Its here, my Research for Gladiators is done, hope you brought some coffee :blah:

Gladiator, Xeno's journey into the Coliseum

Introduction: Because of the requests by some of the members I have researched the topic “Gladiator”. Gladiators were typically “recruited” slaves, criminals and pow's (prisoners of war). But, it is estimated that by the end of the Roman empire half of all gladiators volunteered for the position. This was not an easy thing for them do, because when that happened they not only lost their citizenship, but also they had to swear themselves to a lanista (owner of the Gladiator troupe) effectively making them like slaves. This oath follows the basis of Body and Soul to the master. As most of you know gladiatorial fights where held in either an amphitheater or the Coliseum. The amphitheater was first created by the Greeks for entertainment, while the Coliseum (much similar to the amphitheater) was created by the Romans for a more large scale source recreation.

History: The history of Gladiators is as bloody as the sport itself. It was first introduced by as a burial ritual for aristocratic (Munus) in 264 BC. A man by the name of Decimus Junius Brutus made three of his slaves, Gladiators and had them fight in the honour of his deceased father. This idea caught on and was used for important individuals. The munus would be continued annually or at 5 year intervals. It wasn't until the beginning of the first century that Gladiatorial bouts became public. It is believed by many scholars of this day and those of other centuries that the munus was held in the hopes that the blood split could restore the dead. Scholar by the name Ville believes that the gladiatorial contests was a substitute to human sacrifice that honoured the dead with blood.

The mind of volunteer Gladiator: Why would one person not only give up their citizenship and become a slave, but also fight and likely die before their next birthday? One word ...Glory. Glory can be defined as “Great, honour, praise, or distinction accorded by common consent; renown” and was the man focus of many gladiators. But this was not the only thing gladiators craved. They where the model of iron discipline the military looked towards, and receiving the same honour a roman soldier could. A perk to being a gladiator was to be adored by the female sex. It was written by Juvenal that a wife of a senator ran off with her gladiator lover to Egypt. When researching gladiators it came as a shock to find out that women to participated in the sport. This happened rarely and was considered an exotic treat for the spectators, until emperor Septimius Severus banned it. As surprising women gladiators where they were nothing in comparison to finding out that emperors fought as gladiators! Thats right, here's one of the sources I found about it:

“Caligula and Commodus (late second century AD). Both of these emperors actually appeared in the arena as gladiators, no doubt with opponents who were careful to inflict no harm. Both of these emperors were mentally unstable and apparently felt no inhibitions in indulging their gladiatorial fantasies. But gladiator mania affected not only the mentally unbalanced. At least seven other emperors of sound mind (including Titus and Hadrian) either practiced as gladiators or fought in gladiatorial contests.” http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics...tr/gladiatr.htm


Schools: There where 4 gladiator Schools in the empire called Ludus. It was feared that if it was privately owned the owners could make an army and revolt. The training at such schools is like that of Taekwondo or boxing. They forms that where broken down into a series of mechanical steps. Unlike the gladiators the lanista did not have the respect of the roman people it was said by Auguet that:

“In the eyes of the Romans he was regarded as both a butcher and a pimp. He played the role of scapegoat; it was upon him that society cast all the scorn and contempt aroused by an institution which reduced men to the status of merchandise or cattle.” (sorry, Marcus Volusius Commodus)

The Stage: Until the first century B.C. all fights where held in forums where temporary stands where put up. It was the politician Curio who came up the idea of came up with the idea of amphitheater and how it was to be designed. In 29 BC Statilus Taurus built the first permanent stone amphitheater. This invention feat created many more duplicates across Rome. The most famous one is the Colosseum (medieval Times) also known as the Amphitheatrum Caesareum (Roman Times) and Flavian Amphitheater (present). The name Colosseum came from the giant statue of emperor Nero which stood approx. 120 feet in the air. The arena could house anywhere from 40,00 to 60,000 thousand people in its four stories. Within the stands people sat in their seats according to their rank and marital status. For example equestrians sat in the first 12 rows and were organized by their rank as a equestrian (a equestrian with honours from the emperor would sit closer than the average one, while those that of lower status sat behind the average.). The affluent, and the poor were organized this way to. Below the stands and beneath the sands of the Flavian Amphitheater is the storage area. A place where armor/weapons, as well as, wild animals where kept for combat.

Capital Punishment: It was not uncommon to see capital punishment carried out in an amphitheater. The convicted where either executed or made a gladiator and fought until he died. One form of punishment was called ad bestias ( to the beasts) and was on the same par as crucifixion for the most disgraceful of all penalties. This was used only on the slaves/poor and especially Christians. One of the most famous ad bestias was the Daniel and the Lions Den (from the bible).

Interesting Facts:
-During gladiatorial combat as many as 10,000 people where killed.
-Gladiator fights ended in 404 AD, but the massacre of animals stayed around until the 6th century.
Coliseum was dedicated to Titus, son of the emperor Vespasiano (80 AD).
Slaves, if they became famous gladiator, could attain their freedom.

This article was created by Xenophon for the clan, Legio Leonis.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this, as much as, I wrote it. Maybe next time I'll slim down the information, because it took me approximately 7-8 hours to research and write.
If you got anything you want me to research, just give me a shout. Also if you find something is incorrect please pm me and I will fix it immediately.
Xeno
References (by site):
- First and foremost http://dictionary.reference.com/ without you I would be screwed.
- http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/gladiators.htm Interesting stuff
http://www.eliki.com/ancient/civilizations/roman/ Good info
http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/gladiatr What made my article the way it is. Also if you want more in depth information go here.