Gladiatoren - Stars oder Verbrecher? | Terra X

They are the epitome of entertainment in ancient Rome Gladiators Martyred men and brutal fights fought without passion all before a bloodthirsty crowd This is how many envision it today But what's so special about this picture What's true about gladiators and what's just a cliché Historian Christian Mann helps us make sense of this decision Professor of ancient history at the University of Mannheim Together with him we put five-gladiator myths under scrutiny A brutal fight bloody and merciless And in the end only one survives That's the image we know from countless films and paintings But is that really accurate Were gladiator battles truly a bloody massacre In Hollywood films gladiator battles are depicted as Within minutes the arena sand is soaked in blood and corpses pile up That was not how it was in ancient reality Gladiator fights were undeniably brutal They were battles to the death But we know from ancient texts very clearly that the Romans expected high-quality combat Many Romans had personal experience with weapons having served in the army and they simply wanted to see exciting fights On one hand strong from a technical standpoint on the other commendable for the fighters' courage The different weapon types also contributed to this as gladiators —usually paired in fixed matchups—fought against each other The Retiarius was armed with a net and a long trident He fought against the Secutor who was armed with a large rectangular shield and a short sword as was also common in the Roman army Then there was the Thracian whose typical weapon was a curved sword He carried a small shield his opponent being the momillo armed with a large rectangular shield and a sword Then came additional gladiator types such as the Hoplomachus armed in the manner of a Greek hoplite with a round shield and a thrusting spear The balance of forces and chances were roughly evenly distributed due to the differing equipment Referees also ensured fairness by overseeing the match Yet the danger of not surviving a fight was always present Whether due to a fatal injury or because the loser was sentenced to death From the numerous inscriptions that not only list the names of the gladiators but also reveal the outcomes One can estimate how high the chances of survival were for gladiators In the first century AD it can be said that in four out of five cases defeated gladiators were granted clemency However over time the situation became increasingly brutal leading to a rise in the number of fatal cases Gladiators were not doomed to die as they had a realistic chance of survival Despite all the brutality the myth of complete chaos and lawless slaughter is only partially true But who were the men who actually fought in the arena Gladiators were composed of four groups one of which consisted of war prisoners These were the original gladiators Initially all gladiators were prisoners of war But then additional groups joined in Slaves could be sold into a gladiator barracks In addition there were also convicted criminals being sentenced to gladiatorial service was a punishment under Roman law There were also some volunteers who had willingly signed up for gladiator service The reason people are now choosing this risky option can also be explained In the Roman Empire many people were threatened by hunger And the gladiator's craft offered if one was successful the chance to gain wealth and fame Everyone knew the dangers but when you considered the alternatives serving as a gladiator wasn't so unappealing The most famous slave in Roman history was indeed the gladiator Spartacus Born in Thrace and compelled to gladiator service as a prisoner of war In 73 BCE he manages to escape with several companions from a gladiator school in Capua We know little about Spartacus as a person and even less about his motives Some ancient authors portray him as especially bloodthirsty while others depict him as a noble warrior You just have to acknowledge his achievement that he managed to do it at all o shape a capable fighting force from this disparate collection What begins with an escape from the gladiator school unfolds into the largest slave uprising in Roman history With tens of thousands of followers Spartacus marches across Italy It takes nearly three years before the authorities succeed in crushing the uprising Spartacus only became a legendary hero in more recent times Spartacus became a symbol in the Enlightenment representing the struggle of the oppressed against their unjust masters The memory of Spartacus took on special significance with the advent of Marxism When one thinks of the Spartacus uprising or later the Spartakiads in socialist countries Not least Hollywood also contributes through its epic film from 1960 at we still remember Spartacus the slave and gladiator to this day In gladiator schools known as Ludi fighters are carefully trained for their appearances in the arena From the start of training to the first combat mission about half a year passes Trainers are often former gladiators themselves Practice begins with harmless wooden weapons In addition to weapons training a regular fitness program is also part of the training—a shared fate Upon entering the gladiator barracks whether willingly or not They severed social ties outside the gladiator barracks This meant gladiators were gladiators and nothing else They lived in the gladiator barracks slept there ate together and trained as one That means camaraderie also developed there On the other side however these comrades were opponents in a potentially deadly fight There could also be agreements between the gladiators at they agreed beforehand not to kill or seriously injure each other in combat Physical well-being is also taken care of as gladiators receive massages and medical treatment The food is good A school for