Gladiator

You are an actor in a drama…you do not choose your part, but you can choose to play it well.

To enter a ludus, or gladiator school, is to become part of another world. Things are different here. There is another set of values, conversation is larded with incomprehensible jargon and life follows a different rhythm. Manners, dress and diet are completely changed, and there is a new set of social relationships, which the tiro must grasp immediately if he is to find his place in this tightly knit community. Above all, within the ludus there is a sense that the universe consists of ‘us’, the people of the amphitheatre, and ‘them’, which is basically the rest of the world, but especially those who pay for or attend the spectacles.

In many ways the ludus is like a large family, and indeed some schools are referred to as familia gladiatoria (though anyone considering the gladiators a band of brothers should be prepared for some pretty deadly sibling rivalry). And if the ludus is a family, the undoubted patriarch, godfather, and undisputed master is the lanista.

He was skilful in every technique of cruelty, battening his profits with tortures and executions, just as a lanista does in the games.

In the outside world, the lanista is so despised that the priests who pay for many of the spectacles will try to avoid contamination by dealing with him through an intermediary. The trade of the lanista is as old as that of the gladiator, and in fact many Romans believe the word, like the gladiator himself, is of Etruscan origin. They point to the Etruscan root of the Latin word laniare, which means to ‘cut or mutilate’; which is why to the Romans a lanius is a butcher. But however contemptible he may seem to those outside his world (and many respectable cemeteries won’t even accept his corpse), within the gladiator school the lanista is lord of all he surveys.

It is the lanista who decides whether to bring on youngsters with potential within the school or to buy in existing talent from outside. He sets the training regime, and keeps a close eye on the budget. He can fine, flog or even execute all in his power, and that includes the auctorati who have submitted to him voluntarily. He is the last man a trainee gladiator wants to offend, because he will be literally the last man the trainee offends (before his career is cut short – along with the rest of him – by, for example, an unfortunate pairing against Brutus Britannicus Thrax, the Baby-Eating Barbarian of Britain).

The regime of a lanista sets the tone for life in the school. It was the extreme brutality of life in his ludus that caused Spartacus and his fellow gladiators to make their famous break for freedom. Some lanistae may believe that turning gladiators into savage beasts gets the best results, but the better sort will concentrate on building an esprit de corps and giving gladiators pride in themselves and their profession.

Through no misconduct of theirs, but through the tyranny of their lanista, they were kept in close confinement apart from gladiatorial combats.

In the imperial schools, the lanista is ‘overseen’ by a procurator, but this official is probably a placeman given his berth as part of the Roman system of swapping favours – including jobs – among the elite. A procurator is unlikely to care about the day-to-day running of the place, so long as the gladiators make him look good by their performance when they eventually reach the arena. In smaller or private schools the procurator is replaced by a member of the local city council or by the owner of the school itself. For a trainee gladiator, in a large ludus contact with such authority figures is rare – the imperial ludi in Rome have hundreds of gladiators in their number, few of whom ever have to interact with imperial officials. In fact, one role of the lanista is to be an intermediary between the upper management and the gladiators.

By the nature of their job, gladiators are temporary members of a ludus. Most relationships between gladiators and permanent staff are short-lived, basically because most gladiators are short-lived as well. Nevertheless, starting on the right foot with the permanent staff is an essential step for any novice gladiator who plans to leave the school alive.

One important member of staff, from your point of view, is the medicus. Generally speaking, even the smallest gladiator school will have a medic in constant attendance, or at least on retainer, because although gladiatorial combats are relatively rare, injuries in training are commonplace, and the heavy wooden training sword is more than capable of snapping bone. Furthermore, gladiators are as subject to illness as the rest of the population, and every lanista’s nightmare is a bout of infectious illness sweeping through the gladiator barracks on the eve of a big show. It is the medicus who decides how much tender loving care an injured gladiator receives, and who arranges some rudimentary physiotherapy to ensure, for example, that scar tissue does not affect mobility.

Running repairs. From time immemorial, wherever there have been fighters, there have been medics standing by to patch them up afterwards. As this engraving indicates, many of the best medical practitioners in Rome are Greeks. (From Victor Duruy, History of Rome and the Roman People, vols I–V, London, 1884)

Coaching

The medicus is not to be confused with the doctor. The doctor is so called because he has a Ph.D (Potential for huge Damage) in his particular fighting speciality, and it is his task to impart that potential to his trainees. He is expert in the armour, use of weapons, and tactics of the trainee’s selected discipline. Almost certainly, he will have extensive experience of using those arms and tactics in the only conditions that count – fighting in the arena. The doctor will act as a coach, and depending on the size of the establishment he will double as, or work closely with, the magister, who is a more general trainer and keeps an eye on the overall fitness and diet of those in the school.

