On the Tiber VocabDefine the words below:

republic-

patricians-

plebeians-

veto-

forum-

Romulus and Remus-

constitution-

senate-

consuls-

tribunes-

dictator-

The 12 Tables-

Etruscans-

Carthage-

Hannibal-

Punic Wars-

On the Tiber Vocab Pic Due:___________

Create assigned vocab pic

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“On the Tiber”, p. 162-169

How did Rome’s location encourage expansion and trade?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why might the Romans have wanted to create stories about their city’s humble origins?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are some places in our society that serve the same functions as the forum in Rome?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How did the conquest of Greece by Rome lead to major changes in Roman society?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Timeline of Ancient Rome: Due:________

Create a timeline about Ancient Rome on the two taped-together pieces of blank paper. Your textbook is your source for information. Here are the parameters:

1. Begin in 509 BC – Founding of the Roman republic2. End in 476 AD – Death of the last Western Roman emperor3. 20 entries – at least one from all of the SPRITE categories (see below).

Give detail on each entry to show that you understand what the event was. For instance “Punic Wars” is not enough. Who was fighting? Who won? What did they gain? Etc.

4. At least two COLORED illustrations

SPRITE is a series of categories in which you can place historical knowledge. Useful for following the threads of change through time. Here’s what they mean:

Social; how people interacted, families, gender roles, art, plays, music, language, etc.

Political; Traditional history, kings emperors, governments, wars, empires, territory, etc.

Religion; Two major religions of the empire: Paganism and Christianity

Ideas; Science, world-views, how we think about things. Mostly philosophy in Roman period.

Technology; tools, architecture, weapons, etc.

Economy; work, what is produced, money, farming, industry, trade.

Also, remember the BC to AD system. In BC, the years are counting down to the year Jesus Christ was born. In 1 AD Jesus was born, and the years start counting up. There is no year zero. So, from 509 BC to 476 AD is about 1000 years.

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I Conquered Vocab

Gracchi Brothers-

Gaius Marius-

triumvirate-

Julius Caesar-

Veni, vidi, vici-

Pompey-

Ides of March-

“Et tu Brute?”-

Octavian-

Marc Antony-

Cleopatra-

The Aeneid (by Virgil)-

“The Good Emperors”-

Pax Romana-

I Conquered Vocab Pic Due:_________

Draw assigned vocab word

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“I Conquered,” p.170-176

How did the military reforms made by Gaius Marius change politics in Rome?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did Octavian earn the name Augustus? Why or why not?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was much cheaper to ship goods by sea than by land. That said, why were the Romans’ superior roads so important?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After Rome, the most important city in the empire was Alexandria. Why was the city so important?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Headless Romans

1. In what city and country were the skeletons discovered?____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

2. 3 theories are put forward for who the decapitated bodies were. What are the three theories, and what evidence have they found that points for or against each theory?

Theory 1

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Theory 2

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Theory 3

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

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The Pax Cultura VocabDefine the words below

villa-

circuses-

paterfamilias-

augurs-

Galen-

Ptolemy-

aqueducts-

Latin-

civil law-

“Bread and Circuses”-

Colosseum-

gladiator-

The Pax Cultura Vocab Pic Due:______

Draw assigned vocab word

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“The Pax Cultura,” p. 177-182

What were some ways Roman society was patriarchal? What rights did women have?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How is the influence of Rome still felt in languages?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What were some advances made by Romans that allowed them to excel in engineering and architecture?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ludus Magnus – Gladiator Short Story Due:______

You will be writing a piece of historical fiction about a gladiator during the height of the Roman Empire. It will:

Be at LEAST 4 pages long, double-spaced, 12-point Times or Cambria, with no silly attempts to lengthen it by playing around with the format. If your story is 3.95 pages long, that is not long enough! Stories turned in without proper formatting will not be accepted, and your fixed versions will thus be late.

Incorporate good fiction-writing techniques such as characters, plot, setting, and literary devices.

Use high-school-level grammar and spelling Be plausible. Use the information you will have researched to give your story

authenticity. A story that is generic in its descriptions does not feel real! A large part of your grade will be based on how bring in factual information.

Before you start writing, you MUST:1. Watch the gladiator docu-drama2. Read the following information about gladiators. While reading, you

must HIGHLIGHT information that you think will be useful for your story, and WRITE in the margins how it may be used.