bodybuilders Gladiators were certainly well-trained and muscular We know this from literary tradition But above all we know it from gladiator bones preserved in Ephesus Specialists from the University of Vienna have examined these bones and analyzed the muscle markers—specific points on the bones where muscles attach And thus it has also been proven that the gladiators possessed well-developed musculature But that didn't necessarily mean they had confessed athletic bodies They may have even developed a slight layer of fat that protected them from injuries in combat Gladiators primarily followed a vegetarian diet Literary sources refer to them as barley-eaters and the bone remains found in Ephesus have confirmed this They point out that gladiators primarily fed on grain and legumes Men made of steel were not necessarily gladiators and were they even always men There are indications of female gladiators in sources from all over the place The most famous evidence of female gladiators is a relief from Halicarnassus modern-day Bodrum There we see depicted the struggle of two women We have hundreds of such reliefs showing men fighting as gladiators This means the phenomenon of female gladiators existed but within the broader context of Roman gladiatorial combat it remained a marginal occurrence The duration of a fight can vary greatly with no set number of rounds or time limits There were four possible ways for a fight to end A fight could end in a draw When both gladiators had fought bravely and for a long time and the crowd demanded that they both be spared they were both declared victors A fight could also end with a gladiator being killed in combat In that case his opponent was declared the winner Or a fight ended when a gladiator surrendered handing his fate over to the crowd and the game master And this could have meant either clemency or death for the defeated gladiator If the verdict was death the victorious gladiator had to deliver the killing blow to his opponent The organizer of the games decides between death or pardon At the imperial games in Rome it is the emperor himself who appears while in the provincial amphitheaters it is usually a high-ranking government official Typically the organizer caters to the audience's preferences The moment after the fight when the fate of the defeated has just been decided is truly the defining moment of the gladiatorial contests Duels with potentially fatal outcomes have existed in many cultures However duels in which the loser's fate was decided by combat were only held in Rome The crowd could exert influence over the emperor especially during gladiator contests It wasn't just about the lives of gladiators it was about what it meant to be Roman But how does the audience express its will Certainly through shouts but likely also through gestures Is this the origin of the hand gesture still recognized today The history painter Jean-Léon Jérôme even dedicated a painting to her in the 19th century We continually see the lowered thumb in films We aren't entirely sure what these gestures actually looked like What we know is that the gestures commonly used today—thumbs up and thumbs down—do not have ancient origins But we don't know exactly what these symbols looked like There is a more recent hypothesis suggesting that the thumb was moved during a vote on a gladiator's death And when the vote for the gladiator's survival was cast the thumb remained still That makes perfect sense as the movement of a hand is much easier to detect over long distances than a stationary thumb Gladiators were surely admired in much the same way as today's pop stars and top athletes Right Successful gladiators had fans—we know this from graffiti This means fans carved the names of gladiators into the walls much like people do today with football players But there were also fans of gladiator types—some favored small-shield fighters while others preferred large-shield fighters This meant there were training groups dedicated to individual fighting styles Numerous souvenirs and everyday items bear witness to the popularity of gladiators Whether as small figurines made of metal or bronze or carved into oil lamps their images are everywhere Gladiators were likely seen as sexual symbols as well Graffiti hint at Celadus the Tracker who has won three times and been crowned three times beloved by the girls Oder Crescens the Retiarius nets young girls at night And the writer Juvenal ambiguously notes that it is the sword that women love But that is only one side of the story The status of gladiators was ambivalent they were admired for their combat skills their courage in the face of death and their technical proficiency with weapons They were despised for selling their bodies for money being placed on the same level as prostitutes It's a double-edged situation—one hand the gladiators are celebrated yet on the other they're looked down upon Yet they play a crucial role in shaping the self-perception of Roman society Gladiator fights occurred within a specific historical context shaped by the Romans' particular mindset The Romans viewed themselves as exceptionally brave according to Roman belief the Roman world empire had been conquered because Roman soldiers were braver on the battlefield than their rivals And precisely such fearless bravery was expected from the gladiators The gladiators thus served as educational role models for the watching Romans demonstrating how a true Roman ought to behave Not all the images we have of gladiators in our minds are accurate—some are just clichés What is certain however is that they are inseparable from the world of ancient Rome Gladiator as a career—what do you think Share your thoughts in the comments Dive deeper into the world of antiquity with these videos on the left And for your regular dose of history don't forget to hit the subscribe button