Roman Gladiators: Part 1 - From Private to Public

There are plenty of the "cool" parts of history that don't live up to the hype, usually due to entertainment media that skews how the facts were to liven it up a little. Typically those things become associated with the actual history, waiting around until some jerk who hates fun pipes up and says "well, actually, that isn't how it is". Vikings are a good example; they weren't massive people with horned helmets, but rather average sized, and had helmets that were most definitely not pointy. However, muscle-bound warriors yelling and helmet-stabbing is far more entertaining, and that's the image we have of them. See: the Minnesota Vikings. As for stunningly large moustaches, that may only be associated with that logo. For more examples, look to 90% of movies that have "based on a true story" at the beginning. People take liberties. That's not necessarily a problem, but it does make learning the real history a downer more often than not.

There are, however, a number of historical ones that most definitely live up to the hype. The historical concept of gladiators not only reaches it, but exceeds it. We're not talking one-on-one battles between a few guys, which is personally how I pictured gladiator fights (although that did, of course, happen) but we're also talking massive pitched battles, occurring only for entertainment; animals from all over the empire brought in incredible numbers to fight against both man and each other; emperors going into the ring to show they're as tough as anyone else; and, for the ladies (or for those gentlemen that were more focussed on Gerard Butler's abs during 300 rather than his killing ability), we're talking men that were such perfect physical specimens that they would wear armour around most of their bodies but their torso, just to show how jacked they were. A gladiator fight as they're seen in the public imagination would be tiresome and mundane compared to the real thing.

I'm sorry ancient pottery makers,  but your depiction
of gladiators standing and idly having a chat
is not helping my "gladiator fights were crazy over
the top" argument.

To be fair, that's how they were at their peak. Their beginnings were much more humble, an idea stolen from other civilizations than the Romans - which is why we know little of how it started, as they wouldn't want to admit it - that was all about a few people fighting to the death at funerals. They believed the blood of prisoners would help ease the passage into death for more important or wealthy folk. Back then, at a funeral, everyone was apparently wishing for more death.

Having a gladiator match at your funeral meant you were somewhat of a big deal, similar to having a large, expensive funeral would be now. Replace "number of flower bouquets" with "number of slaughtered prisoners" and you're on the right track. It was a social symbol, a means to show that the deceased had money, lived a good life, and the people who had the dead's legacy passed to them would show that by throwing a big gladiator party, so to speak. The more gladiators there were, the more popular the person; the real big-wigs at the time would have hundreds of gladiators fighting to the death at their funerals, presumably making it so their spirits would float to the afterlife on a sea of cries of pain and a river of blood: a most pleasant passing. I can see why that was so popular.

"Pardon me, gentlemen, but were we allowed to wear armour?
Oh, woe is me, I don't think I'm getting out of this one", said the
man second from the right.

Around the third or fourth century B.C., the Romans decided that they liked these fights so much that they should start making it a public event. After Julius Caesar's assassination (who personally held a gladiator match with as many as 320 fighters to honour his father during his reign), they used gladiator fights to appease a public that may not have been overly pleased with the assassination of their leader. Suddenly, watching two prisoners battle to the death for the amusement of those watching was no longer just for high society.

One of, if not the only, pre-1900s painting that
doesn't instantly bore me to tears.

All the blood and guts turned out to be a massive success. The games became so popular that amphitheatres were in almost every decently sized town, and visited by people from all walks of life. The emperor would put on the games as a show of solidarity with the people (well, save for those that were killed, I guess) as well as to demonstrate his control not only over the people of Rome but over the animals in the empire.

 In the largest cities the fights would typically be run by the emperor himself, but in smaller ones a wealthy man would take the reins and hold a show. It had to be in the smaller towns because if the fights grew too large, you may be falling out of the emperor's favour; the people who held gladiator fights tended to be rather popular, and growing too popular was taken as a threat. That meant that the largest, most grand fights were held typically in Rome and always on behalf of whomever was the emperor at the time. Under Augustus' rule, his show was said to have had ten thousand fight each other, and 3500 animals killed as well. With the eventual building of the colosseum, 50,000 would come to watch the fights.

So, who was fighting? What kind of fights did they have? Was that loser from the Spartacus television show who fought with a net a real thing? Tune in next time.