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INFORMATION ON GLADIATORS FOR SHORT STORIES

Source: Wikipedia entry on Gladiators

Evolution of Gladiators, began as part of funerals:

These games became popular throughout the Empire and were especially popular in Greece. So popular that there are many records of people in towns where prominent citizens died virtually extorting promises of gladiatorial games from the survivors. The aristocracy also began to compete in having the best games so that whereas the sons of Brutus Pera offered three matches, a century later, Titus Flamininus offered 74 matches lasting three days for his father's funeral and by the passing of yet another century Julius Caesar promised 320 matches for his daughter, Julia. As a result the emperors eventually had to regulate how much could be spent on gladiatorial performances to prevent members of the elite from bankrupting themselves.

Gradually, as the connection to funerals faded in the late second century BC, the funeral games gradually transformed into public performances. Julius Caesar eventually owned so many gladiators that the Senate, fearing the use such a "private army" could be put to, passed a law limiting private citizens to owning no more than 640 gladiators.[1] The moment when a true split from the funeral backdrop occurred was after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Bad omens plagued the city and the games were seen as a method to please the gods and save Rome. During the first century A.D., giving games even became a requirement of some public offices.

Over time the games had become integrated ever more into the Imperial cult through games financed by the state or by the Emperors as a means to get public approval, and especially so in the provincial towns. After Caesars' death a clear distinction between games organized by public officials (ludi) and those held by private citizens (munera) was set. Although it was still possible for private citizens to organise their own gladiatorial games, Augustus decreed that they could use no more than 120 gladiators and the days on which such private games could be organised were limited: from December 2 to December 8, during the Saturnalia from December 17 to December 23 (the Winter solstice), and between March 19 and March 23 for the Spring celebration of Quinquatria.

WHERE THEY TOOK PLACE:

Gladiator fights took place in these amphitheatres during the afternoon of a full day event. The amphitheaters built were made of wood and were usually neither structurally sound, often being prone to collapse,[2] nor did they survive the fires of Rome. The first permanent amphitheater in Rome dates to around 30 BC. Not until AD 70 and Vespasian's reign did plans for a purpose built stone venue for the games develop. The Colosseum (Amphitheatrum Flavium) was unveiled in AD 80.

The Stone Pine, a conifer native to the Iberian Peninsula was often planted near the local amphitheatre in foreign countries. The aromatic pinecones were traditionally burnt in bowls to mask the smell of the arena. The word “arena” means sand, a reference to the thick layer of sand on the floor for the purpose of soaking up the blood.

Gladiators could have been either prisoners of war, slaves or criminals (mainly fugitive slaves) condemned to gladiator schools (ad ludum gladiatorium). There were also a number of volunteer gladiators (auctoratus). By the end of the republic as many as half of the gladiators were auctoratii. These were either sons of prominent men perhaps looking for a radical change, poor men attracted by the potential for fame or relinquishing themselves from poverty, or even men with a monetary purpose, such as Sisinnes who sought to earn money to buy a friend's freedom. All gladiators kept the monetary prizes that they won in the arena and Titus is on record for paying a freed slave 1,000 gold aurei to return for a single match. These men came from all different backgrounds but were soon united as they entered the training schools. By the end of the Republic, about half of the gladiators were volunteers (auctorati), who took on the status of a slave for an agreed-upon period of time, similar to the indentured servitude that was common in the late second millennium. Sometimes

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people were forced to fight in one off events. Caligula was known for forcing anyone he did not like to fight, including spectators who annoyed him at the games.

One of the benefits of becoming a gladiator for slaves and criminals is that they were then allowed to have relationships with women and although they themselves could never become Roman citizens, if they gained their freedom, their marriages then were legally recognized and their children could then become citizens.

Gladiators were very proud of their ethnic origins and made sure their true origin was known to the public if they fought under a title suggesting another ethnic group. Even in death they made sure their race was inscribed on their headstone. After Judea was “pacified” there was a large increase in the number of Jewish gladiators as it was common practice under Titus and Vespasian to sentence Jewish rebels and criminals to gladiatorial schools.

Left-handed gladiators were popular and a rare novelty, their fights were always advertised as a special event. As with modern-day "lefty" fencers, tennis players and other sportsman, these left-handers had a large advantage as they were trained to fight right-handers who were themselves not trained to defend against a left-hander. Mentions of left handedness on gravestones have been found.

