Gladiators: Let the Games Begin
Picture a life as a criminal, captive of war, disobedient slaves in possession of a strong body and resourceful mind fighting for the enjoyment of the people around you. A life where you had to kill those who trained with you daily to stay alive while death was a given at some point in the arena. Gladiators played a tremendous role in the Roman Empire. This fighting was a way for the wealthy emperors to gloat the power they had as well as a way to bring together a city.
The origin of the gladiators is debatable as there is not enough proof to pin point exactly where it originated. Speculation says gladiatorial games could have been inherited by their predecessors in Italy, the Etruscans. Meanwhile on the other hand Titus Livius Patavinus also known as Livy, a Roman historian author of History of Rome wrote that the Campanians in celebration of victory over the Samnites first held gladiator games. Livy goes on to state
“While the Romans made use of armor to honor the gods (putting up a trophy tower of captured Samnite armor), the Campanians, out of contempt and hatred towards the Samnites, made the gladiators who performed at their banquets wear it, and they then called them `Samnites.'” (Livy, 9.40.17).
Often in gladiatorial games the honoring city will recreate battles and relive the victories of the past using gladiators as Livy points out in his piece. The Campanians made their gladiators wear the armour of the Sanmites. The first recorded Roman gladiator games were held in 246 BCE when Marcus and Decimus Brutus had three matched sets of gladiators fight to the death as apart of the funeral for their father, Junius Brutus. These gladiator fights occurred at the Roman Forum Boarium. The gladia...
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...thy and powerful. The upper level was reserved for the commoners. Under the floor of the Coliseum was a passageway of rooms, hallways, and cells where weapons and animals were stored and gladiators waited for their turn to battle. The Coliseum could also be flooded to hold naval battles and recreate some of Roman history. Special drains allowed water to be pumped in and released.
All in all, in ancient Rome, death had become a form of entertainment. Gladiators came from all different types of background to perform for the Roman citizens. They go through all different types of training to prepare them for the battles ahead of them. Life may not be as bad as one would think of a gladiator. The elite gladiators received stardom fame, money and freedom as well as the ability to perform to in front of 80,000 people in honor of your city and most importantly the emperor.
The story of Gladiator takes place in Ancient Rome and contains intense action, great acting, and fantastic storytelling. Although most of this action drama is mostly fictitious, some certain events and characters appear in the history books.
Gladiator's purpose was to portray the life of the particular Roman general; Maximus(played by Russell Crowe)—the general-turned-gladiator whose popularity does threaten the power of the emperor—was key to the success of the project. The reason they picked this as the main focus of the movie was because the government of Rome was a very corrupt society. ''Maximus is the very soul of the movie.'' ''It was crucial to find an actor who you could believe possessed the ferocity of this great warrior, but in whom you could also see a man of strong principle and character. Russell Crowe's name came up pretty fast. His intensity, his dignity and his utter conviction in every role he undertakes made him everyone's first choice.''
When the Romans went to the gladiator fights, they wanted to watch a very exciting and entertaining contest. So, the Romans purposefully set up the gladiator fights to be unfair by making the matchups unbalanced. The gladiator’s living conditions affected the fight. Yet, with all the morals and myths that the Roman government promoted as what was expected of the roman citizens, the brutal battles that were in the coliseum wouldn’t be tolerated, but they were. The unpredictable outcome of these matches were what made these so entertaining.
"Gladiator", comes from the latin word "gladius", for sword. They were primarily made up of slaves, criminals, prisoners of war or even volunteer free men. The crimes that could lead one to the arena included treason, robbery, and murder, among others. Some free men became gladiators of their own free will in hopes of gaining notoriety and patronage amongst the wealthy citizens. By the end of 50 BC almost half of the gladiators fighting in the Colosseum were free men.
A gladiators life was far from easy. Most were slaves, prisoners of war, or hardened criminals, therefore they were not free men. Often times they were trained and forced to take part in the events, hoping for their freedom if they were to conquer their grim fate and survived for a few years (wik). This was depicted in the most recent movie GLADIATOR. In this film Russel Crowe Maximus' starts out as an army general under Marcus Aurelius, until Commudus murders his own father out of spite for his fathers loyalty to Maximus and not him. He then inherits the title of king, and condemns Maximus to a gruesome fate as a slave/gladiator. Though this doesn't sound like the ideal life, to some at the time is was an appealing, so much so that some free men degraded themselves so they could battle in the games. Was it for basic living? Possibly but more than likely it was for the Fame and Prestige of a Gladiator. These free men were known as Professional gladiators.
battles; so many criminals were sent to the gladiatorial schools. Since the criminals were getting
Throughout the history of the Republic, there was a difference between the gladiatorial contests and other forms of spectacular entertainment. The Romans did not invent the concept of gladiatorial fighting; there is some uncertainty as to the exact source. One ancient source says it was the Etruscans, a non-Indo-European people who lived directly north of the Romans.
