Gladiator

A badly-wounded gladiator is not normally put down as though he were an injured animal, though an exception may be made for an individual past saving who has been sentenced to die by the sword in any case. But – assuming he has won his fight or received a missio – any other mortally-wounded gladiator will receive the same degree of palliative care as a legionary might expect in similar circumstances. This may give a dying gladiator the chance to say goodbye to his loved ones and check that his dues to his funeral club are paid up to date.

Consequently, for a gladiator to awaken in the Saniarum after a bout is by no means the worse thing that can happen. For a start, the best medical care in the empire is now available to assist with his recovery. Secondly, the fact that he was not finished off by Charun’s hammer in the arena while unconscious suggests that the gladiator has at least a fighting chance of recovery. Thirdly, it means that he either won his bout, or acquitted himself with enough distinction that the crowd voted for him to live. To all these reasons for optimism can be added the healthy satisfaction of having beaten the odds yet again.

As a very rough guide, the chances of an average gladiator coming out of a fight alive are about five to one in his favour. As an average gladiator will fight two or three times a year, he can expect to be dead two years into his contract. Therefore, paradoxical as it may seem, the longer a gladiator has been fighting, the better his chances of survival. This is because there is in fact no such thing as an ‘average’ gladiator. Every gladiator is an individual, and his personal chances depend on his circumstances, his skill, and above all, his luck.

To the departed spirit of Urbicus, a primus palus secutor…who lived 22 years and fought 13 times. To a well-deserving husband from Laurica, his wife of seven years, and also from Olympias the five-month-old daughter he left behind, and her [slave?] Fortunensis. Take this warning, and kill whom you vanquish, and may his fans cherish his departed spirit.

The truly endangered species is Gladiator Tironis, those taking their first steps into the game. A lot depends on where and when they fight, but at a rough estimate slightly over half of all beginners fail to make it through their first year. (Though, as they say, your first fight may be dangerous, but your last fight is the one that gets you.) No one really keeps score of survival averages, and wandering through a gladiator cemetery doesn’t tell the full story, because it is the more durable class of gladiator who picks up enough money to afford a tombstone, and dependents who care enough to raise one.

The funeral stele of Urbicus (translated above). The inference appears to be that Urbicus passed up the chance to kill an opponent in a fight – but the favour was not returned in a later rematch. (Sezione epigrafica delle Civiche Raccolte Archeologiche e Numismatiche, Milan)

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To the departed spirit of Marcus Antonius Niger, veteran Thracian[-style gladiator] who fought 18 times and lived 38 years. Flavia Diogenes made this monument for her well-deserving husband at her own expense.

GLADIATOR TOMBSTONE ILS 5090 ROME

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The sweet palm of victory. The Thracian Satornius of Smyrna looks excusably smug as he watches the tips from the audience pile up after a winning bout. (Museum van Oudheden, Leiden)

Things were better 100 years ago, when the Augustan decrees forbade combats to the death, and fights with edged weapons were relatively rare. These days, with the crowd ever more thirsty for extravagant fights and bloodshed, mortality rates are higher. All of the following factors affect an individual’s chances:

Frequency The more often a gladiator fights, the more he is at risk. Fighting at frequent intervals causes considerable psychological and emotional stress, and too many appearances in quick succession mean that a gladiator loses the essential edge that might make the difference between life and death.

Infrequency A gladiator who has not fought for a while is just as much at risk against an in-form gladiator as one who has fought once too often.

Popularity If a gladiator loses his fight, his chances of survival drop dramatically – and that’s assuming he lasts long enough to throw himself on the mercy of the crowd. His best bet is to make the spectators believe he has fought well enough to provide more entertainment in a future engagement.

The authorities A man sentenced to die by the sword will so die, and the odds against him will rise as his ‘use by’ date approaches. However, there’s no appeal and little chance if a lanista has decided, for whatever reason, that any particular gladiator is better off dead. (For example, if the lanista has been paid off by an influential husband who has found out about his wife’s late-night training sessions.)

Fortuna and Nemesis Above all, the opinion of these two ladies is paramount. Not for nothing do gladiators revere Fortune and Fate. Every fighter has at some time gambled on a feint, made a lucky guess as to an opponent’s intentions, or made a wild parry that somehow blocked a fatal blow. You’ll find statues to these two goddesses at many training schools and arenas, and with good reason.

