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  Rather bizarrely, the actual combat might be accompanied

  by musicians on wind instruments (the straight tuba and

  the curved cornua are shown on reliefs and mosaics) and an

  organist on a water organ ( hydraulis). Parts of the hydraulis

  dated to the 3rd century AD were found at Aquincum

  (Budapest in Hungary) as well as piece of two examples from

  Pompeii. These, together with surviving descriptions, help us

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  Musicians playing organ and horn (photo by Carole Raddato)

  to understand how the instrument worked. It evidently made

  an impressive sound, as the poet Claudian attests, describing

  the playing of the organist:

  Him too whose light touch can elicit loud music from those

  pipes of bronze that sound a thousand diverse notes beneath his

  wandering fingers and who by means of a lever stirs to song the

  labouring water. (Claudian, Panegyric on the Consulship of Manlius

  Theodorus 339–42)

  In the Imperial period, once a contest was finished, and if there

  was a corpse to dispose of, then a man dressed as Charun, the

  Etruscan demon of death (not to be confused with Charon, the

  ferryman, who carried the dead across the River Styx), entered

  the arena. He tested to see if the deceased really was dead,

  finished them off with his mallet if not, and then dragged off the

  offending remains. Tertullian referred to him obliquely as ‘the

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  brother of Jupiter’, which amongst the Roman pantheon would

  mean either Neptune, god of the sea, or Pluto, the god of the

  underworld (the latter obviously equivalent to Charun). Some

  of the skulls from the gladiator cemetery at Ephesus showed

  possible signs of impact by such a hammer.

  Finally, the arena could then be smoothed out and bloodied

  sand replaced by the harenarii or arena attendants (usually slaves).

  the arenas

  The word arena comes directly from the Latin word for sand,

  harena (the Romans were as prone to dropping aitches and

  adding them unnecessarily as readily as anybody else). This

  was because, wherever gladiators fought, they did so on sand.

  Since most, but not all, gladiators chose to fight barefoot, this

  not only made for a less painful surface than stone or wood,

  but it also had the advantage of soaking away any spilled blood.

  The specialised gladiatorial venues with which we are now so

  familiar – oval amphitheatres – were actually a comparatively late

  development. As mentioned earlier, the first public performances

  were mounted in the Forum Boarium and Forum Romanum in

  Rome, and later chariot racing circuses and theatres were used

  to stage fights between gladiators. As late as 43 BC, Cicero

  proposed reserving space around a statue of the late Servius

  Sulpicius Rufus on the Rostra for his descendants so that they

  could watch ‘games and gladiators’. By the early Imperial period,

  another repurposed open space, the Saepta Iulia (located next to

  the Pantheon in Rome), was being used for gladiatorial shows.

  Designed as the voting area for Roman citizens, it was exploited

  by both Augustus and Gaius.

  At Ephesus (Turkey), the theatre, only some 900m south-west

  of the gladiatorial cemetery, contains graffiti demonstrating the

  presence there of gladiators, and the same secondary use is found

  for theatres at Athens, Aphrodisias, Assos and Hierapolis. Similarly,

  the stadium at Ephesus was also used for gladiatorial contests, a

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  small arena being inserted in its eastern end when it was no longer

  used for athletic contests. In Rome, the oldest chariot racing

  stadium, the Circus Maximus, was also exploited for gladiatorial

  shows but was particularly popular for wild beast shows, since it

  provided much more room than amphitheatres or theatres.

  Moreover, even when amphitheatres did begin to appear, they

  were at first temporary structures of wood and catastrophic

  collapses like that described above under Tiberius were not

  unknown. The word amphitheatrum, which literally means

  ‘all-round theatre’, was used to describe an oval structure with

  banks of seating that completely surrounded the arena. Whilst a

  theatre was a true semicircle, the oval shape of an amphitheatre

  was very carefully laid out using geometrical principles and was

  not simply two semicircles joined together. The earliest stone

  amphitheatre was not in Rome but at Capua, although that was

  replaced by the surviving structure in the Imperial period. This

  means that the earliest surviving stone amphitheatre is in the

  small provincial town of Pompeii and that only dates back as

  far as c. 70 BC, with the foundation inscription referring to it as

  a spectacula and not an amphitheatrum. It measured 135 m by

  104 m overall, with the arena 67 m by 35 m dug into the ground

  by about 2 m (spoil being used for the earthen banks under the

  seating). The arena was surrounded by a wall more than 2 m high

  which was decorated with frescoes, including hunt scenes. Pliny

  the Elder believed that the first amphitheatre ever was that built

  in 52 BC by Scribonius Curio to celebrate gladiatorial games for

  his dead son. Clearly he was slightly wide of the mark in some

  respects, but it may well be that this was the first time such an

  oval structure was referred to as an amphitheatrum. The structure

  he described was actually two timber theatres hinged together

  which could be rotated to form an amphitheatre.