Research on the remains of 70 Murmillos and Retiariae gladiators found at an ancient site in Ephesus has shown that, contrary to popular belief, gladiators were probably overweight and also ate a high-energy vegetarian diet consisting of mainly barley, beans and dried fruit. Fabian Kanz of the Austrian Archaeological Institute said he believed gladiators "cultivated layers of fat to protect their vital organs from the cutting blows of their opponents". Gladiators were sometimes known as hordearii, which means "eaters of barley". Although considered an inferior grain to wheat (a punishment for Legionaries was to replace their wheat ration with barley), gladiators probably preferred it as Romans believed that barley contributed to strength and covered the arteries with a layer of fat which helped to reduce bleeding. Other findings from the research indicate gladiators fought barefoot in the sand.

GLADIATOR SCHOOLS

Estimations are that there were more than 100 gladiator schools (ludi) throughout the empire. Two of the more famous are the school in Capua where Spartacus was trained and the school in Pompeii that was buried in the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. One of the largest schools was based in Ravenna. There were four schools in Rome: Ludus Magnus (the most important), Ludus Dacus, Ludus Gallicus, and Ludus Matutinus (school for gladiators dealing with animals). The schools had barracks for the gladiators with small cells and a large training ground. The most impressive had seating for spectators to watch the men train and some even had boxes for the emperor.

Prospective gladiators (novicius) upon entering a gladiator school swore an oath (sacramentum) giving their lives to the gods of the underworld and vowing to accept, without protest, humiliation by any means. Volunteers also signed a contract (auctoramentum) with a gladiator manager (lanista) stating how often they were to perform, which weapons they would use, and how much they would earn. Prospectives also went under a physical examination by a doctor to determine if they were both physically capable of the rigorous training and aesthetically pleasing. Once accepted the novicius usually had his debts forgiven and was given a sign up fee. For as long as he was a gladiator he was well fed and received high quality medical care. Overall, gladiators were united as members of a familia gladiatoria and became second to the prestige of the school. They also joined unions (collegia) formed to ensure proper burials for fallen members and compensation for their families.

As a rule gladiators, slaves and criminals had tattoos (stigma) applied as an identifying mark on the face, legs and hands (legionnaires were also tattooed but only on their hands). This practice continued until the emperor Constantine banned them on the face by decree in AD 325.

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Training was under teachers called “Doctores” and involved the learning of a series of “numbers”, which were broken down into various phases much as a play is a series of acts broken down into scenes. Sometimes fans complained that a gladiator fought too “mechanically” when he followed the “numbers” too closely. Gladiators would even be taught how to die correctly. Each type of gladiator had its own teacher; doctore secutorum, doctore thracicum, etc. Although gladiators in times of need helped train legionaries, they were not usually good soldiers themselves as a result of this choreographed style of training. Within a training-school there was a competitive hierarchy of grades (paloi) through which individuals were promoted. They trained using two meter poles (palus) buried in the ground. The levels were named for the training pole and were primus palus, secundus palus, and so on. It was also rare for a novicius to train in more than one gladiatorial style. Once a gladiator had finished training but had not yet fought in an arena he was called a “Tiro”.

COMBAT

The announcement for the coming shows were often made by painting the program (libellus) on the walls of the city which also often included depictions of the featured fighters. Sometimes the results of combats were added to the advertisement after the matches. A "v" over the fighters image stood for "vicit" meaning he won. A "p" stood for "periit" meaning he was killed. An "m" stood for "missus", meaning he lost but was spared. Games were often commemorated with a representation of the fights with an inscription (i.e. Astyanax defeated Kalendio). If one was killed a circle with a diagonal line through it (usually Ø but sometimes excluding the line within the circle) was inscribed over the defeated man's head.

An average game had between ten and thirteen pairs (Ordinarii) of gladiators, with a single bout lasting around ten to fifteen minutes. They were usually of differing types. However, sponsor or audience could request other combinations like several gladiators fighting together (Catervarii) or specific gladiators against each other. As a rule gladiators only fought others from within the same school or troupe (ad ludum gladiatorium) but sometimes specific gladiators would be requested to fight one from another troupe (Postulaticii). Sometimes a lanista had to rely on substitutes (supposititii) if the requested gladiator was already dead or incapacitated. The Emperor could have his own gladiators (Fiscales). The largest contest of gladiators ever given was by the emperor Trajan in Dacia as part of a victory celebration in 107 AD and included 5,000 pairs of fighters.

