Gladiators: Why were they so popular?

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Gladiators: Why were they so popular?

The Romans believed that they inherited the practice of gladiatorial games from the Etruscans who used them as part of a funeral ritual (servants would duel to the death for the right to provide companionship to their owners in eternity). The first gladiatorial games were offered in Rome in 264 BC by sons of Junius Brutus Pera in their father’s honour after he had died. Gladiatorial combat became a very popular form of public spectacle very quickly in Rome, and some gladiators were recruited from tough slaves and prisoners of war. In 73 BC some gladiators in Capua, south Italy, rebelled against the poor treatment of slaves. They were led by Spartacus. Thousands of slaves and peasants joined them, and despite several successes against the Roman legions, they were eventually beaten and Spartacus was killed.

In ancient Rome, gladiators could earn the idolised status of a hero, like many modern athletes. Even though a gladiator’s social status was barely better than a slave, many Roman citizens, knights, and even Roman Emperors fought in the gladiatorial arena because of their love of the sport and their desire for adoration. Slaves were viewed as inferior and worthless. The only way for them to have a status in society was to entertain the masses.

The gladiatorial contests took place in an amphitheatre. The word ‘amphitheatre’ means ‘double theatre’. The stadium consisted of a sand-covered arena, surrounded by banked tiers of sand. The most famous amphitheatre anywhere in the world is the Colosseum in Rome, which was built in the first century AD by emperors Vespasian and Titus. In its prime the huge theatre consisted of four floors. The first three had arched entrances, while the fourth had a spectator capacity of 45, 000 – 55, 000. It remains the symbol of Rome. The Venerable Bede, one of the early Christians of the seventh century AD, wrote these famous words of it:

As long as the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand.

When the Colosseum falls, Rome will fall.

When Rome falls, the world will fall.

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As long as the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand.

When the Colosseum falls, Rome will fall.

When Rome falls, the world will fall.

Gladiators were named after the Roman sword called the gladius, and were mostly unfree individuals (e.g. condemned criminals, prisoners of war, and slaves). Some were volunteers (e.g. freedmen or very low classes of freeborn men) who chose to take on the status of a slave for the cash rewards or the fame and excitement. All gladiators swore a solemn oath (sacrementum gladiatorum) which stated: “I will endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword” (uri, vincini, verberari, ferroque necari, Petronius Satyricum 117). This showed the importance of the games as the gladiators were willing to die simply for the amusement of others.

The games were as popular as they were gruesome, and caused excitement and destruction. Civilised people created, promoted and participated in these events, because they provided great political and economic strength. The Romans seemed to have mixed feelings to the violent nature of the gladiatorial games, and although we may criticise them, the games are not unlike modern professional sports like hockey, rugby and football. The Romans needed someone to idolise and this role fell to the gladiators. There is evidence that Roman women especially idolised gladiators, often to the dismay of their husbands. Juvenal wrote about a senator’s wife named Eppia, that she thought so highly of gladiators that she preferred them to her children, country, sister, and husband. In Pompeii there is an inscription on a wall that says the Thracian gladiator Celadus was “suspirum et decus puellarum,” literally “ the sigh and glory of the girls.” In other words, he was a heartthrob or sex symbol. Another inscription from Leicester states: “Vercunda (Modesty), actress, loves Lucius, gladiator.” The poet Martial wrote a whole poem about another one, called Hermes:

Hermes, champion fighter of the century,

Hermes, skilled in the use of all arms,

Hermes, both gladiator and trainer,

Hermes, the scourge and terror of the shows,

Hermes, feared alone by Helius and Advolans,

Hermes, trained to win, but not to kill,

Hermes, always a sell-out when he appears,

Hermes, darling of the actresses,

Hermes, arrogant with deadly spear,

Hermes, menacing with Neptune’s trident,

Hermes, terrifying in crested helmet,

Hermes, glory of Mars, three in one.