  As the Roman empire spread, so did amphitheatres. The Roman

  army helped, since all legionary fortresses and even some auxiliary

  forts were equipped with an amphitheatre. The example at

  Caerleon in Wales, just outside the south-west gate of the fortress

  of the Second Legion Augusta, can still be visited. With its oval

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  Pompeii amphitheatre inscription (photo by M. C. Bishop)

  Caerleon amphitheatre (Crown Copyright)

  arena partially excavated below ground level, the spoil was then

  piled up to form the base for the seating embankments, reinforced

  with stone revetment walls. It was probably enhanced with a

  timber superstructure to provide suffi cient seating for the whole

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  legion. Although it was once thought that military amphitheatres

  were largely used for parades, scholars now believe they also served

  as venues for gladiatorial contests and animal hunts much like

  those in any provincial town. The presence of a shrine to Nemesis,

  the goddess of fate favoured by gladiators, in the amphitheatres at

  Caerleon and Chester only helps to confirm this.

  At either end of the short axis of the arena, there was the Porta

  Sanavivaria (Gate of Life) on one side and the Porta Libitinensis

  (Gate of Death) on the other. Triumphant gladiators would

  leave through the former, whilst the figure dressed as Charun

  would emerge from the latter in order to remove the remains of

  the de
feated. Beyond the Porta Libitinensis lay the spoliarium,

  the chamber where the dead were stripped and prepared for

  cremation or burial.

  The Colosseum

  Undoubtedly, the best known of all the amphitheatres in the

  Roman world was the Flavian Amphitheatre, often called the

  Colosseum (a nickname it acquired from its proximity to a large

  statue of the sun god Helios that used to stand next to it). Built

  over the remains of the lake outside Nero’s reviled Golden House,

  it was a masterpiece of Roman engineering and architecture.

  Covering an area of just 2.4 ha but capable of seating somewhere

  between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators (at a time when the

  population of Rome is thought to have been something under

  half a million), it was the largest custom-designed gladiatorial

  venue in the Roman Empire. By way of comparison, the nearby

  Circus Maximus, primarily designed for chariot races but (as just

  mentioned) also used for gladiatorial contests, was more than

  7 ha in extent and could probably seat 150,000.

  The substructures of the Colosseum housed ramps, machinery

  for moving scenery and lifts to hoist animal cages up into the

  arena, as well as cells for accommodating combatants and

  animals whilst they awaited their turn. There was also a large

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  drain surrounding it, reflecting the fact that a large lake had been

  drained in order to construct the structure.

  Ancillary structures in the vicinity of the Colosseum included

  four Imperial gladiatorial schools, one of which – the Ludus

  Magnus – is still partly visible. It included a small arena for practice

  (63 m by 42 m), surrounded by seating (so that enthusiasts could

  watch their heroes practise and perhaps size them up for betting

  purposes. There were cells around the periphery and it was

  linked to the main amphitheatre by means of a tunnel. The other

  schools, the Ludus Mutatinus, Ludus Dacicus and Ludus Gallicus,

  were also near the Colosseum. The complex also included a

  health centre ( sanitarium) and morgue ( spoliarium), a scenery

  store ( choragium) and an armoury ( armamentarium). Elsewhere,

  near the Baths of Trajan, there was a camp for members of the

  Classis Misenensis (the fleet based at Misenum on the Bay of

  Naples) who had responsibility for handling the awnings ( vela –

  literally, ‘sails’ – that formed the velarium or awning) that served

  to shade the audience in the amphitheatre from the sun during

  performances. The remains of the apparatus for deploying the

  awning still survive on the exterior of the Colosseum. Lucretius

  described the colourful effect of such awnings at the theatre:

  The awnings, saffron, red and dusky blue,

  Stretched overhead in mighty theatres,

  Upon their poles and cross-beams fluttering,

  Have such an action quite; for there they dye

  And make to undulate with their every hue

  The circled throng below, and all the stage,

  And rich attire in the patrician seats.

  (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 4.75–81)

  In the Colosseum, as in all amphitheatres, social stratification

  was openly practised. The organiser of the games, whether the

  editor or an emperor, sat in a box on one of the long sides of

  the arena. The nobility sat next to the edge of the arena, just

  about far enough removed from any unpleasantness to be safe,

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  Ludus Magnus remains (photo by M. C. Bishop)

  whilst behind them sat the bulk of the male population. Women

  and slaves were confined to the rearmost, upper tiers of seating

  (often added in timber, even in stone amphitheatres). The only

  exception made was for the Vestal Virgins, the celibate women

  priests who tended the sacred flame of the goddess Vesta in their

  circular temple next to the forum. It is they who are depicted

  in the front row of Gérôme’s painting vigorously making the

  thumbs-down gesture. The rest of the women (and the slaves)

  thus had the advantage of being close to the awnings and the

  shade they provided, but the disadvantage of being far away

  from the action down in the arena.

