Gladiators Read online

  saddle at 100 denarii (400 sesterces), for the sake of comparison,

  and it shows the huge prices these exotic animals could fetch.

  A mosaic from Piazza Armerina in Sicily (Italy), dated to the

  first half of the 4th century AD, illustrates such animals being

  rounded up and collected prior to shipping out. At least part of

  the reason for the high prices commanded by exotic wild animals

  may have been a direct result of the cumulative Roman demand

  for them impacting upon their populations, so that they became

  rarer in regions where they had once been common and had to

  be sourced from further afield.

  Having followed the development of gladiatorial games from

  their inception right through to a point from which they start

  to decline, it is now appropriate to pause and examine the

  equipment they used, the places in which they fought, and what

  they could look forward to once they had been engaged to fight

  for their lives.

  CHApTeR 4: AT THe peAk | 65

  CHapter 5

  HARDWARE AND VENUES

  Who does not reckon the contests of gladiators and wild

  beasts among the things of greatest interest, especially

  those which are given by you. But we, because we believe

  that to watch a man be put to death is much the same

  as killing him, avoid such spectacles.

  Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 35

  WHEN WE THINK OF WHAT GLADIATORS looked like, two images

  inevitably dominate our mental picture. First there is the

  Gladiator movie (which is wrong in virtually every detail) and

  second there is the famous 1872 painting Pollice Verso by Jean-

  Léon Gérôme (which is extremely accurate). Th e former seems

  largely to have relied upon imagination, whereas the latter drew

  on mosaics, frescoes, graffi ti and most especially actual fi nds of

  equipment from the excavations at Pompeii to depict gladiators

  in the arena.

  Like Gérôme, our evidence for the dress and equipment of

  gladiators relies partly on representational evidence but also on

  archaeological fi nds. Sculpture could normally be much more

  detailed than mosaics (which can sometimes look like very

  low-resolution computer graphics), but mosaics and frescoes

  preserve colour (and most ancient sculpture, although originally

  coloured, has lost it over time). Th us a mosaic can use grey to

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  Pollice Verso by Gérôme

  hint at steel, or orangey yellow for some form of copper alloy,

  providing us with more detail for our overall picture.

  It is perhaps noteworthy that none of the known gladiator

  armour includes the sort of ownership inscriptions found on

  the equipment of Roman soldiers. The reason for this is simple:

  soldiers owned their equipment, whereas the arms and armour

  of gladiators belonged to their ludus.

  dress, weapons and equipment

  Dress

  The gladiator usually wore little except an elaborate loin cloth,

  the subligaculum. There are exceptions, such as the equites, who

  seem to have worn a full tunica, but the loin cloth was the normal

  garb for a whole range of types of gladiator. It was worn with a

  broad belt and appears to have been folded in a particular way

  in order to produce its distinctive, nappy-like appearance. One

  CHapter 5: Hardware and venues | 67

  of the more common types was wrapped around the waist from

  behind, then the free end brought through the legs and folded

  back down on itself before being belted. The belt ( balteus) itself

  seems to have been metallic and modelled on the belts of the

  Samnites (against whom the Romans had waged war during the

  4th century BC).

  Swords

  Gladiators got their name from their principal weapon, the sword or

  gladius. Although the short sword is often equated with the gladius

  hispaniensis – literally the ‘Spanish sword’ – which was introduced

  into the Roman army during the 2nd century BC, the Latin word

  gladiator occurs long before this and betrays the fact that the word

  gladius was just a generic term for a sword of any kind.

  No certain gladiatorial swords as such survive, but there are

  many military swords to provide a comparison. The sword

  consisted of an iron blade with an integral tang to which a

  handle was fitted. The handle comprised three principal

  components: the hand guard, the hand grip and the pommel.

  The hand guard protected the user’s hand on the grip,

  preventing another blade from sliding up. The grip provided

  purchase for the user, military examples often being hexagonal

  in cross-section and made out of cow long bones. The pommel

  acted as a counterweight to the blade but was also, like the

  hand guard, protection for the bearer’s hand and could act as a

  handy weapon in its own right. The handle assembly was held

  onto the tang with a top nut, the tang being peened over it

  once it was attached, thereby providing a secure assembly. The

  pommel and top nut could then be used like the ‘skull-crusher’

  on a Second World War commando dagger to deliver a very

  nasty blow at close quarters. Amongst gladiatorial weapons,

  the top nut also incorporated a ring to which the looped thong

  could be attached.

