Hosted by Gaius Rufinus, benefactor of Pergamum, in honor of his deceased father, Drusus, leading citizen of Pergamum, and in celebration of the bountiful goodness of the gods and the wisdom of their representative, our divine emperor Domitian.
The contests were held on the thirteenth day before the calends of April [19 March]. Festivities began the evening before the contests, when two banquets were sponsored. The first was held in the dining halls of the temple of Zeus for the benefit of noblemen and honored guests. The second was held in the halls of the upper gymnasium for the benefit of all the gladiatorial contestants. Vast amounts of food and drink were consumed in both feasts, although some of the contestants were unable to eat, overcome by fear at the prospect of what the next day might hold for them. A nearby temple was functioning to enable the contestants to offer sacrifices to Hercules, god of the gladiators. In the temple of Zeus, sacrifices were offered to the traditional gods of Rome and to the emperor.
On the day of the contests, the amphitheater was filled to capacity. Gaius Rufinus and the leading men of Pergamum were joined by representatives of twenty-one regional cities: Troas, Adramyttium, Thyratira, Sardis, Hypaepa, Philadelphia, Nysa, Hierapolis, Laodicea, Aphrodisias, Hyllarima, Halicarnassus, Iasus, Miletus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Teos, Smyrna, Cyme, and Magnesia. The rest of the amphitheater contained residents from Pergamum and many from neighboring cities.
The day of the games began with a parade of the contestants. Accompanied by trumpet fanfares, they made an impressive display. Especially magnificent were the gladiators offered by the emperor himself for the occasion. Wearing fine purple cloaks with ornate gold embroidery, they paraded in chariots while their stewards carried their armory behind them. The parade culminated in a spring dedication for a good harvest, with sacrifices offered to the goddess Flora on behalf of Domitian, our empire’s father, lord, and god.
With the preliminaries complete, the morning beast hunt commenced. Spectators were delighted by the display of wild animals in the throws of life-and-death struggle: bears chained to bulls; wild cats and panthers chained to rhinoceroses; and lions chained to elephants. Later the bestiarii [humans trained to fight wild animals] and wild dogs entered the arena to combat with animals imported especially for slaughter: bears, elephants, tigers, deer, panthers, gazelles, rhinoceroses, lions, antelope, and bulls. The total number of beasts slaughtered was nearly three hundred; the total number of bestiarii slaughtered was only four.
Not long after the morning beast hunt ended, the gods kindly provided favorable weather for the rest of the day. Just after midday, the local boys who had removed the carcasses throughout the morning refreshed the bloodstained sand and spread new sand around the arena. Then the execution of criminals began, their number including murderers, arsonists, robbers, slave deserters, and those guilty of treason. Since Pergamum has “the right of sword” [the authority to carry out executions according to its own discretion, without approval from a higher authority], and since the city officials had granted “the right of sword” to these contests, the executions fell within the boundaries of imperial regulations. The execution of the freemen among the criminals proceeded along normal lines, as one by one they were thrust through with the blade of a sword. They combated in pairs, with one of the pair having been given a sword to overcome the other. His task completed, the sword was then passed to a new contestant, whose responsibility was to defeat the first. Fifteen freemen met their end in this way, with the sixteenth having his throat cut by a gladiator. Then the slaves among the criminal group met their fittingly dishonorable deaths. Twenty of them, many with their hands already amputated, were torn to bits one at a time by lions, bears, or panthers while chained to chariots or hanging from crosses. Eight were burned at the stake at strategic points around the amphitheater. One adulteress met her ignoble death strapped naked to the back of a bull.
Once the sand was again refreshed, the gladiatorial combat began early in the afternoon. The casting of lots had already taken place, determining the gladiatorial pairs. In order to provide the audience with added enjoyment, it was decided ahead of time that at least two gladiatorial contests should take place simultaneously. In just under four hours, 108 gladiators had competed, with 42 deaths. The lives of a few defeated gladiators were spared, since they fought bravely to the satisfaction of the masses and the host of the contests. In some contests both gladiators expired. Many met their deaths bravely. Most types of gladiators were represented, including the Thracians [using a shield, saber, and armor], the Samnites [using a shield, helmet, and short sword], the Retiarii [using a net and trident spear], and the Dimachaerii [using a dagger in each hand]. Of particular interest was the rare spectacle of the Catervarii [two-man gladiatorial teams fighting other two-man teams], of which there were eight teams. Also of interest were the ten women trained in gladiatorial combat who competed against one another, of which seven survived. The Pergamene precedent for this was established by the emperor Domitian, who sponsored a gladiatorial day in Pergamum two years ago [90 CE] in which there were contests among women and among dwarves or midgets.
Toward the end of the afternoon, Rufinus called a halt to the contests and awarded prizes of honor to the gladiators who provided the spectators with the most elaborate displays of strength, cunning, and bravery. Two gladiators in particular received highest honors: Diodorus and Castor, both owned by Photinus from Alexandria. Afterward, while the arena boys sold flasks of gladiators’ blood to those in need of healing, a great banquet was provided for a large number of the spectators, in which copious reserves of wine and food were available, including olives, leeks, and specialty meats of boar, antelope, gazelle, and flamingo.
This day will long be remembered as one worthy of the most excellent Drusus, father of Rufinus, who has exceeded his peers in honoring our divine emperor and the gracious gods that beneficently oversee the glorious city of Pergamum, citadel of the gods and servant of the eternal city of Rome.