Gladiators
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things to many people, but the reality of the uprising led by
him exposed weaknesses and fears in the Roman Republic which
were to have long-term consequences.
As a background, it is worth pointing out that Sulla, the first
of the new generation of warlords and dictator between 81 and
79 BC, had captured Thracians during his campaign against
Mithridates, the king of Pontus, during the 80s BC. This is one
possible origin for the thraex type of gladiator, although the
Romans certainly knew of the Thracians before this and were
to encounter them again. It should also be pointed out that
Spartacus is said to come from Thrace in our sources, not that he
fought as a Thracian gladiator ( thraex).
30 | GLADIATORS
Th e sources for the war with Spartacus are painfully scarce
and most of what we know about him was written about two
centuries after his revolt.
A certain Lentulus Batiatus had a school of gladiators at Capua,
most of whom were Gauls and Th racians. Th rough no misconduct
of theirs, but owing to the injustice of their owner, they were
kept in close confi nement and reserved for gladiatorial combats.
Two hundred of these planned to make their escape, and when
information was laid against them, those who got wind of it and
succeeded in getting away, seventy-eight in number, seized cleavers
and spits from some kitchen and sallied out. On the road they
fell in with wagons conveying gladiators’ weapons to another city;
these they plundered and armed themselves. Th en they took up
a strong position and elected three leaders. Th e fi rst of these was
Spartacus, a Th racian of Nomadic stock, possessed not only of great
courage and strength, but also in sagacity and culture superior to
his fortune, and more Hellenic than Th racian. (Plutarch, Crassus
8.1–2)
Th ere are a number of interesting details embedded in this
account. First, the gladiators in Batiatus’ training school do
not appear to have had access to any weapons on the site and
were forced to improvise using kitchen implements. Th is may
be because the armoury was in an adjacent but not accessible
Bestiarius (‘beast-fi ghter’)
• Armour: none
• Special feature: shafted weapon
• Period: Republican and Imperial
• Common opponent: wild animals
CHApTeR 3: RISe Of THe GLADIATORS | 31
Provocator (‘challenger’)
• Armour: helmet breastplate, armguard, greave,
curved rectangular shield
• Special feature: short sword
• Period: Republican and Imperial
• Common opponent: eques; provocator;
murmillo
location; indeed, at Pompeii, the only weapons found along
with all the armour were daggers. Second, gladiators weapons
intended for use in munera were moved around in convoys,
presumably separately from the gladiators themselves. Finally,
there seems to be an implication that it was not normal to keep
gladiators in ‘close confi nement’.
Spartacus’ small force immediately began to attract support
from the many slaves who worked the land and ran those vast
estates of southern central Italy. Th e Romans had dealt with
slave uprisings before, but never one with such military expertise
at its head. Th is immediately highlighted the ambivalent nature
of the relationship between gladiators and soldiers: because their
styles of hand-to-hand combat were so similar.
If their tactics were sound, inspired even, then so too was their
strategy, at fi rst. Taking refuge on Mount Vesuvius, overlooking
the Bay of Naples, they repeatedly defeated over-confi dent
Roman armies sent against them until, betrayed by the Cilician
pirates who were supposed to provide passage out of Italy, they
were fi nally crushed by M. Licinius Crassus, the richest man in
Rome and one of the top warlords.
Intriguingly, a monochromatic fresco from Pompeii, thought
to date to between 100 and 70 BC, has been suggested as
32 | GLADIATORS
Spartaks graffito from Pompeii (drawing by M. C. Bishop)
depicting Spartacus himself. It shows two combatants on foot
with large rectangular shields, two mounted armed men with
oval or circular shields and a trumpeter, all labelled in Oscan
(the local language before Latin supplanted it). One mounted
figure, named SPARTAKS in reverse (Oscan was written right
to left), is being speared in the thigh by a pursuing rider. Some
scholars believe this shows Spartacus depicted in his final battle
(the historian Appian mentioned that he was wounded in the
thigh by a spear, although no mention is made of him being
mounted). Others suggest that it may in fact show a gladiatorial
contest pre-dating the Spartacus War, pointing to the trumpeter
and what might be an altar. There is no easy solution to this
conundrum, other than to note the coincidence of the name
(Spartaks/Spartacus), location (Pompeii, within sight of
Vesuvius) and the date (100–70 BC).
The Romans had long memories and Spartacus provided them
with an additional fear to set beside their traditional dislike of
northern barbarians (which dated back to the sack of Rome by
Gauls in 390 BC): distrust of gladiator armies. In the future,
only the direst of military situations would see Rome’s leaders
resorting to recruiting forces composed of gladiators.
