Female Gladiators in Archaeology and Re-enactment

[Viggen]

Many people are still wondering if female gladiators existed or if they are a mere Hollywood fantasy. Yes, they did exist and the Canadian scholar Stephen Brunet did in his article "Female and Dwarf Gladiators" a classification of evidence of female gladiators as follows...

 

...read the full article of Female Gladiators in Archaeology and Re-enactment

 

p.s. thanks Medusa for this article!

[Nephele]

Nicely done, Medusa! As a female who sometimes wonders what it might have been like to have been a gladiatrix, it's especially nice to see an article on female gladiators on UNRV's Roman Gladiator page.

 

-- Nephele

[sylla]

A nice review indeed from what seems to have been an exhaustive search on the available ancient sources; maybe it's exactly for its thoroughness that I am a bit disappointed with its findings.

 

Most of the examples of women at circus quoted here seem to have been closer to executed convicts; the kind of stuff you could try on your own slaves but was unthinkable for the Roman female elite, and was thus timely denounced by the pro-senatorial historians (especially Dio).

 

A massive execution ad bestias must have been for the contemporary professional venatores what nowadays hanged criminals are for modern acrobats.

 

I would have expected to find more evidence on the professional gladiatrices from the exotic-taste-prone Imperial plutocrats and mob.

Edited May 24, 2009 by sylla

[Lanista]

There's an amazing novel about this subject, you know...

[Medusa]

Thanks to the UNRV team for uploading my article.

[Rompe]

Glad to see that this topic has been brought up! I am a female who would LOVE to get into Gladiator re-enactment, just have NO clue on where to turn. (I have lots of fight training and am 6

[caldrail]

It's known at least one woman was trained as a venator, an animal hunter. As for bestiarii (animal fighters) it's unlikely the Romans would be so crass and unchivalrous to have a woman brawl with a wild animal without some element of moral justice involved. There is also a stone relief that shows two female gladiators (one named Amazonia) dressed in conventional gladiatorial gear which indicates they fought in familiar pairings as was the convention.

 

What didn't happen was for men and women to fight each other - that was considered unfair. I should add as an afterthought that I've come across no reference whatsoever to women riding horses in the arena.

Edited August 1, 2009 by caldrail

[sylla]

Glad to see that this topic has been brought up! I am a female who would LOVE to get into Gladiator re-enactment, just have NO clue on where to turn. (I have lots of fight training and am 6

[Medusa]

I fight as a provocatrix based on the relief find at Halicarnassos (today's Bodrum in Turkey). The relief is today on display at the British Museum in London.

 

Women are literarily attested as fighting as venatrices (but venatores are not gladiators but beast fighters!) and in the class of essedarii. But what these gladiators looked liked is not that clear although Junkelmann did some reconstructions on those. It remains unclear if they started their fights on chariots similarly to the equites beginning their fights on horseback and dismounted later on in the combat or if only their name derived from chariot fighters but they fought on foot only.

 

The scholar assume that women fought in all gladiatorial classes even if this is not explicitely mentioned.

 

For further information please feel free to check out my website esp. what I wrote about gladiatrices:

 

http://www.ludus-nemesis.eu/en/gladiatrices_en.html

[Medusa]

It's known at least one woman was trained as a venator, an animal hunter. As for bestiarii (animal fighters) it's unlikely the Romans would be so crass and unchivalrous to have a woman brawl with a wild animal without some element of moral justice involved. There is also a stone relief that shows two female gladiators (one named Amazonia) dressed in conventional gladiatorial gear which indicates they fought in familiar pairings as was the convention.

 

The other one is names Achillia. Please see the link to my website mentioned at the previous post.

 

What didn't happen was for men and women to fight each other - that was considered unfair. I should add as an afterthought that I've come across no reference whatsoever to women riding horses in the arena.

 

Yes, this was considered unfair so women fought against women only and men against men only, at least when talking about gladiatorial combat and not the noon-time executions. Because I lack a second women still in my group I have to fight against my male comrades though but in our group chances are equal.

[caldrail]

Women are literarily attested as fighting as venatrices (but venatores are not gladiators but beast fighters!)

 

I take issue on this point. Bestiarii were 'beast fighters' and as such considered the lowest of the low of the gladiatorial kind (ignoring the Noxii but as intended victims they were never trained). Venatorii were 'beast hunters', athletes who didn't fight animals per se but attacked from a distance (though inevitably there must have been times when it all went horribly wrong for them).

