Gladiators Intro

Roman Gladiators

Modern Stereotypes

Thumbs Down!

Jean-Léon Gérôme. “Police Verso” (“Thumbs Down”), 1872

Types of Evidence • Literary (Mahoney) • Material Artistic Representations Artifacts (Equipment) Tombstones Inscriptions Terracotta Figurine of a Gladiator in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Roman, 1st-2nd century AD Accession # 10.210.78

Literary Evidence: Thumbs Up! Juvenal. Satire 3.34-37 The one-time horn players, traveling to municipal arenas, their puffed-out cheeks known in all the little towns, are now putting on their on munera, and when the crowd gives the order with upturned thumb, they kill just as the people want.

Material Evidence

Types of Gladiators

Some gladiatorial vocabulary: • • • • • • •

tiro: veteranus: lanista: armatura: Myrmillo: Hoplomachus Samnite:

•

Secutor:

•

Thraex:

•

Retiarius:

• • • • •

Bestiarius essedarius: familia: ludus: ludia:

•

munus:

a gladiatorial recruit those gladiators who had fought at least once a gladiatorial trainer gladiatorial equipment heavily-armed footman with a fish on his helmet heavyily-armed footman, Greek style: round shield, sword, greave heavily-armed footman, Samnium style, rectangular shield, sword, and greaves, 4th century BC-1st century BC heavily-armed footman, trained to fight Retiarius, ~50 AD, small eye holes in helmet, rounded, rectangular shield (Thracian) light-armed footman, small, rectangular shield and reversed sickle for slashing at an opponents back unhelmeted footman armed with only tunic, net, trident and dagger light-armed gladiator trained to fight animals (bestiae) chariot fighter a troop of gladiators a place of residence and training of gladiators female gladiator; women associated with gladiators; "a female slave attached to a gladiatorial ludus" (OLD) gladiatorial show

Retiarius

Thraex

Place Your Bet!

Thraex vs. Myrmillo

Secutor

Gladiatorial Scenes in Art

Zliten Mosaic

Originally in a Roman seaside villa Now in Archaeological Musuem Tripoli, Tunisia

Fragment of a Relief Showing Gladiators in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Roman, 1st-3rd century AD Recorded ca. 1880 in the Vigna Aquari in Rome. Accession # 57.11.

Gladiator cup, ca. 50–80 A.D.; Neronian–Early Flavianic Roman; Found at Montagnole, southern France Now in New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Glass; H. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm), Diam. 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm) Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881 (81.10.245)

Ancient Mosaic now in Bourghese Gallery, Rome

Gladiator Mosaic (Germany)

http://romanhistorybooksandmore.freeservers.com/p_kreuzn_g.htm

Gladitorial Tombstones

Win, Lose, Die • If you won, you left out a gate called the Porta Triumphalis • If you lost, you left out a gate called the Porta Sanavivaria • If you died, two people dressed as Charon and Mercury would come out. – Charon would strike the body with a mallet – Mercury would poke it with his staff (really a hidden hot poker) – Body put on a couch and carried out the Porta Libitinaria/lesser games hooked and dragged – Body taken to nearby morgue and the throat was slit to make sure it wasn’t “fixed”