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  Dimachaerus (‘two swords’)

  • Armour: none

  • Special feature: shieldless, with two swords

  • Period: Imperial

  • Common opponent: dimachaerus

  Scientifi c analysis of military swords shows how they were

  an ingenious combination of iron and steel, providing both

  the strength of steel at the edges of the blade, and softer, more

  fl exible iron at the core of the blade. Th ere are stories of the

  Spanish swords upon which Roman blades were modelled

  being capable of being placed on the head of a man, bending

  the tip and tang down to his shoulders, and then springing back

  to shape afterwards. Nevertheless, Roman swords were never

  designed for blade-on-blade fencing of the kind popular in

  movies, but rather for hand-to-hand combat – whether soldiers

  or gladiators – centring on combined use of the sword and

  shield.

  Th ere was some debate amongst the Romans over the best way

  to use the short sword – was it a cut or thrust weapon? In fact, it

  was ideally suited to either type of blow and sculpted reliefs show

  gladiators using them in both ways, unsurprisingly.

  One of the characteristics of a gladiator’s sword was that, unlike

  a soldier’s sword, it was never used with a scabbard. Th e soldier

  needed to have his sidearm with him at all times, but used the

  scabbard to keep his hands free when he was not actually using

  the weapon. Gladiators were only armed when actually in the

  arena and so their swords had a looped thong attached to the

  pommel which the gladiator then wore around his wrist. If he

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  Tiber relief with sword (photo by J. C. N. Coulston)

  dropped his sword for any reason, that loop meant
he would not

  lose it completely and could easily recover the weapon. Th e loop

  is clearly visible on some of the surviving sculptural reliefs.

  A number of swords were found at Pompeii but none of them

  came from the gladiatorial barracks nor had rings on top of their

  pommels, whilst the presence of scabbards confi rms that they

  were not gladiatorial weapons. Th ey probably belonged to the

  marines sent to assist the inhabitants of the Bay of Naples, since

  we know they were equipped just like soldiers.

  Th e short sword actually went out of use with the army

  during the 2nd century AD and was replaced with the longer

  cavalry sword, the spatha . Th e short sword was reintroduced by

  cutting down broken longer swords in army units, but there

  is no evidence that the gladius ever fell from favour amongst

  gladiators.

  Th racians used their own type of sword, the sica or sickle, a

  type of weapon derived from an agricultural implement and

  found in the eastern Danube basin. Th is originally had a curved

  blade with a single edge (on the inside of the curve), although

  gladiatorial weapons seem to have had an angle, rather than a

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  Hippolytos the Thracian (photo by Carole Raddato)

  curve, in the blade. A wooden replica of a sica was found in a

  ditch at the Roman fort of Oberaden in Germany, possibly a

  rudis presented to a retired gladiator. Unlike the gladius, it was

  primarily designed as a cutting weapon.

  Daggers

  Whatever their principal weapon might have been, every

  gladiator had a dagger. This was used to finish off an opponent

  once he had achieved his victory. It was also a vital back-up

  sidearm should a swordsman lose his primary weapon. The

  dagger is depicted in the reliefs from Lucus Feroniae where one

  sword fighter is stabbing his felled opponent in the neck, using a

  dagger in his left hand whilst still holding his sword in his right.

  It might also have been used by a gladiator trapped in the net of

  a retiarius to cut his way out, if he was lucky.

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  Lucus Feroniae relief (photo by Sophie Hay)

  An example of such a dagger was found at Pompeii in the

  peristyle structure identified as the gladiatorial barracks. It

  had a one-piece bone handle, the grip being slightly swollen

  towards the middle so as to fit the hand, a hand guard shaped

  like the cross-bar of a T, and a small, ovoid pommel. The

  blade, although corroded, was around 30cm long and was

  rhomboidal in cross-section. Unlike military daggers, which

  generally had waisted blades, the Pompeii example had parallel

  edges. However, a typical military dagger from London was

  found with an atypical turned wooden handle fitted over its

  tang and it is possible that this too may have been used by a

  gladiator.

  A four-spiked dagger ( quadrens) is depicted on the tombstone

  of the retiarius Skirtos from Constanţa (Romania). The use of

  this rather unusual weapon seems to be demonstrated by a femur

  bone from a gladiator cemetery in Ephesus.

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  Shafted weapons

  Some gladiators relied upon shafted weapons (also known as

  polearms). The hoplomachus, a gladiatorial interpretation of the

  Greek hoplite, was armed with a circular shield and a thrusting

  spear which gave him superior reach over a sword-armed

  opponent. The retiarius also used a shafted weapon – the trident

  (normally, but not exclusively, held in his right hand). The trident

  ( fuscina or tridens) originated as a fisherman’s weapon and it is

  shown being used both single- and double-handed. Not only

  do examples of the ferrous head survive (one from the harbour

  at Ephesus was 38.5cm long), but a skull from the gladiator

  cemetery there was found to have skull wounds exactly matching

  such examples, with the tines spaced 5cm apart. Animal fighters

  ( bestiarii) and hunters ( venatores) generally relied upon shafted

  weapons, although gladiators armed with swords and shields are

  occasionally shown fighting wild animals. Hunting spears, unlike

  the regular sort used by troops, often had sideways projections or

  lugs immediately below the head to prevent determined animals

  (especially wild boar) running up them to get at the weapon’s

  owner.