The goddess Fortuna, known to later generations as Lady Luck. A wise gladiator will visit her temple frequently. (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples)

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To the spirits of the departed, Glauco of Mutina fought seven times, and perished on the eighth. He lived 23 years and five days. Aurelia and those who loved him set this [memorial] up to her well-deserving husband. Find your own fortune, and do not trust Nemesis, for that is how I was fooled.

GLADIATOR TOMBSTONE CIL 5.3466

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Most gladiators will, sooner or later, die on the sand. There are two ways to avoid this:

• The easiest – though it is far from easy – is simply to fight through until the completion of service, and obtain the rudis, the wooden sword that tells the world that a gladiator has completed the terms of his contract and can retire from the arena.

• Or (and this is in the hands of Fortuna), a gladiator may receive a wound debilitating enough to prevent him fighting further, yet which is not lethal. It is to prevent this very eventuality that most gladiators are armoured for protection against all but lethal wounds.

A medicus patches up a thigh wound. The patient endures the treatment more stoically than his son. (From Victor Duruy, History of Rome and the Roman People, vols I–V, London, 1884)

This mosaic reminds us that the average gladiator’s pension plan may need to be switched to a funeral fund at a moment’s notice. (Römermuseum, Augst)

A gladiator who has been hard hit, yet survives, will get the best physiotherapy available, with the hope that he can be presented again in the arena. Even a slightly crippled gladiator of no renown might find himself back fighting with the gregarii, those low-class gladiators who fight in packs. A famous gladiator who can fight no more might find himself a place in the school as a doctor, instructing trainees – not least in how to avoid the mistake which ultimately got him stabbed. Occasionally there may be a rare gladiator who is, for example, badly wounded in the shoulder of his sword arm. If he is a relative beginner yet has enough money from tips from the crowd, or even as a gift from the emperor as reward for a well-fought fight, he may be able to purchase a release from his contract.

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Asiaticus, primus palus, released after 53 victories …

CIL 12.5837

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What next?

A gladiator who has been released by the ludus has to make a number of adjustments. A veteran might need to spend some time becoming de-institutionalized. Brutal and spartan as the ludus is, life there has compensations. A gladiator does not have to worry where the next meal is coming from, or who will provide heating for his room and clothing for his back. Yet if he has planned well, the veteran has a wife, and perhaps a family, waiting for him, and a clear plan in mind for what happens next.

Immediate steps

It is highly unlikely that a gladiator who has survived until retirement will be allowed to slip unremarked from the life of the ludus. Such a man is an iconic figure to the younger gladiators, an example they can aspire to emulate. Expect the lanista to put on some form of ceremony for the retiree, with as imposing a high-ranking figure as his contacts can arrange to present the rudis in as public a ceremony as possible. Industrial quantities of alcohol may be consumed.

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Four brothers pleaded with [the emperor] Claudius for the discharge of their father, an essedarius [chariot fighter]. To huge public applause, Claudius presented the man with the customary wooden sword.

SUETONIUS LIFE OF CLAUDIUS 21

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As soon as he is able once more to walk in a straight line, the retiring gladiator is well-advised to head for a temple, perhaps the Pantheon on the edge of the Campus Martius, and there give thanks to the gods for his survival. Pay particular attention to Nemesis, for though the hazards of the arena are past, life in Rome can never be taken for granted, and fate’s handmaiden requires her due.

With these wise precautions taken, the ex-gladiator can enjoy the novel sensation of actually expecting to survive for the next few years.

Career options

A gladiator, retired or not, is an infamis, a person of low repute, and will remain so until he dies. The stain of infamia restricts many of his public rights, though he retains the legal safeguards of a private individual. Thus he can act for himself in business or in the courts, but doing so on another’s behalf is frowned on in the first instance and strictly forbidden in the latter. Going into politics is out of the question. Interestingly, a gladiator becomes infamis as soon as he takes money to appear in a fight. Just as men and women can take a string of lovers and avoid infamia right up to the moment they are paid for their services, a gladiator loses his right to respectability the moment he prostitutes his fighting skills. On top of legal restrictions, an ex-gladiator’s career options are limited by the applications to which his highly specialized skills can be turned.