The first chapter of Strauss’ work, titled “The Gladiator”, explores both Spartacus’ background as a gladiator and Rome’s fascination with the sport. Strauss outlines how a gladiator match worked in Rome, usually in carefully chosen pairs starting with a practice match with wooden weapons followed by the real officiated match that was generally to the death unless the crowd decided that the wounded deserved to live. The attention is then turned to where the Spartacus legend begins, Capua. Strauss gives a sweeping view of Capua’s history in the Roman Empire, from being punished for allying itself with Hannibal to returning to some prominence as a slave center, in particular for gladiators. Gladiators were usually slaves, and much like Spartacus, were foreign. Spartacus was a Thracian, feared by Romans for their fierceness on hors...
Alan Baker states in his book The Gladiator – The Secret History of Rome’s Warrior Slaves that, “attendance at the amphitheater was an essential part of being a Roman, a member of a powerful warrior state” (Baker 2000, 39). It is said that the Romans were known for their honor and glory as a reflection of the society they lived in. This may perhaps explain why the gladiator games were popular to the citizens, because the Romans enjoyed observing these characteristics throughout the battles. Most of the time the contestants were slaves, these individuals were bought and traded at the coliseum with the intentions of battling in these games until their death.
Much like today’s athletes gladiators competed with one another to decide a victor and is a form of entertainment for people spectating. But Gladiators competed much different than professional athletes do today. Gladiators were forced to fight for the entertainment of others and were considered slaves (“ The Roman Gladiator”). Gladiators did not just fight for friendly sport either they had to fight to the death. This made the gladiatorial games so exciting for the people watching. The people loved to watch others fight and the gore that they would see while the gladiators were fighting. It may sound horrible in today’s society but back then it was the most prominent form of entertainment. Different from today’s athletes and entertainers, gladiators were slaves and were told what to do against their will. Much of the gladiators were slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war. Gladiatorial games were mostly held by the Roman Republic and forced there enemy’s to fight for their lives in the...
The first known gladiatorial combat in Rome took place at the funeral of a nobleman named Junius Brutus in 264 B.C.2 His sons Marcus and Decimus revived an ancient Etruscan custom of having slaves fight at the funeral of a great leader in the belief that such a sacrifice would please the gods. During the ceremony, three pairs of slaves were forced to fight to the death. In 216 B.C., twenty-two pairs of slaves fought at the funeral of a man named Marcus Lepidus. Sixty pairs of slaves fought when Publicus Licinius died in 183 B.C. These slave fighters were now known as bustiarii, or funeral men.3 By the time of Julius Caesar, any direct association with funerals and religion was gone, and these fighters, now known as gladiators, meaning swordsmen, were a powerful force in Roman politics. He bought the affection of the people with magnificent banquets and spectacles that were open and free to the public. Caesar then estab...
Gladiators were combatants equipped for arena battles. These battles were against other soldiers, conquered enemies, slaves, and criminals. Even wild beasts were added to be part of the bloody spectacle. Gladiators were a source of entertainment for Roman crowds, politicians and nobility at the Coliseum. It was the Roman equivalent to a Packer game at Lambeau field. A few gladiators were volunteers, but most were detested as slaves. Regardless of where they came from, gladiators allowed spectators to see an example of Rome 's military principles and, how to die an honorable death. The origin of gladiator combat is unclear, evidence supports that it became an important attribute of politics
The gladiators were not born athletes who had a mission in life to become warriors, most of them were normal men living a normal life on a farm located within the fringes of the Roman Empire, such as Moesia. These men had families and friend within their village and usually farmed to survive. They had little to no contact with people outside of their town and kept to themselves. This made them easy targets for the Roman armies to attack which was extremely common. As the Romans began their attack the men of a village usually sent their women and children off while they stayed to fight. Of course they stood no chance and were forced to surrender to be taken as Roman slaves. They would be forced to take the trip to Italy which usually took over fifty days. Immediately after reaching Italy the newfound slaves were taken to an auction where they would be sold off to the highest bidder. The men bidding on the slaves could be using them for various t...
The Colosseum is an important part of ancient Roman history. The amphitheater is a symbol of Roman culture. The Colosseum displayed the violence of Roman culture. This incredibly unique amphitheater dominated the city of Rome. It was one of the most innovative and complex structures during that time period. The vastness of this impressive building displayed the wealth and power of the Roman Empire to other empires and enemies of the Romans. The Colosseum was created for public entertainment purposes. Gladiator fights with prisoners of war and slaves, wild animal hunts, professional fights, and public executions all took place at the Colosseum. Sea battles, rarely performed at the Colosseum, involved flooding the arena with water and releasing sharks for gladiators to fight. The excitement and thrill of each event kept spectators coming back.
The Colosseum contained over four stories. The first three contained over 80 entrance arches and contained a complex drainage system. These entrance arches made evacuation extremely fast in case of an em...