Armour

The imperial ludi have (of course) the most extensive support infrastructure, but the same pattern is mirrored to some extent in every gladiatorial school. Probably only an imperial ludus would have a manicarius (grade II) for the repair of the padded arm guards many gladiators wear in combat, but even the most down-market gladiator school needs someone to knock missing rivets back into armour, or convert a standard bit of second-hand military kit into something that looks flashy and glamorous (at least from a short distance).

Items of gladiator display armour. A tiro can’t expect to wear anything like this for at least six months. His training kit is cruder – and heavier. (From Fausto e Felice Niccolini, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompeii disegnati e descritti, 1854)

Costume

Nor should one underestimate the vestarius, who prepares the rest of a gladiator’s costume. This role is more important than it seems. Not only does this individual ensure that you are literally dressed to kill, but how a fighter looks is second only to how he behaves when it comes to attracting a following in the crowd. And it may be the crowd who decides whether a defeated gladiator lives or dies.

The back office

As well as those who work directly with the gladiators there are others, equally essential to the life of the ludus, but with whom the gladiator rarely interacts. Among these are the clerks who balance the costs of feeding, training and equipment for the gladiators with the payments for their appearances in shows. They say every man has his price, and these clerks know yours down to the last sestertius.

Servi

Finally there are the slaves. These perform the background tasks of cleaning, cooking, bringing water and maintaining the latrines. Their basic role is to ensure that a trainee gladiator need do nothing but concentrate on his sole purpose in life – learning how to kill people as stylishly as possible. The very nature of their job encourages some gladiators to be brutal towards the slaves, but this is one area where a bit of kindness can pay dividends. Slaves get everywhere and, because they are generally ignored, they can pick up vital scraps of information, such as advance notice of who might be paired with whom in the coming bouts.

Like a slave owner, a lanista has the right to chastise those under his tutelage in any way he sees fit. The twisted cords of the flagellum, used here, are believed to inflict more pain than a standard short whip. (From Victor Duruy, History of Rome and the Roman People, vols I–V, London, 1884)

The pecking / stabbing order

Conditions within the ludus vary greatly according to the status of the gladiator. The different disciplines are usually quartered separately, so that for example, the chasers (secutores) don’t mingle much with the net-men (retiarii). A cunning lanista will play the different groups off against each other, so there is a genuine rivalry between the factions. This adds a bit of extra spice when their representatives meet in the arena.

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At least a lanista runs a decent establishment. The wimpish skirmisher (psilus) and the well-armoured heavy (euhoplo) are kept well away from each other. A net-man doesn’t have to share meals with convicted felons, so that in the room where he strips off to fight no one’s going to steal his shoulder guard and trident. Even the dregs of the arena live separately.

JUVENAL SATIRES 6

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Ideally each class of gladiators in a school should have their own quarters. Again, the paragon is the imperial model, where the gladiators are not only kept separate, but live in their separate ludi – one each for the most popular types. Still, in the highly structured world of the gladiator school not even those sharing a barrack room are equals.

Gladiators have thoroughly infected the popular imagination – spin-off products, such as this oil lamp, find eager buyers all over the empire. (British Museum, London)

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Lucius Asicius…muriola es!

(THIS INSCRIPTION BY JESUS, A RIVAL IN POMPEII, INFORMS LUCIUS ASICIUS – A MURMILLO OR ‘FISH MAN’ TYPE GLADIATOR – THAT HE IS EITHER A STINKY FISH PASTE OR A DRINK FAVOURED BY WOMEN, DEPENDING WHICH TRANSLATION ONE PREFERS)

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The rough hierarchy in a group of gladiators is as follows.

The primus palus

The name reflects the Roman love of puns, this one being on the primus pilus, the leading centurion in a legion. The palus in question is the training post, with which a rookie will soon become intimately familiar.

Often the primus palus is a gladiator who has signed on again after serving out his original contract. A skilled veteran fighter, he may also serve as the doctor who coaches others.