Martial Epigrams 5.24

This is more evidence to show the popularity of the gladiators – the fact that someone actually wrote a whole poem about one.

The games began with an elaborate procession. The parade and subsequent events were often accompanied by music. The morning’s events would start with mock fights, followed by animal displays featuring trained animals that performed tricks. In the afternoon came the highpoint of the games – individual gladiatorial combats. These were usually matches between gladiators with different types of armour and fighting styles. There were four main types of gladiator, named according to their armour:

Thracian: wide-brimmed crested helmets with visor, high greaves on both legs, arm protector, very small shield, and short curved sword.
Secutor: egg-shaped helmet with round eye-holes, greave on one leg, arm protector, and legionary-style shield and sword.
Retarius: arm protector, large net, trident, small dagger, and no helmet.
Bestiarius: this was a special type of gladiator trained to handle ad fight all sorts of animals. The bestiarii were the lowest ranking gladiators; they did not become as popular or individually well known as other types of gladiators.

Trained gladiators held the status of movie stars in today’s society. They accomplished the Romans’ need for entertainment since they were talked about and discussed very much. Romans went to see the spectacle with their friends and neighbours and found a common interest in them.

The bouts began with the gladiators saying “Hail Caesar. We who are about to die salute you.” (“Ave, imperator; morituri te salutamus.”) The games had no rules or referees and the spectators shouted phrases such as “verbere!” (“strike!”), “habet!” (“a hit!”), “iHoc habet!” (“now he’s done for!”) and “Ure!” (“burn him up!”). When a gladiator had been wounded and wished to concede defeat he had to ‘appeal to the finger’, that is, he held up a finger, admitting defeat and asking for mercy. At this point the crowd would indicate with gestures whether they wished the defeated gladiator to be killed or spared. The popular belief is that “thumbs down” meant kill and “thumbs up” meant spare, but there is no visual evidence for this, and the written evidence for this states that pollicem vertere (“to turn the thumb”) meant kill and pollicem premere (“to press the thumb”) meant spare. The thumb probably represented the sword; to turn the thumb was to whirl and use it, and to press the thumb was to put it back in its sheath. One gladiator ran away from a fight. “Officiosus fled on November 6 in the consulate of Drusus Caesar and M. Junius Norbanus,” reads a Pompeian inscription. Such offenders were punished by whipping or branding with hot irons.

The games which consisted of fights to the death between humans, animals, or both, were the highlight of Roman entertainment. These bloody, barbaric rituals seem disgusting to our standards nowadays, but yet we view the Romans as the greatest civilisations of all time. The emperor encouraged the games because the games kept the citizens busy all day, and citizens who are busy and happy watching games are not plotting against the government. The government knew that they had to keep the masses happy, and the gladiatorial games served this purpose. The Romans didn’t see that the games were taking lives away. They thought it was okay to kill the criminals, weak warriors, and slaves of their time. Although most people readily went to and constantly talked about the games, not everyone agreed with the idea of such slaughter. No doubt many this ‘sport’ as barbaric and inhumane. The historian Seneca wrote about his view of the games, around 40AD, and many citizens agreed with him. “I dropped in to a mid-day show. It was sheer murder. In the morning, men were thrown to the lions and bears; at noon they are thrown to the men who watched that show in the morning. One man wins one fight, is slaughtered immediately after in the next. The winner is sent against another man to be killed. It is a round robin of death. The audience calls for the slayer to be thrown to other killers in turn, and send the victor back into the ring for yet another fight. Death is the fighter’s only exit.”

The Romans derived pleasure from watching others die a painful death. As soon as we put the same people in the Colosseum with wild animals I am certain that their perception of pleasure in these acts would vanish rather quickly. Whether they occurred to appease the masses or to provide entertainment, the gladiatorial games were a vital part of Roman society. The Romans used inferior lives for their amusement and pleasure. The games represented amusements and comforts within the daily life of the Roman population.