 

It is interesting though that you dismiss animal fighters as non-gladiators. Strictly speaking that's the case and I suspect the Romans had views along those lines, since an animal hunt (of whatever variety) was an added spectacle and not part of the formal one-on-one professional bouts.

 

Incidentially (and this is a little crass), do you re-enact the comedy bouts with dwarf males? That was common entertainment before and during the period of female gladiatorial matches.

[Medusa]

I take issue on this point. Bestiarii were 'beast fighters' and as such considered the lowest of the low of the gladiatorial kind (ignoring the Noxii but as intended victims they were never trained). Venatorii were 'beast hunters', athletes who didn't fight animals per se but attacked from a distance (though inevitably there must have been times when it all went horribly wrong for them).

 

It is interesting though that you dismiss animal fighters as non-gladiators. Strictly speaking that's the case and I suspect the Romans had views along those lines, since an animal hunt (of whatever variety) was an added spectacle and not part of the formal one-on-one professional bouts.

 

A munus was divided into three parts so to say: in the morning the beast hunts, at noon-time the executions, in the afternoon the gladiatorial combats as highlight of the day.

 

Incidentially (and this is a little crass), do you re-enact the comedy bouts with dwarf males? That was common entertainment before and during the period of female gladiatorial matches.

 

This question makes it clear that you have not read my article in which I summarize e.g. the article by Stephen Brunet in which he points out that it is a misinterpretation that women faught against dwarfs. Before I repeat here my article I strongly recommend you to check out the link given by Viggen in the first post of this thread, there you will find the answer.

[Rompe]

Medusa,

 

I took a read on your link. Intresting! I wish that there was more from the Ancient Times about the Gladiatrix; sculptures, drawings, pottery etc.

 

Are any of these items available to see online that have the drawings/paintings or anything else of the Gladiatrix?

[caldrail]

A munus was divided into three parts so to say: in the morning the beast hunts, at noon-time the executions, in the afternoon the gladiatorial combats as highlight of the day.

Not disputed at all. However, what is important is that the Romans saw associations about these fights, religious sigificance sometimes, that we don't see in modern hindsight. It does sound a bit hypocritical considering how much money was involved in the genre, but there you go. Anyhow, my point is that a femal venator represented Diane, Goddess of the Hunt, and I really can't see the Romans ignoring or passing scorn on such a re-enactment. On the other hand, Bestarii, since they actually fought animals close up and dirty as it were, were guilty by association of being en par with animals, whereas the venators displayed Roman mastery over nature by 'hunting' the animals at a distance using bows and spears (or whatever else - you may know more about that).

 

Incidentially (and this is a little crass), do you re-enact the comedy bouts with dwarf males? That was common entertainment before and during the period of female gladiatorial matches.

 

This question makes it clear that you have not read my article in which I summarize e.g. the article by Stephen Brunet in which he points out that it is a misinterpretation that women faught against dwarfs. Before I repeat here my article I strongly recommend you to check out the link given by Viggen in the first post of this thread, there you will find the answer.

 

Fair enough, although I did mean the comedy aspect. It wasn't a 'fight' in the same way as professional bouts at all. The reason I mentioned that was the hope you would react in a certain way (I nearly achieved that - thanks for the reference anyway ). You see, professional fighters such as existed from the Principate onward must have had a great deal of pride in what they did - there is of course the mention that "Gladiators love nothing more than to provide pleasure to their owners" by fighting well and in an entertaining manner. I was wondering if any of that attitude had worn off onto you. The difference of course is that you're not owned by anyone ( I hope not anyway!) which provides a difference before we begin the comparison of mindset, and that you perform for public display as opposed to actually fighting to the death. In one respect you have something very much in common with those arena contestants two thousand years ago - you are performing these mock fights for public entertainment.

 

It's very easy to get wrapped up in the violent aspects of this, and to my eyes at least, hugely disturbing that people would flock to watch two individuals fight for real, but the thrill of watching a sword fight taking place must have have been palpable and the entire reason for gladiatorial popularity. I wonder - how does the modern audience react to your displays?

[Medusa]

Medusa,

 

I took a read on your link. Intresting! I wish that there was more from the Ancient Times about the Gladiatrix; sculptures, drawings, pottery etc.

 

Are any of these items available to see online that have the drawings/paintings or anything else of the Gladiatrix?

 

As I said the only depiction of female gladiators is the relief from Halicarnassos showing two fighters names Amazon and Achillia. This relief is today displayed at the British Museum in London where I took a picture of it when I had been in London two years ago. You could see it here:

 

http://www.ludus-nemesis.eu/bilder/halikarnassos_600x498.jpg