The secundus palus

The primus palus also fights in the arena (and when he is paired with his opposite number in another discipline, expect the stands to be packed with spectators). Therefore, most schools have a secundus palus, who is ready to step into the sandals of a deceased primus at short notice.

These top fighters in a school are volunteers, and may even go home to their wives and children at the end of the day. Even so, each still comes back in the morning and spends hours training as though his life depended on it. Because it does.

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Eorta and Asklepiades set up this memorial for Danoas, their husband and father. He was second palus of the Thracians [a gladiator type, see chapter V] and after nine combats, he departed to the afterlife.

MEMORIAL FOR A GLADIATOR FROM CYZICUS IN ASIA MINOR. LGOG 293

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After surviving several fights, a gladiator might well have enough savings for a funeral monument. This fighter obviously left his family in comfortable circumstances. (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

Veteres

These are gladiators who have survived at least one bout in the arena. There is a distinction between those who fought and won and those who fought and lost, but obtained a missio – i.e. were spared death after defeat. Remember that most missiones come as the reward for a very well-fought bout, so this category of veteran is not to be despised.

It is less common for fighters in the top two ranks to be damnati ad gladium – those sentenced to die by the sword, who will never leave the ludus alive. However, there are plenty of damnati among the veterans. Such gladiators often win, because they fight like men who literally have nothing to lose.

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Gladiators…fear fighting no adversary more than one who has no chance of life, but who can still kill…a man who has no expectation of the missio will attack naked the same opponent he would otherwise flee from even if armed.

SENECA CONTROVERSIES 9.6

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The veterans of the arena have their own grading system, and it is one of which they are intensely proud. That is their count of appearances and victories. A man who has fought six times and won five, for example, counts himself superior to a man who has won two of his four bouts – although the quality of the opposition is also taken into account. A gladiator with a good number of victories will try to have the fact emblazoned on his tombstone.

This aspect of the gladiatorial scoring system has been taken up enthusiastically by the wider community. Before every appearance of gladiators in the arena, posters advertise who will compete and the number of their previous appearances and victories. Betting on gladiator fights is frowned upon by the authorities, but a gladiator’s previous form is one of the major factors that influence the odds in the betting on his survival or victory.

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Maximus, essedarius [a gladiator who fights from a chariot, see chapter V] from the Ludus Juliani. 40 combats, 36 victories.

VETERAN GLADIATOR’S SCORECARD ON A ROMAN INSCRIPTION. CIL 6.33952

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Tirones

These are the virgin gladiators, men under arms who have never yet had to fight for their lives in the arena. Even among these beginners there are distinctions.

At the top of the tiro tree are the auctorati, those who came into the school of their own volition – however little choice circumstance actually allowed them.

Then there are the damnati – who are themselves divided into the damnati ad gladium and the damnati ad ludos, since the latter have a chance of redemption (pp. 9−10). The auctorati will only see these groups at training, since they are true prisoners of the school – confined to barracks, or even locked in their cells at night.

Yet those damnati who will fight as individuals can still find someone else to look down on, namely the gregarii, those gladiators of so little value that they fight against each other in packs. The gregarii will in turn differentiate themselves into ‘civilized men’ and barbarians (the latter being probably prisoners of war).

Since even his adoring fans consider a primus palus beneath contempt, it is hard to imagine what a barbarian gregarius looks down on. Socially speaking, this is truly rock bottom. Yet even here, as the Stoic philosopher Seneca points out, valour in death can bring a degree of redemption and respect.

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One of the barbarians sank into his own throat a spear with which he was armed against his foes. ‘Why should I be armed and still wait for death and humiliation?’ he asked…And from this we learn that it can be more honourable to die than to kill.

SENECA LETTERS 7.26

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Of another barbarian fighter who committed suicide, Seneca comments in the same letter:

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We need not imagine only great men have the fortitude to break free from the chains of slavery. …Certainly this brave fellow was entitled to choose his death, but how gallantly he would have wielded a sword!

SENECA LETTERS 7.20 FF

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Diet

The motto of gladiator cookery is quantity over quality. Gladiators in training shovel an amazing amount of food through their systems. A lot of this gets burned off or turned into muscle, because, as newcomers are about to discover, there is no training regimen quite as strenuous as that which awaits them. ‘They exercise until they drop from fatigue, and then they eat to excess, prolonging their dinners until after midnight,’ remarks Galen, who has tended to a gladiator or two in his time.

