The Gladiator's Graveyard

[Klingan]

I rarely dislike documentary's and I liked this one to a certain grade, but they did pull off some lines that are of importance.

 

First of all, their logic is faulty, or at least seems faulty to me. They put it up as if a gladiator normally trained for one year. Sure that sounds fair enough. Then they told us that normally they didn't fight more then three fights per year. This seems quite odd to me, that is really a great deal of expense for little show. And then in the end they told us that after 3 years a gladiator could win his freedom. Now this is where it's all getting very strange. That would make the normal career for a gladiator 9 fights. That's very very little for the expense.

 

Besides that, gladiators weren't free men. It seems very improbable to be that there ever would be anything like a rule (norm) saying that any gladiator would be (forced) freed by their owner.

 

They could also have pushed on the economical aspect of killing a gladiator.

 

Beside that, if you noticed some scenes seems to fit in oddly that's because they come from another documentary, BBC's Colosseum, Romes Arena of Death. On my opinion that is one of the best documentary's ever made. Very much recommended!

[Lost_Warrior]

I have actually read all of that stuff before somewhere Klingan. I'm not saying that it's not wrong, I'm just saying it was based on some research somewhere. (Maybe they should be more careful with their sources? LOL)

[Klingan]

I have actually read all of that stuff before somewhere Klingan. I'm not saying that it's not wrong, I'm just saying it was based on some research somewhere. (Maybe they should be more careful with their sources? LOL)

 

I have heard a number of different numbers (years of "service") before too, I remember 3, 6 and 7 right now. I would really like to know where they get it from. It must be a written source, can't be too many of them mentioning this so I would guess that someone found a letter mentioning that a gladiator was freed after X years and drew a general conclusion. Very scary.

[Lost_Warrior]

That is probably exactly what happened LOL.

[caldrail]

First of all, their logic is faulty, or at least seems faulty to me. They put it up as if a gladiator normally trained for one year.

I haven't seen any evidence for the length of training, and even if true, this refers to contract professionals. The cannon-fodder POW's or criminals weren't trained at all. Training must have taken some time and not all gladiators got past it. Estimates reckon that up to a third of intakes were rejected for inability or injury over the months of training.

 

Then they told us that normally they didn't fight more then three fights per year.

Typically, yes, this was true. Each fight was a risk, and the professional gladiator was something analogous to a race-horse, a trained athlete, an expensive profit-making commodity you didn't want killed. There was a limit to the number of festivals these men wouild fight in, and for private shows, where a customer may well want a death to please his audience, a lesser man would be the obvious choice. It paid to be a good fighter. The arena combat was an event, a spectacle, something special. There is a tale of a playwright being decidedly miffed when his audience heard a gladiator fight was taking place elsewhere and everyone vanished. These fights weren't happening every day, someone had to foot the bill, and the arena was an expensive way to impress the citizens.

 

And then in the end they told us that after 3 years a gladiator could win his freedom. Now this is where it's all getting very strange. That would make the normal career for a gladiator 9 fights. That's very very little for the expense.

It all depends on circumstance. I wasn't aware of a time restriction before a gladiator could be freed, and in imperial times freedom was at the whim of the emperor/editor, who was more concerned with crowd-pleasing than strict regulations. I think perhaps there's some distortion of fact here. A bought slave trained as a gladiator is an investment, so obviously the lanista isn't keen to free him. A gladiator however may keep a portion of his winnings, and can buy his freedom, which inevitably means he must remain a succesful gladiator some time. There are instances of men volunteering to pay off their debts, who obviously had no intention of stayiing in the arena longer than necessary. Volunteers signed contracts lasting between three and seven years and the last year or two (if they survive) may well be spent working as a doctores, a trainer. As a guide, survivng inscriptions left by gladiators infer many of them were survivng fifteen to twenty-five fights. Also, the average expected life-span of a gladiator is reckoned at four years, so as the men condemned ad gladius by the courts were enslaved for five years as their punishment, their survival chances were not good.

