Gladiators

Did you know that gladiators were part of the Ancient Roman society? Do you know how the gladiators originated, or how they were actually trained? All of these things and more are very important facts to support and help uncover the Ancient Roman period.

Just like most sporting events in many of the ancient cultures, the Roman gladiatorial combat originated as a religious event. The Romans stress very much that their tradition of gladiatorial games was adopted from the Etruscan's, but there is very little evidence to support this. Although there is still doubt gladiators came from the Etruscan's, all the gladiators, no matter where they came from, started and completed their training the same way.

Gladiators were trained at special schools, which were originally owned by private citizens, but later, they were taken over by the imperial state to prevent the build up of a private army. Gladiators trained like true athletes, a lot like professional athletes do today, because they train every day, for as much time as they can, and they also don't give in. They also received medical attention whenever they needed it, and three healthy meals every day. Most of their training included learning how to use various weapons, such as the war chain, the net, the trident, the dagger, and the lasso. But, as young gladiators, they trained with wooden swords that would not really hurt them if they got hit. This was used until they became full pledged gladiators, and started fighting for real. Now, after their training was complete, they would have to make a choice as to which type of gladiator they would want to become.

Choosing which type of gladiator you want to become would be sort of tricky, because every type of gladiator trains a different way, with different types of weapons. So you have to choose according to what you would feel comfortable fighting in. There are 5 types of gladiators. These are: Eques, Essedarii, Galli, Thraeces, and last but not least, Etiarii. No matter what type of gladiator you become, you always start out training with a wooden sword until you become better, and start using more sophisticated weapons. The Mirmillos and Samnites used the same kinds of weapons for battles. These were: short swords, long shields, large helmets, long scimitars, and bucklers, which are smaller shields than the normal sized ones. The least protected were the Retiarii. They wore absolutely no armor. They relied on their speed to go through the battles. But, if they were cornered, or separated from their weapons, they would fall to defeat from the bigger, stronger gladiators. Many gladiator fights occurred during the Ancient Roman time period, but these are probably the 2 most important ones.

The first gladiator battle that was ever recorded was in 358 B.C. This was when a king said he wanted some kind of battles performed at his funeral. So, 307 people were captured, and forced to fight each other at the king's funeral. All 307 captives eventually died, as a result of a free-for-all held during the battles. Another famous battle was in 264 B.C. King Marcus Brutus solemnly celebrated his funeral with many gladiatorial battles. Many events were held at this funeral to honor King Brutus, and many deaths throughout the events occurred too. Thus, the basic result of having any type of gladiatorial battles at any funeral results in basically everyone getting killed one way or another. This is sad, because all the gladiators died just because they were forced to battle at a funeral, and they would never see the real future in front of them. So at the end, this was part of the cause of the fall and end of the gladiatorial games, and all gladiator fights throughout the Roman Empire.

The Gladiatorial games held in Rome ended not because of the actual death of all the participants, but in their symbolic death as defeated athletes, because according to them, they were not succeeding Roman Gladiators during their combat. Because of this thought, many gladiators decided to quit from their job, and live a normal life. Thus, eventually all the gladiatorial events ended throughout the Ancient Roman period, and marked the end of Gladiators.