Outline of the Gladiator Games
Gladiators averaged 5'7" tall, much bigger than the average Roman height of 5'4" (female 5'). All gladiators were bound by a sacred oath (sacramentum) of service: Uri, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari (I will endure, to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword). Novices trained under teachers (doctore) of fighting styles, and ascended up a hierarchy of grades to primus palus. Weighted blunt wooden weapons were used. Proficiency was mastered through constant rehearsal as choreographed fight "numbers". Training included preparation for a stoical, unflinching death. The night before the munus, the gladiators had a "last meal" banquet and opportunity to order their affairs.
Games were advertised on billboards giving the reason for the event, its editor, and the number of paired gladiators (ordinarii). Other highlighted features could include details of venationes, executions, music and spectator luxuries provided, such as sun awnings and water sprinklers. Food, drink, sweets and occasionally "door prizes" were offered. A detailed program (libellus) listed the names, types and match records of gladiator pairs (of interest to gamblers) and their order of appearance.
A procession (pompa) entered the arena led by lictors bearing fasces (to signify the magistrate-editor's power over life and death), musicians playing a fanfare, imaginers carrying images of the gods to "witness" the proceedings, and the palm-carriers of the palm branch awarded to victors. The magistrate-editor entered among a retinue who carried the arms and armour, and finally the gladiators.
The official games usually began with venationes (beast-hunts) and bestiarii (beast-fighting) gladiators. Next came the ludi meridiani, of variable content but usually involving executions of noxii (sometimes as mythological re-enactments) or others condemned (damnati) to the arena. There were also comedy fights; some may have been lethal. A crude Pompeian graffito suggests a burlesque of musicians, dressed as animals named Ursus tibicen (flute-playing bear) and Pullus cornicen (horn-blowing chicken), perhaps as accompaniment to clowning by paegniarii during a "mock" contest.
Before the listed contests were fought, the gladiators may have held informal warm-up matches, using blunted weapons – some munera, however, may have used blunted weapons throughout. The editor, his representative or an honoured guest would check the weapons (probatio armorum) for the scheduled matches. These were the highlight of the day, and were as inventive, varied and novel as the editor could afford. Armatures could be very costly – some were flamboyantly decorated with exotic feathers, jewels and precious metals. In late Republican munera, a dozen pairs could fight one match at a time in the course of an afternoon. Fights were interspersed or accompanied by music to accentuate the action. Music may have heightened the suspense during a gladiator's appeal; blows may have been accompanied by trumpet-blasts.
In the earliest munera, death was considered the proper outcome of combat. During the Imperial era, matches were sometimes advertised sine missione (without release [from the sentence of death]), which suggests that missio (the sparing of a defeated gladiator's life) had become common. The contract between editor and lanista could include compensation for unexpected deaths. As the demand for gladiators began to exceed supply, matches sine missione were officially banned, a pragmatic Augustan decision to reflect popular demands for "natural justice". Refusals by Caligula and Claudius to spare popular but defeated fighters did nothing to boost their own popularity.
By common custom, the spectators decided whether or not a losing gladiator should be spared, and chose the winner in the rare event of a stans missus "standing tie" by joining their shields, and resting their left knees on the ground. The matches were supervised by a senior referee (summa rudis) and an assistant, shown in mosaics with long staffs (rudes) to caution or separate opponents. A gladiator's self-acknowledged defeat, signaled by a raised finger (ad digitum), was an appeal for mercy. During the match, referees exercised judgement and could pause bouts to allow combatants rest, refreshment and a "rub-down".
Most gladiators fought about three munera annually. Many died in their first match and about half in their first year, but a few fought in up to 150 combats.The average gladiator lifespan was short; few survived more than 10 matches or lived past the age of 30. A single bout probably lasted 10 minutes. Spectators preferred well matched ordinarii with complementary fighting styles but other combinations are found, such as several gladiators fighting together or the serial replacement of a match loser by a new gladiator, who would fight the winner.
Victors received the palm branch and an award from the editor, but for anyone originally condemned ad ludum the greatest reward was manumission (freedom), symbolised by the gift of a wooden training sword. The body of a gladiator who had died well was placed on a couch of Libitina and removed from the arena with dignity. But the disgraced had Dis Pater (god of the underworld) strike the corpse with a mallet, and Mercury test for life-signs with a heated "wand"; once confirmed as dead, the body was dragged away.