 

Besides that, gladiators weren't free men. It seems very improbable to be that there ever would be anything like a rule (norm) saying that any gladiator would be (forced) freed by their owner.

If the games editor gave them the rudis practice sword they were free men, whether the lanista wanted that or not. Also, since many gladiators were contracted fighters, the lanista had no choice to let the man go if he reached the end of his contract. Its also true that some freed fighters eventually returned to the arena as volunteers, either because they failed in life afterward, or because they wanted to return to the live they knew and understood. As a gladiator, he was cheered on by the crowds. As an ordinary citizen, his popularity faded and many must have felt has-beens.

Edited May 14, 2008 by caldrail

[Kosmo]

Caldrail I've never heard of criminals punished to became gladiators. The sentence ad bestiam meant that they were to be killed by animals or generally in the arena not to fight gladiators like in HBO Rome. Sometimes one was given a knife while another one not. The dead one was replaced etc but this not proper gladiator fight.

[Klingan]

Typically, yes, this was true. Each fight was a risk, and the professional gladiator was something analogous to a race-horse, a trained athlete, an expensive profit-making commodity you didn't want killed. There was a limit to the number of festivals these men wouild fight in, and for private shows, where a customer may well want a death to please his audience, a lesser man would be the obvious choice. It paid to be a good fighter. The arena combat was an event, a spectacle, something special. There is a tale of a playwright being decidedly miffed when his audience heard a gladiator fight was taking place elsewhere and everyone vanished. These fights weren't happening every day, someone had to foot the bill, and the arena was an expensive way to impress the citizens.

 

Well how many festivals they celebrated per year depends very much on when. Anyway how does we know how often a gladiator fought?

 

About the contractors, they just slipped my mind. Those had a set time of service, but I would guess that it would be a deal between them and the school, no universal rule.

[caldrail]

Caldrail I've never heard of criminals punished to became gladiators. The sentence ad bestiam meant that they were to be killed by animals or generally in the arena not to fight gladiators like in HBO Rome. Sometimes one was given a knife while another one not. The dead one was replaced etc but this not proper gladiator fight.

 

Condemno ad bestias - Thrown to the beasts

 

Condemno ad gladius - Thrown to the gladiators

 

Condemno ad ludum - Thrown to the lanista, and presumably he used you like any other slave he owned and put you to work doing would he thought you were good for. Spartacus was sentenced in this way for being a bandit, and so his potential death by violence was deemed a suitable fate.

 

The fight of two men with one dagger and the winner passes his dagger to a fresh man was a way of dealing with the noxii, or undesirable criminals. It was in fact an 'entertaining' way to get them to execute each other. It must be pointed out that this form of fight has been viewed with some suspicion in recent times.

 

There were no fixed rules for contracts between lanistae and volunteers as far as I'm aware. One story records a higher class individual who wished to save his friend from debt, and signed on as a gladiator to earn enough to get him out of debt. I've no idea if the man was succesful, and in any case, he would be stained with slavery and therefore ineligible for public office thereafter.

 

The numbers of fights were recorded by the gladiators themselves, either scratched on their cell walls or a lasting record on their tombstones. We know they were very keen to record their track record, and I dare say the audience did too, for betting purposes. Thus you might have heard two men arguing about Triumphus - "No way, Lucius, he gets let off more than he wins. I'm betting on Decimus..." - or that sort of thing. Bad luck tokens were for sale at events with which to curse the gladiator they wished to lose (and one wonders if a few of these lead pebbles weren't thrown at the gladiator if he won...). Anyway, the number of fights we believe gladiators fought depends on statistics gathered from such sources and might be a distortion of what actually happened. Nonetheless, gladiators, particularly the succesful ones, were pampered athletes and trained very hard, which required time. They also needed time to recover from wounds, and they may at times have been sent away to tour the provinces giving demonstration bouts.

Edited May 15, 2008 by caldrail