Gladiator

**Gladiators** were professional fighters in the Roman Republic and later in the Roman Empire, who fought against one another and died for the entertainment of their audience in the arena.

## Description

Gladiators were usually condemned criminals or prisoners of war, however, free men also volunteered for purposes of personal gain, or as a way to pay of debts.

A Gladiator that is victorious in his match is awarded coin, rising fame and respect from the spectators. Fallen Gladiators are either put to death by the command of the editor of the game, or sent to the the Pit.

Gladiator recruits, called *Tiro*, were taught the combative skills required at a training enterprise called a *Ludus*, which were headed by a Lanista, and instructed by a *Lorarius*, whom overseen their training.

A Gladiator that excels in combat and is continuously victorious in the arena, will rise to become champion of his respective ludus. Gladiators were branded with a mark, symbolizing what ludus they belonged to and to whom.

Gladiators did not have friends, but had allies, rivals, bosses, spies, supplies and double-crossers. A new gladiator learned who to trust, who to doubt, who to look out for and who would cover his back. Many gladiators arranged their opponents tomb stone had that opponent come from the same Ludus.

### Missio

The "*Missio*" was a signal that a Gladiator could do to surrender to their opponent in the Arena. It served as both an acknowledgement of defeat and a plea for mercy. A Gladiator would either signal the Missio with either their hand raised and their index finger pointing up, or they could surrender their weapon to the opponent. Despite the Missio, it was still ultimately up to the Editor to decide if the Gladiator lived or died. If the Gladiator had fought well in their fight, the Editor would usually spare their life.

## Doctore

A *Doctore* was the official trainer of Gladiators inside the Ludus. A *Doctore* would either be a Roman citizen or a Roman freedman, possibly a former Gladiator from the same Ludus known as a *Retiarius*. The Doctore would often carry a whip to motivate and discipline the Gladiators when training.

## Gladiatrix

Women were also trained as Gladiators in Ancient Rome, however they were not officially used on Arenas until around 66 AD, during the reign of Emperor Nero. During the 1st Century BC, the women trained in the style of Gladiators were mainly used to fight in underground fighting pits across Italia. One of these '*Gladiatrix*', Alleivria, eventually escaped and joined Spartacus' rebellion, being one of the very few female combatants on the battlefield itself.

Some Romans would even make two or more of their female slaves fight in Gladiator fights inside their own villa, such as Lentulus Batiatus.

## Gladiator Fighting Styles

### Samnite

The **Samnite** was an early class of gladiator, quite popular during the period of the Roman Republic. Eventually, other Gladiator types joined the roster, such as the Gaul-inspired Murmillo and the Thracian-inspired Thraex. Around this time of Emperor Augustus, the Samnite Gladiator fell out of favour, probably because insulting the Samnites was no longer seen as acceptable behaviour, and the Samnite was thus replaced by similarly armed Gladiators, including the Hoplomachus and the Secutor.

### Cestus

The **cestus** was a fist-fighter or boxer gladiator who wore the cestus, a brutal forerunner of the boxing glove.

### Rudiarius

The **Rudiarius** was a gladiator who had earned his freedom received a wooden sword (a rudis) or perhaps a wooden rod (a rudem, which was used as a practice staff/sword). If he chose to remain a gladiator, he was called a rudiarius. These were very popular with the public as they were experienced. Not all rudiarii continued to fight; there was a hierarchy of rudiarii that included trainers, helpers, referees, and fighters.

### Scissor

The **scissor** (plural scissores) used a special short sword with two blades that looked like a pair of open scissors without a hinge. It is speculated that they attempted to trap their opponents' weapons between the twin blades in order to disarm them. others have speculated that this type of gladiator fought using a weapon consisting of a hardened steel tube that encased the gladiator's entire forearm, with the hand end capped off and a semicircular blade attached to it.

### Laquearius

**Laquearius** is a gladiator style whose primary tactic was to "lasso" their opponent, and then close in for the kill. It is possible that they were meant to mirror the Sagartians.