  Ancient spear shafts were not just cut from a length of timber

  but had to be grown specially as poles by coppicing suitable

  species of tree, such as ash or hazel. That way the shaft was much

  stronger, since the older, harder wood was at the core, whilst the

  younger, more supple material was nearer the surface. Indeed,

  hafting a weapon was every bit as important as heading it. Such

  considerations were extremely important for those who fought

  with the thrusting spear or trident as their principal weapon.

  Mounted gladiators ( equites) used spears as did some varieties

  of foot gladiator such as the hoplomachus. Against sword-armed

  opponents they provided an interesting match of reach over

  efficacy: the spear-armed gladiator had to keep his opponent at

  a distance, whilst the one armed with the sword had to get in

  close so that the spear was no longer effective. Spears and javelins

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  Bestiarius spears an Africanus (photo by Carole Raddato)

  were normally held overarm in the classical world, although the

  pilum, the heavy javelin of the army, was held underarm for

  thrusting on occasion and the trident is shown being used in

  this way. Similarly, the hunting spear is sometimes depicted as

  being held two-handed against wild beasts.

  Helmets

  Gladiators originally just used their native equipment and their

  helmets were open at the front and equipped with hinged cheek

  pieces at the sides, as was the case with Roman soldiers’ helmets.

  Helmets like these can be seen on reliefs up to and including the

  time of Augustus (27 BC–AD 14). However, the 1st century

  AD saw gladiatorial helmets evolve quite considerably so that, by

  the time of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, they were highly

  specialised pieces of headgear.

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  Gladiator helmets from Pompeii (photo by M. C. Bishop)

  Examples from Pompeii included a broad brim, shaped and

  angled to deflect blows from the head, and thus fulfilling the

  purpose of both the neck guard and brow guard of a military

  helmet. The helmets also now enclosed the face of the wearer,

  only allowing him a limited view through hinged, meshed eye

  guards. This feature had the advantage of making it that bit

  harder to see one’s opponent, thus increasing the drama of an

  encounter. Specific types of helmet were used by the various

  types of gladiators (with the exception of retiarii and bestiarii,

  who went bare-headed). The murmillo helmet had a broad brim

  and fore-and-aft crest like a fish fin, although whether this was

  the reason for their name or a reflection of it is unclear. The

  secutor,
however, wore a helmet with no brim, small eyeholes and

  a low fore-and-aft crest. There was little by way of decoration

  in order to facilitate the deflection of the retiarius’ trident. A

  bronze model of a secutor from Arles (France) has a hinged visor

  that lifts up to reveal the face of the gladiator, but it is unclear

  whether any real helmets mimicked this. Thraex helmets were

  distinguished from those of murmillones by a characteristic griffin

  head projecting from the front of the crest. All helmets had to be

  padded in order to fit correctly and to absorb shock from a blow.

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  Gladiators on a wall painting (photo by Carole Raddato)

  Helmets with their lining glued in place were generally only

  suitable for a few individuals, but by using arming caps of some

  kind, a wide range of people could use the same helmet. Th e

  complete, surviving examples from Pompeii weighed between

  3.3 kg and 6.8 kg with an average weight of around 4 kg.

  Th e introduction of visored gladiatorial helmets occurred at

  about the same time as Roman cavalry started to use face-mask

  Essedarius (‘charioteer’)

  • Armour: none

  • Special feature: using British light chariot

  • Period: Imperial

  • Common opponent: essedarius; retiarius

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  helmets during their sports contests known as the hippike

  gymnasia. Besides offering protection for the face, and adding a

  certain intimidating impression to the opponent, both types of

  helmet may have added an additional challenge for the wearer

  by reducing their field of vision. Thus, by using visored helmets,

  the heavier gladiators acquired a handicap that their lighter

  opponents lacked.

  Depictions (wall paintings, mosaics, lamps and metal figurines)

  reveal that some gladiators wore elaborate crests or plumes on

  their helmets some (but not all) of the time, in much the same

  way that soldiers did. It all added to the sense of spectacle, as well

  as serving to enhance the height (and therefore magnificence) of

  a gladiator and help to intimidate their foe.

  Breastplates

  Although in the heyday of gladiatorial combat little in the way