Gladiator Graveyard

[Pertinax]

BBC 2 screened a show of this name last night. It was another "Timewatch" one off regarding the analysis of confirmed Gladiatorial remains from Ephesus . A team from Vienna University were analysing the possible wounds, surgery evidence and cause of death for approximately 60 sets of remains. It was fairly lightweight , but once again conjectured that at the apex of the profession quality fighting men were a scarce resource not to be wasted . The evidence of neat surgical work on mended limbs was noteworthy , the design of late-period weapons to look fearsome and draw blood , but be less fatal in usage was interesting.The scissor adaptation of a scything arm guard and a gladius looked horrific , but was actually less effective than conventional arms.Likewise the "quad" dagger/"trident" spread impact damage and was less penetrative than a trident.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6614479.stm

[docoflove1974]

Given the Egyptian/Greek medical thread already on the forum...a question:

 

Someone (Ramses? AD?) stated that the Greeks went to Egypt to learn about medicine, that some would say that the Greeks improved upon Egyptian technology and knowledge.

 

So...did the Romans continue this 'improvement'? Did they take Greek (and Egyptian) medical knowledge and techniques and improve upon it?

 

I just had another thought: from the article, one can get the feeling that the gladiators were well-treated medically--as a source of entertainment, you need to keep the entertainers able to work! Reminds me of modern athletes...they have some of the best medical care around, both in terms of access to the doctors as well as the trainers and therapists to prolong their careers.

[Pertinax]

I will very shortly be reviewing V Nutton's "Ancient Medicine" , this book answers the question you have posed.The key point is the Roman assimilation and massive expansion of the technical vocabulary of (predominantly) greek medicine into "Roman World " medicine ie: that medicine that is the recognisable currency of the Augustinian expansion.

[docoflove1974]

Cool! Can't wait to read the review!

[caldrail]

It was interesting to compare this to a program on the same subject aired by Channel 5 (4?) a couple of years ago, and in fact, some of the re-enactment footage was the same. I was pleased to see that Vedius, the games editor, was in fact a real person. There was a gentleman looking for local prestige and was the deciding vote on whether a man lived or died. Columbus, the murmillo featured in the first program, isn't mentioned by Timewatch, but then I note that Timewatch says Euzabius was the only confirmed named gladiator. He of course was an expert, a doctores, who died when he was about 50 years of age and notably commemorated by his familia. The fact he lived so long in a violent enviroment suggests to me the guy was a natural fighter. Again, the level of strontium in the bones confirms a vegetarian diet - but why this is disputed is beyond me, because the romans themselves called gladiators 'barleymen'. Something that caught my eye though was the increasingly fanciful gear gladiators were using by the 4th century, at which time many weapons were designed to cause bloody wounds rather than killing blows. Instead of a straight fight and heroic/merciful death of the early principate, we now see gladiators slugging it out and spilling blood for the audiences delight. Evidence enough for the increasingly bloody munera. If you get a chance to see this program, please do, it gives a lot of information about many aspects of gladiatorial life. For a more complete picture, watch both programs. They dovetail very nicely.

[WotWotius]

BBC 2 screened a show of this name last night. It was another "Timewatch" one off regarding the analysis of confirmed Gladiatorial remains from Ephesus . A team from Vienna University were analysing the possible wounds, surgery evidence and cause of death for approximately 60 sets of remains. It was fairly lightweight , but once again conjectured that at the apex of the profession quality fighting men were a scarce resource not to be wasted . The evidence of neat surgical work on mended limbs was noteworthy , the design of late-period weapons to look fearsome and draw blood , but be less fatal in usage was interesting.The scissor adaptation of a scything arm guard and a gladius looked horrific , but was actually less effective than conventional arms.Likewise the "quad" dagger/"trident" spread impact damage and was less penetrative than a trident.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6614479.stm

 

The documentary spoke of another more 'inconclusive' site of gladiator remains. I believe it may well have been referring to a grave

[caldrail]

There is increasing evidence that the graves in York were the result of a political cull of important citizens, not too suprising considering caracalla's extraordinary appettite for removing critics.