Some gladiators—like the Samnites—were named for opponents of the Romans; other types of gladiators, like the Provacator and Secutor, took their names from their functions: challenger and pursuer. Often, certain types of gladiators fought only specific foes, because the best type of entertainment was thought to be an evenly matched pair with contrasting fighting styles.
Most of the information about Roman gladiators comes from Roman historians, as well as mosaics and tombstones. One source is the book of "Oneirocritica" of Artemidorus, a professional diviner of the second century CE Rome.
Artemidorus interpreted dreams for Roman citizens, and a chapter of his book discusses what a man's dream of fighting with a specific gladiator type implies about the wife he is going to marry. The Samnites were named after the great Samnite warriors that Rome defeated in the early years of the republic, and they are most heavily armed of the four main types. After the Samnites became Roman allies, the name was dropped, likely changed to the Secutor pursuer although that is somewhat debated.
Their weapon and armor included:. The Thraces were named after another enemy of Rome, and they usually fought in pairs against the Mirmillones.
Artemidorus warned that if a man dreamed he was fighting a Traex, his wife would be rich because the Traex's body was completely covered by armor ; crafty because he carries a curved scimitar ; and fond of being first because of a Traex's advancing techniques.
Armor used by the Thraces included:. Mirmillo spelled Myrmillo, Murmillo and plural Murmillones. Murmillones were the "fish men," who wore a large helmet with a fish on its crest, armor with leather or metal scales, and a straight Greek-styled sword. He was heavily armored, with a massive helmet with tiny eye slits and he was often paired with the Retiarii.
The Murmillones carried:. Retiarius plural Retiarii. The Retiarii or "net men" usually fought with weapons modeled on the tools of a fisherman. They only wore armor on the arm and shoulder, leaving legs and head exposed. They most commonly fought the secutor and murmillo or one another. The Roman satirist Juvenal describes a disgraced nobleman named Gracchus who trained as a retiarius because he was too proud to wear defensive armor or use offensive weapons and refused to wear a helmet that would have hidden his shame.
Artemidorus said that men who dreamed of battles with the retiarii were sure to find a wife who was poor and wanton, roaming about for any man who wanted her. The Retiarii carried:. Secutors were armed almost exactly like a murmillo, except that they had a smooth helmet that wouldn't get entangled with the nets of the retiarii. Aremidorus reports that the man who dreamed of fighting with a secutor was sure to get a woman who was attractive and rich, but proud and disdainful of her husband.
The armor of the Secutors included:. Provacator pl. A Provacator or challenger was dressed as a legionnaire during the Republic era but later stripped down in elegance. The Provacatores starred in what were considered the best battles, and they mostly fought each other. However, in ancient Rome, women created scandal by fighting bare-chested for sport. In order to mix up gladiatorial events, matches between women provoked scandal and excited crowds.
A gladiatrix wore scanty armor and no helmet. Usually, fighting one another or sometimes dwarves , some female fighters came from high-status families. These agile Roman gladiators defended themselves with trident, a small dagger and a weighted net to ensnare their bulkier opponents.
Almost naked, retiarii wore only a loincloth, an arm guard manica , a shoulder guard and went without a helmet.
Retiarii experienced a lower rank in society and had worse living conditions. However, regardless of how Romans felt about them, retiarii complemented the fighting styles of the hoplomachus and secutor well.
Carrying a spear, a sword and a round calvary shield, equites gladiators took their name from the aristocratic equestrian class of the same name. First, an eques gladiator entered the ring on his horse and battled with a lance. Eventually, after someone fell off their horse, the battle continued on foot with swords in close combat.
If nobody fell off, the fight eventually continued on foot anyway. Athletic and agile, these matches added fanfare to a lineup of gladiatorial contests. This is our most popular Colosseum tour due to the incredible access to non-public areas like the underground chambers.
All admissions are included and it is lead by an English speaking licensed guided and Colosseum expert. Next, on to the Roman Forum. All admissions are included. Fighting with two swords at once in close combat, dimachaeri gladiators inflicted a barrage of slicing strikes on his opponents.
While a match with a dimacherarus required a high level of skill, Romans thought this type of fighting to be insidious and sneaky.
As a fast and unencumbered gladiator, a dimacherarus gladiator fought more heavily armored opponents. Paired against murmillones gladiators who represented Roman soldiers, these fights reenacted the Roman Greek wars for entertainment. Fighting with the short, leaf-shaped sword, a hoplomachus gladiator fought like a the Greek hoplite.
Besides the sword, they also used a lance for thrusting and wore a visored helmet with a massive crest ridge. Originally, gallus gladiators were prisoners of war from the Gaul tribe in Central and Western Europe. Eventually however, Gauls became part of the Roman Empire. At this point, gallus gladiators became murmillones, because it was no longer politically correct to depict them as enemies.
He was a Thracian soldier or mercenary who ended up being sold a slave and then became a gladiator. He was one of the leaders of a revolt at the gladiator school of Capua, which ended in 70 of the trainees escaping. After their escape and some subsequent skirmishes with the roman military, which the gladiators won, their ranks grew until they became an army of multiple tens of thousands. Spartacus led this rebel slave army in what came to be known as the Third Servile War, until his forces were routed and he was supposedly killed in 71 BC.
Most often, gladiators engaged in one on one combat and would be paired against different types that were considered complementary. Murmillos often fought against Thracians, as well as Hoplomachus, and Retiarius. Retiarius net and trident wielders usually faced gladiators armed with more conventional weapons.
Fights were highly organized and monitored by referees. Not all ended in death. Often a fight would end without either combatant dying — the reason for this was quite simple: training and maintaining a stable of gladiators was expensive, so their owners wanted them to survive as long as possible.
In the early years of the Colosseum more fights were to the death, but as time went on the contests became less lethal because replacing dead gladiators was costly.
There were other types of violent entertainment that were popular in ancient Rome that have often been connected with gladiators, but which were in fact separate from them.
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