WHO WERE THE GLADIATORS,

AND WHAT DID THEY DO?

At the Roman History Museum!

GLADIATORSToday, a special exhibit will be shown. It will be concerning the gladiators of Rome. Ten artifacts that describe this will be put on display.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Museum Curator Ethan Johnston

ARTIFACT NO. 1This artifact is as mosaic from the 2nd Century AD. The two men carrying wine jars are slaves, delivering things to their masters. Gladiators were in pretty much the same class; they were mostly raised as slaves to become fighters. So behind the gladiators rough battle skills, there’s a slave boy. They weren't heroes who selflessly sacrificed their lives to pursue being a fighter, they were slaves turned into killing machines without choice.

ARTIFACT NO. 2This is another mosaic from the 2nd Century AD. It shows a gladiator battle scene. From left to right, it’s a thraex fighting a murmillo, a hoplomachus standing with another murmillo who is signalling his defeat to the referee, and on the far right one gladiator of a matched pair who wasn’t included in the mosaic. Unless you’re a gladiator expert, those words are probably gibberish to you. The thraex and murmillo are heavily armored gladiators who use small shields. The hoplomachus was actually armed to look like the Roman soldiers called “hoplites”. They wore medium to heavy armor and had larger shields than the thraex and murmillo. They also fought with a spear and short sword.

ARTIFACT NO. 3This is an ancient Roman gladius, which is latin for sword. Gladiator is derived from the word gladius, because gladiator means swordsman. This weapon doesn’t look as efficient or light as more modern swords, and you can tell that gladiators wouldn’t have an easy time stabbing their opponents . This is a weapon wielded by a few types of gladiators, like the hoplomachus. Gladiators would slash each other in the arena with these swords, trying to get a solid attack on their opponent.

This ancient painting shows a typical Roman Ludi, which is a like a large party or festival. Gladiators often would perform in these Ludi’s for most of their work. Gladiators might be in the action amidst chariot racers, dancers, athletes, or other performers. This shows that, to the Romans, they were really nothing more than entertainment. You can tell by this that gladiators were not even treated as people, they were treated kind of like we might treat a TV show villain; with some awe and fear, but no respect or thoughts of them as a person. Gladiators would travel around to various Ludi’s, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Roman boys and girls picked favorites and rooted for them like we would a sports team. It’s violent, it’s horrible; it’s Roman entertainment.

ARTIFACT NO. 4

ARTIFACT NO. 5This is a flask depicting the end of a fight between a murmillo (the person about to win) and a thraex. This shows how brutal a gladiator fight was. Sometimes, if they were lucky, the gladiators would be able to signal to the referee that they forfeit. Many times, actually, the referee wouldn’t stop the fight because the crowd would be disappointed. The gladiators would fight until the death and make sure their opponent was dead by slitting their throats in front of the crowd.

ARTIFACT NO. 6This a piece of armor similar to the armor gladiators would use from a Roman soldier in the 2nd Century AD. It seems incredible that a person would go into fierce combat versus another person, head-to-head, wearing only these thin and weak pieces of armor. Of course, this would have been much more adequate protection when it was new, but it still probably couldn’t stop a blunt knife. Gladiators obviously did lots of work with their shields, parrying, and dodging blows. This would have been frowned upon in a real battle because of the large numbers of fighters and the fact that the lifetime of the soldiers didn’t really matter, but as a gladiator they had to adopt new techniques to excel.

This is a Roman shield from the 1st Century AD that is very similar to the shields that gladiators used. They are very firm and can stop hard blows with sharp weapons, but are also heavy and immobile. Gladiators would have a hard time quickly stopping attacks with a huge chunk of metal with weak arms, so they probably had to practice with a shield for countless hours to be able to swiftly move it. The shield also works as a weapon when the sword may be lost, broken, or taken by the opponent in the form of a close-quarters tool. One smack with a huge shield and you’re out. Again, gladiators had to have a different style of combat than regular soldiers because they were defending against one opponent and only had to focus on their opponents strikes.

ARTIFACT NO. 7

ARTIFACT NO. 8

This 5th Century painting shows two gladiators fighting a tiger. Gladiators didn’t only fight each other in Rome, they also fought wild animals like lions and this tiger. These gladiators were different because they used less armor and normally had no shields. The gladiators called thracians would also occasionally fight animals, and they would be equipped with a net. This gave a different style of fighting because they had to trap It and then stab it. Fighting an animal like this was no easy task; many died on the job because of this. This picture also shows that gladiators sometimes worked in groups called factions. These were teams of gladiators who would put a group or one of their men against opponents from other factions.

This is a mosaic showing many of the different activities gladiators might have partook in. They are fighting each other, fighting wild animals, and having to rope wild animals as well. This shows the diversity of gladiators and also how worthless their lives were to many members of the public. Many of the people in this mosaic would have died. One thing I’ve noticed is that there are no women as gladiators in any of the pictures I’ve seen. Apparently, women AND children were sometimes used as gladiators to impress visitors. They probably had to fight each other to have a good fight that the Roman people would get into. It doesn’t really make sense, but it is our history and it’s important to know about so it doesn’t happen again.ARTIFACT NO. 9

ARTIFACT NO. 10

This picture shows a handful of actual ancient Roman coins . It might not look like it has anything to do with gladiators…but believe me, it does. Gambling was an essential part of Rome. People gambled on chariot races, foot races, and gladiator battles. Who will die? Who will forfeit? These are the questions that the person wanting to gamble would ask themselves. But they would probably be gambling a great deal more than this if they were serious gambling. The fact that people gambled on the gladiators lives shows that the gladiators were merely a sport. The only reason one would be sad when a man died would be if he bet on him. The guy sitting next to him would be elated.

THE ENDThank you for coming and viewing our presentation. Gladiators were almost completely eradicated by the 5th Century. They were really spectacles, but were also examples of how not to treat people.

Please come again next week, when we have our “Aliens Exist” exhibit on display.

Museum Curator Ethan Johnston

BIBLIOGRAPHY “The Gladiators.” Murphs Place. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2013.

<http://www.murphsplace.com/gladiator/glads.html>. Gladiators Mosaic.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 18 June

2013. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Gladiators_from_the_Zliten_mosaic_3.JPG>.

“Gladius.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 18 June 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladius>.

“Retarius Stabs Secutor.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 18 June 2013. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Retiarius_stabs_secutor_%28color%29.jpg>.

“Roman Auxillary Shield.” Roman Officer. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2013. <http://romanofficer.com/Images/permcol32.jpg>.

“Roman Muscle Cuirass Armor.” Roman Officer. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2013. <http://romanofficer.com/pages/roman-muscle-cuirass-armor.htm>.