Gladiators Gladius The word gladiator came from the sword which they used called the Gladius. This was a short sword that was about 40cm long used by the Roman soldiers. It had a very sharp point and was used for stabbing and slashing. Not all gladiators used this sword but the name was used for all those who fought in the arena.
Gladiators Lanista Every gladiator school was run by a lanista, who was the owner and chief trainer. The lanista decided who to recruit and how to train them, the strongest would wear the heaviest armour and the quickest would be retiarius gladiators.
Gladiators Arena Each arena had the same layout which was oval with an entrance at each end. The gladiators entered at one entrance and the other was used by servants who removed the dead gladiators. The ‘editor’ sat in a special section called the ‘tribunal editoris’, which was on the north side in the shade. The biggest arena was called the Colosseum.
Gladiators The Colosseum was named after a statue of Colossus, a 30m tall statue of the Emperor Nero. It was built on a marsh as this was the only place big enough that had not already been built on. It seated 50,000 people and was the largest building ever built. The first games in the Colosseum lasted for 100 days.
Gladiators The Colosseum in Rome
Gladiators Death Gladiator fights were first held at funerals of noblemen or politicians. Eventually they became shows that were put on to impress voters and were held in arenas. The mob decided which gladiator died and which would live. The wounded gladiator would hold up their finger on their left hand to ask for mercy, the mob gave a thumbs down gesture if they thought the gladiator should die.
Gladiators
Isca Isca was a huge Roman fortress and settlement and had the largest arena in Britain. It is near the modern day village of Caerleon (near Newport).
Gladiators ISCA
Gladiators Andabatae Gladiators The Romans loved anything new and unusual. Andabatae gladiators wore helmets with no eye holes, the listened carefully for sounds from their opponents and then attacked with two swords. Sometimes they fought on horseback.
Gladiators Andabatae gladiator
Gladiators Types of Gladiators There were 4 main types of gladiators: Murmillo gladiators used army weapons and military armour. Thracian gladiators were based on soldiers from Thrace, they wore a helmet decorated with a griffin and used a small shields, leg armour and a small curved sword.
Gladiators Provocator gladiators wore the heaviest armour. They had a breast plate, round helmet and leg armour that reached above the knees. They also had a big shield and a gladius sword. Retiarius gladiators had a fishing net and a trident but wore very little armour. They relied on speed and skill to evade more heavily equipped gladiators. The net was used to trip or entangle them before they used the trident to kill them.
Gladiators Murmillo Thracian
Gladiators Provocator Retiarius
Gladiators Oath A special oath was taken by trainee gladiators in front of a shrine to the gods. The oath made the gladiator obey the lanista without question or endure branding, flogging, chains or death.
Gladiators
Routine Gladiators were woken at dawn to start their training, they had several servants to help them. Barley porridge was their main meal, they also ate meat, fruits and vegetables. Training lasted for hours, they would start with weapon strokes against a wooden post. They had special plain armour and blunt weapons for training. Older retired gladiators trained the new recruits. They received regular massages to ease their stiff muscles and joints.
Gladiators
Spartacus The most famous gladiator was Spartacus. He was from originally from Thrace, he joined the Roman army but did not like it so tried to run away. As punishment he was sent to be a gladiator. He led a rebellion of gladiators and other slaves in the year 73BC. At first he had just 70 men but that grew to over 40,000. He equipped his soldiers with weapons he had stolen from the Romans. He was eventually defeated by a Roman army at Lucania.
Gladiators Spartacus