The Laquearius appears late in Roman gladiator history, and it is not entirely clear if they were a fully-fledged fighting class of gladiator such as the Retiarius or Hoplomachus, or a paeginaerius style, non-lethal "clown act" between matches.

### Essedarius

An **Essedarius** was a type of gladiator in Ancient Rome who fought from a chariot. There may have been just one man in the chariot, or two, a driver and a fighter.

### Bestiarius

**Bestiarii** (singular bestiarius) were those who went into combat with beasts, or were exposed to them. It is conventional to distinguish two categories of bestiarii: the first were those condemned to death via the beasts (damnatio ad bestias) and the second were those who faced them voluntarily, for pay or glory (venatio). The latter were gladiators; to their contemporaries, however, the term gladiator referred specifically to one who fought other men. The contemporary term for those who made a career out of participating in arena "hunts" was venatores.

### Paegniarius

The **paegniarius** was a gladiator who did not engage in serious combat with lethal weapons, but was rather an entertainer who performed "burlesque duels" during breaks. He had neither a helmet nor a shield, but wore protective wrappings on his lower legs and head.

### Provocator

**Provocatores** have been shown wearing a loincloth, a belt, a long greave on the left leg, a manica on the lower right arm, and a visored helmet without brim or crest, but with a feather on each side. They were the only gladiators protected by a breastplate (cardiophylax) which is usually rectangular, later often crescent-shaped. They fought with a tall, rectangular shield and the gladius. They were paired only against other provocatores.

### Tertiarius

In some games three men were matched against each other. The first two would fight, with the winner then fighting the third man, called the tertiarius ("third man"). Tertiarii would also act as substitutes if an advertised gladiator was unable to fight.

## Editor

In Roman times, at the games, an editor was an overseer or "referee" of the gladiator fights. Their job included giving talks at the opening and closing of the games, announcing who was fighting and to choose if a defeated gladiator was to live or die.

Usually the role was held by a magistrate, one of the government officers of the Roman Republic. At times lanistas, such as Lentulus Batiatus would play the role, though usually due to the lack of a magistrate being present. Editors also existed for smaller fights, although the term editor would be used very lightly.

## Third Servile War

*Main Article: Third Servile War*
During the slave rebellion led by the gladiators Spartacus, the combatants started off as being mainly comprised of gladiators, both from the ludus' of Lentulus Batiatus and Marcus Aurelius Scaurus. These gladiators trained thousands of former slaves who joined their ranks, which proved a serious threat to the Roman cohorts and legions sent against them.

From then on gladiators were given special attention; no gladiator was to speak to someone of the same language in the ludus or in training, for fear of conspiring and plotting.

## Known gladiators

### Gladiators

Ludus of Lentulus Batiatus

* **Spartacus**
* **Crixus**
* **Oenomaus**
* **Gannicus**
* **Castus**
* Carbo
* Drapaes
* Peirastes

#### Ludus of Accalius Vibius

* Gorovus
* Kleitos

### Historical gladiators

* Spartacus from Capua
* Crixus from Capua
* Oenomaus from Capua
* Castus from Capua
* Gannicus from Capua
* Oceanus from Pompeii (had 13 wins in the arena)
* Sevelus from Pompeii
* Priscus (a Celt)
* Verus
* Spiculus
* Crescens (a Retiarius)
* Septimus (a Retiarius)
* Caladus (a Thracian)
* Marcus Attilius
* Carpophorus
* Drusus
* Flamma
* Emperor **Commodus**
* Albanus from Pompeii (had 19 wins in the arena)
* Urbicus (a Secutor, who died at the age of 22, with 13 fights in the Arena. Was married for 7 years)
* Lantinus (a Retiarius, who died at the age of 24, with 5 fights in the Arena. Was married for 5 years)
* Philematius (a Retiarius, who died at the age of 30, Was married to Aurelia Aphrodites)