Games were advertised on billboards giving the reason for the event, its editor, and the number of paired gladiators (ordinarii). Other highlighted features could include details of venationes, executions, music and spectator luxuries provided, such as sun awnings and water sprinklers. Food, drink, sweets and occasionally "door prizes" were offered. A detailed program (libellus) listed the names, types and match records of gladiator pairs (of interest to gamblers) and their order of appearance.
A procession (pompa) entered the arena led by lictors bearing fasces (to signify the magistrate-editor's power over life and death), musicians playing a fanfare, imaginers carrying images of the gods to "witness" the proceedings, and the palm-carriers of the palm branch awarded to victors. The magistrate-editor entered among a retinue who carried the arms and armour, and finally the gladiators.
The official games usually began with venationes (beast-hunts) and bestiarii (beast-fighting) gladiators. Next came the ludi meridiani, of variable content but usually involving executions of noxii (sometimes as mythological re-enactments) or others condemned (damnati) to the arena. There were also comedy fights; some may have been lethal. A crude Pompeian graffito suggests a burlesque of musicians, dressed as animals named Ursus tibicen (flute-playing bear) and Pullus cornicen (horn-blowing chicken), perhaps as accompaniment to clowning by paegniarii during a "mock" contest.
Before the listed contests were fought, the gladiators may have held informal warm-up matches, using blunted weapons – some munera, however, may have used blunted weapons throughout. The editor, his representative or an honoured guest would check the weapons (probatio armorum) for the scheduled matches. These were the highlight of the day, and were as inventive, varied and novel as the editor could afford. Armatures could be very costly – some were flamboyantly decorated with exotic feathers, jewels and precious metals. In late Republican munera, a dozen pairs could fight one match at a time in the course of an afternoon. Fights were interspersed or accompanied by music to accentuate the action. Music may have heightened the suspense during a gladiator's appeal; blows may have been accompanied by trumpet-blasts.
In the earliest munera, death was considered the proper outcome of combat. During the Imperial era, matches were sometimes advertised sine missione (without release [from the sentence of death]), which suggests that missio (the sparing of a defeated gladiator's life) had become common. The contract between editor and lanista could include compensation for unexpected deaths. As the demand for gladiators began to exceed supply, matches sine missione were officially banned, a pragmatic Augustan decision to reflect popular demands for "natural justice". Refusals by Caligula and Claudius to spare popular but defeated fighters did nothing to boost their own popularity.
By common custom, the spectators decided whether or not a losing gladiator should be spared, and chose the winner in the rare event of a stans missus "standing tie" by joining their shields, and resting their left knees on the ground. The matches were supervised by a senior referee (summa rudis) and an assistant, shown in mosaics with long staffs (rudes) to caution or separate opponents. A gladiator's self-acknowledged defeat, signaled by a raised finger (ad digitum), was an appeal for mercy. During the match, referees exercised judgement and could pause bouts to allow combatants rest, refreshment and a "rub-down".
Most gladiators fought about three munera annually. Many died in their first match and about half in their first year, but a few fought in up to 150 combats.The average gladiator lifespan was short; few survived more than 10 matches or lived past the age of 30. A single bout probably lasted 10 minutes. Spectators preferred well matched ordinarii with complementary fighting styles but other combinations are found, such as several gladiators fighting together or the serial replacement of a match loser by a new gladiator, who would fight the winner.
Victors received the palm branch and an award from the editor, but for anyone originally condemned ad ludum the greatest reward was manumission (freedom), symbolised by the gift of a wooden training sword. The body of a gladiator who had died well was placed on a couch of Libitina and removed from the arena with dignity. But the disgraced had Dis Pater (god of the underworld) strike the corpse with a mallet, and Mercury test for life-signs with a heated "wand"; once confirmed as dead, the body was dragged away.
Villa Dar Buc Ammera Mosaic of the Gladiators, on the triclinium floor, with victorious central figure and Rudis (referee)
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Latin Gladiator terms
Pugnare! "Fight!" Separatus! "Separate!" Subsisto! "Stop!" Surgo! "Get up!" Recedo! "Retreat!" |
Fraudator! "Cheater!" Habet, hoc habet! "Got him! He’s had it!" Volumus sanguine! "We want blood!" Pulcher! "Pretty boy!" Ita! "Yes!" Non! "No!" |
Bonum! "Good!" Malo! "Bad!" Vivo! "Live!" Mortem! "Death!" Victor! "Winner!" Plaudo! "Applause!" |