  Although construction of the Colosseum began in AD 72 under

  the Emperor Vespasian, funded by the spoils from his Jewish

  War, it was not finally dedicated until AD 80 under his son, the

  Emperor Titus, with a massive programme of games that allegedly

  lasted 100 days and saw the deaths of 5,000 animals. The poet

  Martial wrote a series of poems ( On Spectacles) to commemorate

  the event and, although doubt has been cast upon their accuracy,

  the rich mix of mythology, ingenuity in dealing death and the

  sheer exotic variety of animals slaughtered was clearly designed to

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  Colosseum cross-section (drawing by M. C. Bishop)

  impress an audience who had probably become inured to routine

  gladiatorial combats and wild beast hunts. However, the poet only

  actually describes one gladiatorial combat between an equally

  matched pair and does not even mention their armaturae:

  While Priscus drew out, and Verus drew out the contest, and the

  prowess of both stood long in balance, oft was discharge for the

  men claimed with mighty shouts; but Caesar himself obeyed his

  own law: that law was, when the prize was set up, to fight until the

  finger was raised; what was lawful he did, oft giving dishes and gifts

  therein. Yet was an end found of that balanced strife: they fought

  well matched, matched well they together yielded. To each Caesar

  sent the wooden sword, and rewards to each: this prize dexterous

  valour won. Under no prince but thee, Caesar, has this chanced:

  while two fought, each was victor. (Martial, On Spectacles 29)

  There was another imperial amphitheatre in Rome. The

  Amphitheatrum Castrense, so called because of its proximity to

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  the camp of the Imperial horse guards, the equites singulares, was

  not in fact a military amphitheatre, but actually part of a palace

  complex constructed by Elagabalus (AD 218–22) in the early

  3rd century AD. It was adopted by Constantine for his own

  private entertainment, sharing the spectacles staged there with

  only a few select guests.

  Provincial amphitheatres

  Outside of Rome, Italian cities such as Verona and Capua

  routinely had an amphitheatre, but Puteoli on the Bay of Naples,

  because of its pre-eminent role as a trading port, built a second

  during the latter part of the 1st century AD.

  Beyond Italy, and throughout the empire, amphitheatres

  could be found around most legionary fortresses, some auxiliary

  forts and most towns and cities. Provincial amphitheatres like

  those at Nimes, Arles (both France), Pula (Slovenia) or El Jem

  (Tunisia) were as magnificent as anything in Italy outside of

  Rome, although some of the more far-flung – in Britain, for

  example – were markedly less impressive, often small and

  constructed with earthen banks and timber, such as those


  outside the British towns of Cirencester or Silchester. The

  example at Dorchester was even a converted Neolithic henge

  monument. The similarity of the amphitheatre at El Jem (with

  its arena 65 m by 39 m) to the slightly larger Colosseum (77 m

  by 46 m) was one of the reasons it was chosen to stand in for its

  larger Italian cousin in the film Gladiator (with the aid of some

  digital enhancement).

  In the Roman town of Carnuntum, which stretched between

  the modern villages of Bad Deutsch-Altenburg and Petronell in

  Austria, and which surrounded a Roman legionary fortress, an

  interesting discovery was recently made. It has long been known

  that Carnuntum had two stone amphitheatres, one for the

  fortress and one for the town, but geophysical survey has recently

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  The army and gladiators

  The Roman army not only enjoyed watching

  gladiators, but actually had a much closer connection

  with gladiatorial combat. In 105 BC, we fi nd P. Rutilius

  Rufus importing specialist trainers for his army from the

  gladiatorial school of C. Aurelius Scaurus with the

  specifi c aim of improving his soldiers’ sword skills.

  Soldiers were now to practice fencing against stakes

  and then against each other using blunted weapons.

  Soon after, the Roman general Marius used troops

  trained by those same gladiatorial trainers to defeat

  the Cimbri, so the system passed its fi rst test.

  This type of training became integral to the Roman

  army, not only when instructing new recruits, but also

  in maintaining the skills of even the most hardened

  veterans. Commanders regularly reviewed them and

  any shortcomings in drill would be noticed.

  revealed the plan of a gladiatorial school closely resembling the

  Ludus Magnus . It had a circular, rather than oval, training arena,

  but its proximity to one of the amphitheatres leaves little doubt

  over its identifi cation.

  Amphitheatres were not confi ned to the western half of

  the empire and more than 20 are now known from the East.

  Th ey were not as common as in the West and this was used in

  the past to suggest that the East was more ‘civilised’ and less

  enthusiastic about gladiators, but it is clear that this was not

  the case and the cemetery and theatre at Ephesus only serve to