Some matches were advertised as “sine missione” (without release) meaning “to the death”. The referees allowed these fights to continue as long as it took to get a result. Although already a rare event, Augustus outlawed “sine missiones” due to the expense of compensating the “Lanistas” but they were later reintroduced.

When one gladiator was wounded the spectators would yell out one of several traditional cheers such as "habet, hoc habet” (he’s had it) or "habet, peractum est” (he's had it, it's all over), the referee would then end the fight by separating the combatants with his staff. A gladiator could also acknowledge defeat by raising a finger (ad digitum), The referee would then step in, stopping the combat, and refer the decision of the defeated gladiator’s fate to the games sponsor (munerarius) who would decide whether he should live or die after taking the audiences wishes into account or considering how well he had fought. If a gladiator was killed it was normal practice for the games sponsor to pay compensation to the owner (Lanista) of up to 100 times the gladiator's value. For the death of a popular gladiator this could be very expensive.

Fights were generally not to the death during the Republic, but gladiators were still killed or maimed accidentally. Claudius was infamous for rarely sparing the life of a defeated Retiarius. He liked to watch his face as he died, as the Retiarius was the only gladiator that never wore a helmet. Suetonius recounts a combat where the death of an opponent was called a murder. "Once a band of five retiarii in tunics (retiarius tunicatus), matched against the same number of secutores, yielded without a struggle; but when their death was ordered, one of them caught up his trident and slew all the victors. Caligula bewailed this in a public proclamation as a most cruel murder." (Lives of the Twelve Caesars XXX.3)

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(Mosaic at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid showing a retiarius named Kalendio (shown surrendering in the upper section) fighting a secutor named Astyanax. The Ø sign by Kalendio's name implies he was killed after surrendering.)

The figure of a referee is frequently depicted on mosaics as standing in the background, sometimes accompanied by an assistant and carrying a staff with which to hold back a gladiator after his opponent signified submission. This implies contests were fought with fixed rules. We know from mosaics, and from surviving skeletons that gladiators

primarily aimed for the head and the major arteries under the arm and behind the knee.[citation needed]

Gladiators were paid each time they fought. The winner of a match received from the editor a palm branch and additionally an award such as a golden bowl, crown or a sum of money in the form of gold coins. Money was also awarded to the victor by the crowd and was collected on a silver tray. A laurel crown was awarded for an especially outstanding performance. The victor then ran around the perimeter of the amphitheatre, waving the palm. Gladiators were allowed to keep any money or gold they received as a prize. The ultimate prize awarded to gladiators was a permanent discharge from the obligation to fight. As a symbol of this award, the editor gave the gladiator a wooden sword (rudis), Martial (Spect. 27) mentions a particularly famous match between two gladiators named Priscus and Verus, who fought so evenly and bravely for so long that when they both acknowledged defeat at the same instant, the emperor Titus awarded victory to both and gave wooden swords (rudes) to each. Gladiators (including criminals) could earn their freedom if they survived three to five years of combat but there was no set rule as to what a gladiator would have to do in order to win this freedom. Usually if a gladiator won five fights, or especially distinguished himself in a particular fight, he won the rudis and his freedom. A famous Secutor nicknamed Flamma was awarded the rudis four times but he chose to remain a gladiator. He was killed in his 34th fight. Flamma's gravestone in Sicily is particularly informative as it includes his record: Flamma, secutor, lived 30 years, fought 34 times, won 21 times, fought to a draw 9 times, defeated 4 times, a Syrian by nationality. Delicatus made this for his deserving comrade-in-arms.

After a gladiator's defeat, if the crowd gave the signal for him to die there was a ritual to be observed. With one knee on the ground, the loser grasped the thigh of the victor, who, while holding the helmet or head of his opponent, plunged his sword into his neck or cut his throat depending on his weapon. To die well a gladiator was not allowed to ask for mercy and was not allowed to scream when killed. Recent research suggests that gladiators adhered to a code of discipline, and were not as savage as once thought — they did not resort to violence and mutilation which could occur on the battlefields of the day. If defeated but mortally wounded the gladiator was not killed in front of the audience but was taken from the arena to be executed "humanely" with a hammer on the forehead in private.

