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Definition: gladiator from The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

In ancient Rome, a trained fighter, recruited mainly from slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war, who fought to the death in arenas for the entertainment of spectators. The custom was introduced into Rome from Etruria in 264 BC and continued until the 5th century AD.

gladiators

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
[Lat.,=swordsmen], in ancient Rome, class of professional fighters, who performed for exhibition. Gladiatorial combats usually took place in amphitheaters. They probably were introduced from Etruria and originally were funeral games. Gladitorial combats, which took place in the Colosseum and in hundreds of other ampitheaters throughout the Roman world, reached their height in the 1st and 2d cent. A.D. The gladiators were paired off to fight each other, usually to the number of about 100 couples, although in the imperial shows there were sometimes as many as 5,000 pairs. There were various types of gladiators, armed and armored differently. Thus a heavily armored man, a Mirmillo or Samnite, might be opposed to a Retiarius, who fought almost naked, with a net and a trident as his only weapons. He also might be pitted against a Thracian, who fought with a dagger and a small round shield. Often gladiators were made to fight wild beasts. A defeated gladiator was usually killed by the victor…
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Full text Article gladiators

From Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome
One of the most famous elements of Roman society and entertainment. A unique product of Rome and Italy, gladiators came to epitomize the socially decadent nature of the Romans, with their taste for blood sports. Gladiators emerged among the Etruscans as a form of the traditional blood sacrifice held…
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Full text Article gladiators

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
[Lat.,=swordsmen], in ancient Rome, class of professional fighters, who performed for exhibition. Gladiatorial combats usually took place in amphitheaters. They probably were introduced from Etruria and originally were funeral games. Gladitorial combats, which took place in the Colosseum and in…
| 272 words
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Full text Article gladiator

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Professional combatant in ancient Rome who engaged in fights to the death as sport. Gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, the intent being to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world. At Rome gladiator matches were wildly popular from 264 bc . By the time of Julius Caesar…
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Full text Article Apollonius (gladiator)

From Ancient Roman Sports, A-Z
Apollonius was a Thracian gladiator who is known only from a very short funerary inscription. The scarcity of information about him on the inscription does not enable us to determine when he lived. The translation of the text: “Sacred to the Underworld Gods. In memory of Apollonius, a Thracian…
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Full text Article Selling gladiators

From Ancient Roman Sports, A-Z
The emperor Caligula (reigned 37–41 ce) had a unique method of raising money: he would auction off—at inflated prices—surviving gladiators to government officials and other qualified eager buyers. But he also forced unwilling purchasers to buy these gladiators, and further compelled them to exhibit…
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Full text Article gladiatorial contests

From The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance
Gladiatorial displays originated at aristocratic funerals at Rome in the third century bc to honour the deceased. The funerary context persisted throughout the republic, but politicians began to exploit this practice as an opportunity to buy popularity by staging memorial games in honour of…
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Full text Article Hermes the gladiator

From Ancient Roman Sports, A-Z
The Roman poet Martial chose gladiators and charioteers as the subjects of several of his poems. The gladiator Hermes, immortalized in his poetry, was probably a type rather than a specific individual. Martial's epigram about him raises some interesting and occasionally puzzling points about the…
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Full text Article Gladiatorial(?) tesserae

From Ancient Roman Sports, A-Z
One of the most interesting and puzzling features of the Roman gladiatorial establishment is to be found in the gladiatorial tesserae, oblong cubes of bone or ivory, with a hole in one end, and inscribed texts on the four long faces. The topics of the inscriptions: (1.) the name of the gladiator; …
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Full text Article Gladiatorial cups

From Ancient Roman Sports, A-Z
One of the most interesting sources of information about Roman gladiators comes from decorated and inscribed drinking cups. These cups may contain representations of one or more gladiators, sometimes in fighting mode, along with labels indicating their names. Possibly the most famous of these cups…
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Full text Article Gladiatorial demographics

From Ancient Roman Sports, A-Z
The types of individuals who fought as Roman gladiators can be conveniently grouped into four general categories: (1) criminals; (2) slaves and prisoners of war; (3) free Roman citizens drafted to be gladiators; (4) volunteers. One of the means of execution for criminals sentenced to death was…
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