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The gladiators are being prepared for a spectacle, so that their blood can sate the lust for cruelty of the onlookers. Their bodies are pumped up with stronger food, and the limbs are fortified with extra muscle and sinew – all so the man being fattened for the slaughter might die a harder death...

CYPRIAN LETTER TO DONATUS 7

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Some of the food gets turned into fat, which is no bad thing. An extra layer of fat acts as a cushion against bruising impacts, and increases the distance a blade has to go before it penetrates something vital. As well as shielding essential nerves and blood vessels, fatty tissue bleeds spectacularly when cut without affecting overall performance greatly. Thus an injured fighter can impress the audience by the heroism with which he battles on though bleeding like a stuck pig.

It’s a rare combat that lasts more than a half-hour – in fact, some can be less than a minute – so carrying the extra weight is not an issue (though eventual enfeeblement through blood loss certainly is). Nor do the Romans believe that being overweight is particularly unhealthy, and gladiators anyway face more urgent threats to their life expectancy.

Meat

Despite the vast amount of meat left over from the morning animal hunts, a gladiator’s diet is mainly vegetarian. This is because animal hunts, like gladiator fights, are relatively infrequent events, but gladiators eat and train all year round. However, when a gladiator does get to eat meat, this might include tiger steak and elephant-liver fricassee.

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[They – not just gladiators but some of the general public] dine on the flesh of animals from the arena…though that boar has just been wiped clean of the human blood he spilled, and that stag has wallowed in the blood of a gladiator. They seek the very stomachs of the bears while they are still warm with undigested human flesh.

TERTULLIAN APOLOGIA 9.11

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Barley

One of the main ingredients of the diet is barley, a none-too-subtle reminder of the gladiator’s status, since outside the ludus this grain is mainly fed to animals. Barley is nutritious, but its side effects include energetic bowel movements and flatulence, which adds a certain piquancy to the atmosphere of a gladiator barrack room on a winter’s night.

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Barley is amongst the oldest of human foods, and this is also shown by gladiators who, from their diet, were once called hordearii [barley-men].

PLINY THE ELDER NATURAL HISTORY 18.14

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Fruit and vegetables

Trainers are fully aware of the importance of a healthy diet for their charges, and while they might not know what vitamins are, they know that their gladiators do not perform well unless they get them. So expect vegetables on the menu, lots of them, and all as fresh as possible.

Bone ash and charred wood

Ash? Indeed. A diet high in carbohydrates and vegetables is low in calcium, and the ludus prefers fighters with sturdy bones that bend rather than snap. So the gladiators in training are fed a special brew that pushes their body calcium to levels that later archaeologists will call ‘exorbitant’.

So in a world where many people, even some free citizens outside the ludus, are dying of cold, malnutrition and lack of basic medical assistance, the gladiator-in-training has warm, secure quarters, medical care fit for an emperor (remember that Galen went on to become physician to Marcus Aurelius) and all the food he can eat. Yes, he has had to sell his body and soul to get it, but some consider the price to be worthwhile.

Training

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Give yourself up to your trainer as a patient does to his doctor. You may be thrown into a trench [as a corpse], or dislocate your shoulder, wrench an ankle, get stripes whipped across your back and eat dust by the bucket load.

EPICTETUS DISCOURSES 3.15

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There’s a reason why gladiators are Rome’s premier bodyguards, debt-collectors and enforcers. Simply it’s because no one, but no one, can fight like a gladiator. The legions have some formidable fighters in their number, but these men are trained as part of a unit, and have other skills equally valued by their generals, such as the ability to march long distances while carrying heavy loads. When it comes to individual mayhem on a one-to-one basis, the gladiator is basically unbeatable – except by another gladiator.

The reason for this lies in the training, which is long, hard and brutal. Before it begins, the magister might announce with relish that he expects a certain percentage of fatalities among his novices, and that he has not reached his quota yet. Instructors in similar circumstances have used such rhetoric from time immemorial, but here in the ludus it may be literally true. After all, the death of a gladiator in training is not going to raise any eyebrows in the wider world.

