Gladiator frieze from the 1st Century BC

[M. Porcius Cato]

Archaeologists have uncovered a very well-preserved frieze that had graced a tomb north of Rome. The frieze depicts a gladiatorial bout from before the Augustan reforms.

 

Picture gallery HERE.

[caldrail]

Interesting. The frieze depicts gladiators with very basic gear, not the highly stylised classes that we're accustomed to. As expected, I see men fighting in bare feet.. but do my eyes deceive me? Is picture no 4 showing footwear? Thats unusual, and possibly an error by the artist. On other images, I can see something around the ankles of these men suggesting a means of either keeping them captive or perhaps keeping in place, since we know from finds at amphitheaters that stone blocks with iron rings were used as anchors to keep gladiators in the center of the arena.

 

The helmets used by these men seem to have a similar construction, but with a wider bowl, to legionary types, and the gladius is a military pattern. This means the up close and personal gladiator shortsword either isn't in general use at that time, or again the artist has erred. one man is obviously wearing greaves on his legs, and the shields depicted varies from image to image. Anything from a round greek style shield to a rectangular curved legionary scutum.

 

One man is shown raising a finger in defeat (looking remarkably like an insult to our modern eyes!) whilst a trumpet player sounds the move and brings the mans despair to the attention of audience and referee.

 

Marvellous stuff.

Edited September 9, 2007 by caldrail

[ASCLEPIADES]

As expected, I see men fighting in bare feet.. but do my eyes deceive me? Is picture no 4 showing footwear? Thats unusual, and possibly an error by the artist. On other images, I can see something around the ankles of these men suggesting a means of either keeping them captive or perhaps keeping in place, since we know from finds at amphitheaters that stone blocks with iron rings were used as anchors to keep gladiators in the center of the arena.

Salve, C!

Congratulations, your eyes are not deceiving you.

 

In fact, I think there is also footwear on other pics.

 

From my vast ignorance: why is the gladiator's footwear so unexpected?

[caldrail]

Gladiators fought barefoot for better grip on the sand, something confirmed by analysis of bones found at Ephesus known to be those of gladiators. Be careful, because most of those depictions have anklets, not footwear, which suggests to me that Britain wasn't the only area that anchored fighters in place, although this feature doesn't seem to be shown in such artwork of the imperial period (in Rome at least)