Spartacus is perhaps more important for his effect on the
modern period (and in particular the present-day impression
of gladiators) than for his impact upon Rome. The surviving
historical records are sparse for a very good reason: he was not
thought to have been particularly important. Although at the
time he posed a very real threat to the Roman state, it was never
insuperable and he was certainly no Hannibal. In the end, skill
CHApTeR 3: RISe Of THe GLADIATORS | 33
in the arena did not transfer to the real world on a long-term
basis, but it can at least be said that he is the only gladiator ever
to have inspired a ballet and its accompanying suite of music.
The warlords and civil war
With Spartacus out of the way, the Republic could resume its
old course. Th e aristocracy had realised that the popularity of
these games also made them a valuable political tool for securing
votes and any excuse was found to hold them. Th e association
between funerary games and gladiatorial combat may have been
growing ever more tenuous, but it did not completely disappear,
as an inscription from Carinola in Campania dating to around
60 BC (and maintaining the association with food noted above)
attests:
Lucius Papius Polio of the Teretine tribe, son of Lucius, member
of the Board of Two, gave a feast of spiced honey wine and cakes
in honour of his father Lucius Papius of the Falernian tribe, son of
Lucius, for all the colonists of Sinuessa and Caedex, and a show
of gladiators and a dinner for the colonists at Sinuessa and to the
Papii. He set up a memorial at a cost of 12,000 sesterces from the
will and with the approval of Lucius Novercinius Pollio, son of
Lucius, of the Pupinian tribe. ( CIL I, 1578)
Eques (‘horseman’)
• Armour: helmet
• Special feature: mounted, wearing tunic
• Period: Republican and Imperial
• Common opponent: eques; provocator
34 | GLADIATORS
Th e last century of the Roman Republic saw the rise of great
men like Crassus, Pompey the Great and most prominently
Julius Caesar, who commanded armies loyal to them, rather
than to the state, and gladiatorial games became just another
means for them to assert political infl uence. Th ey have to be
seen in the context of the triumph, an honour awarded to a
victorious general (although preferably not having defeated
another Roman) at the close of campaigning. Th e triumph was a
spectacle in its own right and had its similarities with the games,
aff ording the general (who was also a politician, of course) a
chance to show off his accomplishments and, inevitably, wealth.
In 81 BC, at the tender age of just 24, Pompey even tried to
use elephants to pull his triumphal chariot as he rode along the
traditional route through the centre of Rome, only to fi nd they
would not fi t through one of the arches he had to pass through,
so the more usual horses were reluctantly substituted.
In 66 BC, Lucius Licinius Murena wished to sponsor particularly
spectacular games, whilst he was praetor, for direct political aims
and Cicero was quite open in describing his intentions a few
years later when defending him from a charge of bribery:
But if we ourselves, who, from our constant business, have but little
time for amusement, and who are able to derive many pleasures of
another sort from our business itself, are still pleased and interested
Hoplomachus (‘heavily armed fi ghter’)
• Armour: helmet, chest plate, greave(s)
• Special feature: spear
• Period: Republican and Imperial
• Common opponent: thraex; murmillo
CHApTeR 3: RISe Of THe GLADIATORS | 35
by exhibitions of games, why should you marvel at the ignorant
multitude being so? (Cicero, Pro Murena 39)
In other words, if the ‘ignorant multitude’ could be swayed by
the provision of such games, then they were fair game. By 65
BC, Julius Caesar hoped to provide a staggering 320 pairs of
gladiators at the games during his aedileship, ostensibly to mark
the death of his father (an event that had taken place 20 years
earlier). Clearly this was a blatant ploy to curry favour with
the ordinary people from whom he drew his political support.
Alarmed, the senate moved to limit the number or pairs he could
show, partly because that many armed men in the city could
be seen as a serious threat to the status quo. Once again, the
fear of gladiators went hand-in-hand with the love of watching
gladiatorial combat. Worse was to come.
In 63 BC, the nobleman L. Sergius Catilina attempted to
lead a coup (usually known as the Catilinarian Conspiracy)
against the existing government. The ‘army’ he had assembled
was largely composed of assorted thugs and disaffected citizens,
but the establishment saw the danger and reacted, moving all
gladiators within Rome to Capua.
The gladiators which he thought would be his most numerous and
most trusty band, although they are better disposed than part of
the patricians, will be held in check by our power. (Cicero, Against
Catiline 2.26)
As a result of Catilina’s actions, the Senate subsequently passed a
resolution that most gladiators had to be based outside of Rome
to avoid a repetition of these events.