After the death of a gladiator in combat, two attendants impersonating Charon (ferryman of Hades) and Mercury (messenger to the gods) would approach the body. Charon would strike the body with a mallet and Hermes would then prod the body with a hot poker disguised as a wand to see whether the gladiator was really dead or not. The body was then placed on a "couch of Libitina" by bearers (libitinarii) in larger games and taken from the arena through the Libitinarian Gate (victors left via the Porta Triumphalis and losers the Porta Sanavivaria). In lesser games the libitinarii often used hooks to drag the body. Attendants then spread a fresh layer of sand (harena from where we get the word arena) to soak up the blood. Libitina was the goddess of funerals. After stripping the armour,

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the gladiator's body was then taken to a nearby morgue (spoliarium) where by custom, as final proof the fight was not "fixed", officials slit the man's throat to ensure that he was truly dead.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

Gladiators rarely lived past age 30 unless they were particularly outstanding and accomplished victors but at a time when around 50 percent of Roman citizens died, from all causes, before age 25[12] this indicates that gladiators in fact tended to live longer than the general populace which is attributed to the extra care they received. Reasonable estimates show that they fought on average two to three times yearly, but there are some exceptions such as some men fighting all nine days during one of Trajan's shows.[citation needed]

French historian George Villes evaluated 100 fights from the 1st century CE, involving 200 gladiators, and found that 19 gladiators had lost their lives. His evaluations of gladiator gravestones indicates that the average age at time of death was around 27 years. However, historian Marcus Junkelmann points out that only the most successful gladiators were usually given a headstone and that the majority of the gladiators who died were at the beginning of their career and thus not included in this average. According to Junkelmann the majority died between 18 and 25 years of age.

SOCIAL STANDING

The Romans' attitude towards the gladiators was ambiguous: on the one hand to be a gladiator was the ultimate social disgrace and in fact they were legally designated as infamia (loss of certain public rights); but on the other hand, some successful gladiators rose to celebrity status and even those of senatorial and equites families seemed to join up as gladiators. Being a Lanista was a very lucrative business, but it also was viewed as among the lowest professions on the social scale and well below prostitution, although paradoxically if the Lanista had other sources of income he carried no stigma at all. Likewise if the gladiator took no fee for fighting then the legal stigma of infamia did not apply and the gladiator legally lost no social status although still remaining publicly disgraced.

There is an inscription on a wall in Pompeii that says the Thracian gladiator Celadus was "suspirum et decus puellarum", literally "the sigh and glory of the girls." Faustina the Younger, the mother of the emperor Commodus, was said to have conceived Commodus with a gladiator, but Commodus likely invented this story himself. Despite or because of the prohibition many rich women sought intimate contact with gladiators and there are several instances of historians mentioning Senators wives running off to live with gladiators. The ancient celebrity and the festivity before the fights gave the women an opportunity to meet them.

Despite the extreme dangers and hardships of the profession, some gladiators were volunteers (called auctorati) who fought for money; effectively this career was a sort of last chance for people who had fallen into financial troubles. Indeed, their combat skills were such that, when he had no alternative, Gaius Marius had gladiators train the legionaries in single combat. They were also frequently depicted in art, the Gladiator Mosaic, or a Bignor Roman villa showing Cupids as gladiators. Souvenir bowls were also produced depicting named gladiators in combat.

WOMEN AS GLADIATORS

Female gladiators also existed. Women also often fought as Venetores (wild animal hunting) but these are not considered true gladiators.

The Emperor Domitian liked to stage torchlit fights between dwarves and women, according to Suetonius in The Twelve Caesars. From depictions it appears they fought bare-chested and rarely wore helmets no matter what type of gladiator they fought as.

Women apparently fought at night, and this being the time that the games main events were held indicates the possible importance or rarity of female gladiators. Most modern scholars consider

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female gladiators a novelty act due to the sparse writings about them but those ancient historians that do mention them do so “casually” which suggests that female gladiators were "more widespread than direct evidence might otherwise indicate". The author of an inscription found in Pompeii boasts of being the first editor to bring female gladiators to the town.

A 1st or 2nd century Marble relief from Halicarnassus suggests that some women fought in heavy armour. Both women are depicted as provocatrices in combat. The inscription names them as “Amazon” and “Achillia” and mentions that both received an honourable discharge (missio) from the arena despite fighting each other (both deemed to have won).

