might take some of the fun out of it.
Some blood-thirsty emperors became less popular with the people when they didn’t show mercy,
so as time went on, it became the standard that both gladiators would survive if they
had fought well.
When the time to die came though, it was expected that the gladiators would die a good death,
that they accept their fate and not scream or cower.
One Roman historian wrote this on the topic: “For death, when it stands near us, gives
even to inexperienced men the courage not to seek to avoid the inevitable.
So the gladiator, no matter how faint-hearted he has been throughout the fight, offers his
throat to his opponent and directs the wavering blade to the vital spot.”
They even had a kind of fight of the night bonus, in that a great performance could get
the gladiator extra money or gifts.
In the case of gladiator slaves they might also earn their freedom.
There was a famous fighter named Flamma who is said to have fought in 34 bouts and won
most of them.
When he lost he wasn’t killed because he was a crowd favorite.
He was offered his freedom on four different occasions and he turned it down each time.
It seems he liked the gladiator lifestyle.
It’s said that most gladiators, no matter how good they were, would not normally survive
more than ten matches.
You have some exceptional gladiators who fought more than ten times, such as the great Marcus
Attilius.
He beat some other great warriors, too.
He was a freeman who just wanted to go to gladiator school.
Life expectancy of gladiators has been argued over by various historians, but needless to
say, many died before they reached 25.
Perhaps the lowest life expectancy involved the people who fought wild animals, because
hey, what chance did a human have against a lion or a bear that had entered the arena
half-starving.
Some of those condemned to death by animals were not even given weapons, while others
were gladiators trained with weapons who specialized in tackling wild beasts.
One such man was named Carpophorus, and he is the best-known “bestiarius”.
He was sometimes called the King of Beasts.
Like any bestiarius he would train the animals himself, and so he would be around when a
condemned man was to be squashed or ripped apart in front of a cheering crowd.
Carpophorus also fought his animals in the arena, and he did alright.
It’s written that in one fight a lion, a bear and a leopard were pitted against him
at the same time, and it was the triad of beasts that lost the fight.
It’s said in another he beat 20 animals.
It’s also written that he was so good with animals he could command certain beasts to
do unthinkable things to men during their execution, so maybe when they fought him he
just had too much power over them.
There we even some powerful elite people wanted to be gladiators, but if they weren’t fighting
against wooden weapons they were usually fighting battles they couldn’t lose.
The spoiled Emperor Commodus was known for his unfair fights and we can’t really include
these people when talking about real gladiators.
If you liked this video and want to see more then click on this video which we know you’ll
love OR this which you’ll also enjoy.
You can only pick one but time is running out so make your decision and watch another
great video!.