Pompey the Great found that providing spectacles could have
its downside. In 55 BC, he had arranged for some elephants to
fight against Gaetulian warriors from North Africa in the Circus
Maximus. Unfortunately, things did not go to plan:
In the second consulship of Pompeius, at the dedication of
the temple of Venus Victrix, twenty elephants, or, as some say,
36 | GLADIATORS
Thra(e)x (‘Thracian’)
• Armour: helmet, greaves, armguard, small
circular or square shield ( parma)
• Special feature: angled sword ( sica)
• Period: Republican to Imperial
• Common opponent: murmillo
seventeen, fought in the Circus against a number of Gaetulians,
who attacked them with javelins. One of these animals fought
in a most astonishing manner; being pierced through the feet,
it dragged itself on its knees towards the troop, and seizing their
bucklers, tossed them aloft into the air: and as they came to the
ground they greatly amused the spectators, for they whirled round
and round in the air, just as if they had been thrown up with a
certain degree of skill, and not by the frantic fury of a wild beast.
(Pliny, Natural History 8.7)
Cicero (who was busy defending a friend in the courts, so not an
eyewitness) noted the result:
Th e last day was that of the elephants, on which there was a
great deal of astonishment on the part of the vulgar crowd, but
no pleasure whatever. Nay, there was even a certain feeling of
compassion aroused by it, and a kind of belief created that that
animal has something in common with mankind. (Cicero, Letters
to his Friends 7.1)
Th e audience seemed to be siding with the elephants, which was
not part of the plan. Th en there was another rather alarming
development, particularly for the stadium staff :
CHApTeR 3: RISe Of THe GLADIATORS | 37
Th e elephants attempted, too, by their united eff orts, to break
down the enclosure, not without great confusion among the people
who surrounded the iron gratings. (Pliny, Natural History 8.7)
By this point, Pompey may justifi ably have concluded that he
was extremely unlucky when it came to using elephants in public
displays.
Gladiators were not only performers in the arena. Th ey began
to appear as strong-arm men to support political rivals. When the
admittedly rather irritating Cato (famed for his old-fashioned
Republican values) opposed a move to allow Pompey to enter
Rome with armed men (traditionally not allowed), attempts
were made to intimidate Cato and his allies:
When Cato paused in the forum and saw the temple of Castor
and Pollux surrounded by armed men and its steps guarded by
gladiators, and Metellus himself sitting at the top with Caesar,
he turned to his friends and said: ‘What a bold man, and what
a coward, to levy such an army against a single unarmed and
defenceless person!’ (Plutarch, Life of Cato 27.4)
Caesar’s founding of his new gladiatorial training school for
5,000 gladiators, the Ludus Iuliani at Capua, was viewed with
suspicion not just because it threatened a stranglehold on the
Veles (‘lightly armed’)
• Armour: small round shield
• Special f
eature: spear
• Period: Republican to Imperial
• Common opponent: unknown
38 | GLADIATORS
supply of gladiators to munera , but also because it could provide
loyal gladiatorial thugs whenever he needed them to make a
political point.
In 52 BC, Caius Scribonius Curio introduced a novel
development: a double theatre that could be rotated to form
an amphitheatre. Caesar made some improvements to the
forum, adding subterranean tunnels and trapdoors through
which scenery and animals could be introduced. In doing so, he
anticipated the features of later amphitheatres, but Dio suggests
he also imitated Curio in building an amphitheatre, albeit
non-rotating:
He built a kind of hunting-theatre of wood, which was called an
amphitheatre from the fact that it had seats all around without any
stage. In honour of this and of his daughter he exhibited combats
of wild beasts and gladiators. (Dio 43.22.3)
Th ese were temporary timber structures that attempted to
maximise the available space. It was Caesar who also introduced
a new form of entertainment: sham naval battles ( naumachia ), as
part of the entertainments accompanying his quadruple triumph
in 46 BC (which, as noted above, doubled as a commemoration
of his daughter Julia, thereby maintaining a funerary link). Now
whether these naumachia can be counted as true gladiatorial
Venator (‘hunter’)
• Armour: none
• Special feature: spear
• Period: Republican to Imperial
• Common opponent: wild animals
CHApTeR 3: RISe Of THe GLADIATORS | 39
contests (did the participants have training schools? did they
practice regularly?) is a moot point, but they eventually became
part of the munera as one of the spectacula on offer.
Caesar had a special waterproofed basin constructed on a
marshy part of the Campus Martius for a battle to be fought
between the Carthaginian and Egyptian fleets. There were
allegedly 4,000 oarsmen and 1,000 marines (all prisoners of war)
in two-, three- and four-banked galleys and the event attracted
so many visitors that people were camping on the streets.