Bird’s-eye view of the Ludus Magnus, with the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) in the background. Note the training posts set up at one end of the arena. Roofing work in progress allows a view into some rooms. The steps from the entrance lead to the Via Labicana outside. (akg-images/Peter Connolly)

Stage 1

When he first comes to the school, the novice is evaluated by skilled assessors. It is vital to make a good impression here. Weaklings, either physical or mental, have no place in a gladiator school and staff will not waste time, food and expertise on someone who can’t stay the course. At worst, someone deemed otherwise useless might be paired against a promising gladiator in the arena. That’s training for the lad with potential – so that he gets used to lethal combat and learns to make his first kill.

Stage 2

This is the palus mentioned above – basically a wooden post stuck in the ground, at which a gladiator hacks for hour after hour. He wears a helmet and carries a shield heavier than the standard type, and his sword, though wooden, is carefully weighted so that it weighs twice as much as a normal sword.

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The use of the palus is invaluable in training both soldiers and gladiators. Neither the arena nor the battlefield has seen an unbeaten victor in armed combat who was not first thoroughly trained in this way.

VEGETIUS MILITARY MATTERS 1.11

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Perhaps oddly, given that gladiators live and die by the sword, access to actual cutting weapons is tightly restricted. Swords and suchlike are kept under lock and key, and not just because the authorities remember what happened when Spartacus and his crew got their hands on proper weaponry. Gladiators, especially the damnati, are not the most stable of individuals, and the fistfights, general initiations and bullying in the barracks don’t bear thinking about should sharp implements get thrown into the mix. The second stage of training has three basic purposes:

1 To teach the basic cuts and blocks every gladiator needs The human body has certain vulnerable points, and limited physical means of striking those points with a sword. Every attack has a defence, and offers potential for a counter-attack. Knowledge and smooth deployment of fighting techniques must become second nature.

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We can see that every move of a gladiator, either in a defensive parry or in a vigorous attack, is endowed with a kind of graceful fluidity, so that what is useful in combat also becomes attractive to behold.

CICERO ON THE ORATOR 228

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2 To build muscle As any Roman female is aware, gladiators are intensely physical creatures. Brute strength is a prized attribute. The average gladiator is several times stronger than a normal Roman simply because he does nothing but build muscle for hours on end every day while a normal Roman is making a living.

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After falling into the hands of a lanista, many with well-proportioned bodies become the opposite – hideously distorted creatures overloaded with flesh and blood after their muscles have been developed beyond measure.

GALEN THE STUDY OF THE ARTS 4

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Ornamental statuette of a gladiator wearing a fantastical helmet. So as to make this little decoration more stable, the sculptor has increased the ‘padding’ on the left leg to a wholly unrealistic degree. (British Museum, London)

As Galen well knows (and future excavations of gladiator graveyards will confirm), gladiator bodies are over-muscled to the point of deformity. This puts huge strains on joints and tendons, which will cause numerous physical complications in later life – a hazard that the gladiator gladly accepts in exchange for the prospect of actually having a later life.

3 Assessment for specialized training Up to this point the gladiator’s training has been unspecialized. Indeed, recruits to the legions undergo a similar course of weapons training. However, after the tiro has been working at the post for a period (which may last for several months), the magister will make an assessment as to the speciality to which he is best suited. In some schools, the tiro may be destined for a particular role – for example a particularly adept senior Thracian-style gladiator might get through a lot of his Samnite opponents, so a supply of Samnite recruits must be kept on tap.

In the better type of school, the tiro may be tried out in bouts against members of the various disciplines before being allocated to a particular doctor to become expert at a specific means of killing. It is at this point that a gladiator’s career may be said to have truly begun.

He who lives by the sword ends up on the sword. This Thracian gladiator, carved in bone, forms the handle for a blade. (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Codex Gladiorum

A private troupe of gladiators is generally referred to by the name of the owner. So, for example, Varro’s gladiators will be the familia gladiatoria Varronis.

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Equestrians were the second highest class in Roman society, yet it required a law in 122 BC to prevent them from hiring themselves to ludi as gladiators.

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A gladiator in Pompeii called himself Telephus after a legendary son of Hercules. As he survived to become a doctor at the ludus, perhaps his nom d’arena was well chosen.

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A good school will have a masseur or two to ease away the pain of post-training aches and bruises.

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This dedication describes a munus featuring a hunt (venatio), athletics and gifts (sparsiones) and announces awnings to shade the audience from the sun (vela). Locals might add their own pictorial contributions to such announcements. (From Fausto e Felice Niccolini, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompeii disegnati e descritti, 1854)