TYPES OF GLADIATORS:

Bestiarii (beast fighters): Armed with either a spear or a knife, these fighters were originally not really gladiators but criminals (noxii) condemned to fight beasts with a high probability of death. In later times, the Bestiarii became highly trained gladiators specializing in fighting various types of exotic, imported beasts with spears. The fights were arranged in such a way that there was a small chance the animals would defeat the Bestiarii.

Murmillones (also occasionally called a Gali or Gaul): Wore a helmet with a stylised fish on the crest (the mormylos or sea fish), as well as an arm guard (manica), a loincloth and belt, a gaiter on his right leg, thick wrappings covering the tops of his feet, and a very short greave with an indentation for the padding at the top of the feet. Murmillones carried a gladius (40-50 cm long) and a tall, oblong shield in the legionary style. They were paired with Thraces, occasionally also with the similar Hoplomachi.

Retiarii (net fighter): Developed in the early Augustan era, the retiarius carried a trident, a dagger and a net . Except for a loincloth held in place by a wide belt (balteus) and a larger arm guard (manica) extending to the shoulder and left side of the chest the Retiarius fought naked and without the protection of a helmet. Occasionally a metal shoulder shield (galerus) was added to protect the neck and lower face. A tombstone found in Romania shows a Retiarius holding a dagger with four spikes instead of the usual bladed dagger. This was previously thought to be an artistic invention or perhaps a ceremonial weapon but a recent discovery of a Gladiator graveyard found that several of the remains had four odd-looking marks that form the outline of a square on their bones which is consistent with the use of such a weapon. There appears to have been an effeminate class of Retiarius (retiarius tunicatus) that wore tunics to distinguish them from the usual Retiarius. Retiarii usually always fought Secutores but sometimes Murmillones.

Secutores: This kind of fighter, specifically developed to fight the Retiarius, was a variant of the Murmillo and wore the same armour and weapons, including the tall rectangular shield and the gladius. His helmet, however, covered the entire face with the exception of two small eye-holes in order to protect his face from the thin prongs of the trident of his opponent. The helmet was almost round and smooth so that the retiarius net could not get a grip on it.

Thraces: The Thracian wore the same protective armour as the Hoplomachi with a broad-rimmed helmet that enclosed the entire head, distinguished by a stylized griffin on the protome or front of the crest (the griffin was the companion of the avenging goddess Nemesis), a small round or square-shaped shield (parmula), and two thigh-length greaves. His weapon was the Thracian curved sword (sicca or falx, c. 34 cm long). They commonly fought Murmillones or Hoplomachi.

Praegenarii: Were used as an opening act to get the crowd in the mood. They used a wooden sword (Rudis) and wore wrappings around the body. As they fought, they were accompanied by light hearted music using cymbals, trumpets, and a water organ (hydraulis).

Hoplomachi: From the Greek " " (armed fighters). They wore quilted, trouser-like leg οπλομάχοςwrappings, maybe made from linen, a loincloth, a belt, a pair of long shin-guards or greaves, an arm guard (manica) on the left arm, and a brimmed helmet that could be adorned with a plume of feathers on top and a single feather on each side. Equipped with a gladius and a very small, round

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shield made of one sheet of thick bronze (an example from Pompeii survives)and a spear, (which the gladiator would have to cast before closing for hand to hand combat). They were paired against Murmillones or Thraces. They may have developed out of the earlier Samnites after it became “politically incorrect” to use the names of now allied peoples.

Essedari ("war-chariot fighters"): From the Latin word for a Celtic war-chariot, Esseda. Likely first brought to Rome from Britain by Caesar. Essedarii appear as arena-fighters in many inscriptions after the first century A.D. Yet since no pictorial representations exist, we do not know anything about their equipment and manner of fighting.

Velites: Fought on foot, each holding a spear with attached thong in strap for throwing. Named for the early Republican army units of the same name.

Other Gladiator Terms:

Rudiarius: A gladiator who had won his freedom (received his wooden sword or rudis) but chooses to remain a gladiator. Not all continued to fight and there was a hierarchy of rudiarii such as trainers, helpers, referees, fighters etc. These were very popular with the public as they were experienced and could be relied on to provide a good show.

Tertiarius (Suppositicius or substitute): In some games three men were matched against each other. The first two would fight with the winner then fighting the third man, this third man is the Tertiarius. Tertiarii would also act as a replacement (substitute) if an advertised Gladiator was unable to fight.

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