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Beryllus…a Greek, freed after his 20th combat…

GLADIATOR TOMBSTONE CIL 12.3323

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Bodyguard There’s nothing like having a recognized killer standing at one’s shoulder to keep the opposite parties coolly rational during a tense business negotiation, so gladiators, both retired and off-duty, are prime candidates for this role. A retired gladiator is a better choice for a wealthy Roman travelling abroad, especially for journeys through bandit-infested country, or simply along roads where the local yokels might consider an unescorted traveller fair game. While their general disposition and training make gladiators a poor choice for a military career (and the legions would turn up their noses at an infamis anyway), a gladiator is truly formidable at less organized types of mayhem, and we have seen that at least one commander has used his personal gladiators to keep unruly legionaries in check.

However, as we have seen, in the Republic, gladiatorial bodyguards could be found even in the forum in Rome.

Trainer As mentioned, a ludus might like to keep a veteran gladiator within the familia, because he is both an example and an inspiration to younger gladiators. Not only is the retiree living proof that it is possible to survive one’s contract, but also the man might be persuaded to pass on some tips as to how others might achieve his status. Whether he takes a place at the ludus depends on what other options are available and how well he gets on with the lanista. There is, in fact, no reason why a gladiator cannot go on to become a lanista in his turn, though they are, if anything, regarded with even more contempt than gladiators.

Freelance Oddly enough, not all ex-gladiators want to be shot of the arena. Sometimes the draw of gladiatorial combat is just as strong for those who fight as it is to the crowds who watch. It is hard for one who has been the darling of cheering crowds to drop into quiet obscurity, while for others it is simply an urge to again feel as intensely alive as only a person in mortal danger can. Further, there is the fact that gladiators are not particularly good money managers, and even those who swore never to pick up a sword again are sometimes faced with the choice of dying insolvent or killing someone else as a wealthy man. Editores putting on a show may consider spectacular sums well-spent if they can get a famous name back on to the sand once more, and gladiators with nothing but their names and their blood to sell are sometimes happy to make the trade.

Business If a gladiator has hoarded his winning bonuses and wisely invested his tips from the crowd after each bout, he might have a handy nest egg to put into a small business. It helps that commerce in Rome can be a rough affair, in which violence and intimidation are far from unknown. The right businessman may well excuse a lack of business acumen or contacts if someone can bring to the partnership both financial assets and an ability to cope with any rough stuff. In some trades, such as innkeeping, a sufficiently famous gladiator might be required to do little more than occupy a seat and let people buy him drinks in exchange for a yarn or two.

However, apart from the risk to his liver, a retiree must remember that fame is fleeting with the fickle Roman public, and the hero of the arena just a few years ago can now walk unremarked down to the market. Best, then, to use the few years of one’s fame as the foundation to build a solid business that can stand on its own merits.

In years to come no one may remember how the owner of a prosperous tavern on the lower slopes of the Caelian Hill acquired the wooden sword that hangs over his door. Nor will they understand why, when the shouting of the crowd at the Colosseum is carried by the wind up the valley, the old man smiles ruefully and touches the wound that withered his arm. Only he will remember what it was like to walk the sands of the arena and fight for his life as a gladiator of Rome.

It’s Verus, back from Rome! So how did you spend your years in the big city? (From Victor Duruy, History of Rome and the Roman People, vols I–V, London, 1884)

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To the departed spirit of Alkibiades, dearest son…his devoted parents raised this memorial… (Side A) To the departed spirit of Julia Procula, well-deserving wife, Gaesus, veteran murmillo, has made this memorial. (Side B)

TOMBSTONE CIL 6.10176

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Codex Gladiorum

Inscriptions from Trajan’s time suggest that some gladiators appeared at the Colosseum for multiple successive fights during the victory games after the Dacian wars.

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The last gladiator fights at the Colosseum were in the AD 430s.

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Animal hunts at the Colosseum continued up to and beyond the end of the Roman empire in the west.

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In the 12th century the Colosseum was the family fortress of Rome’s Frangipane clan.

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In the 13th century the Colosseum was damaged by a strong earthquake.

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During the 15th century the Colosseum was used as a stone quarry by locals – and indeed most of the structural damage by earth tremors is minor compared to human activity.

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In the 16th century the Pope (Sixtus V) considered demolishing the building altogether.

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The Colosseum survived because in the 17th century it was believed Christians were martyred there, though there is no evidence that this ever happened.

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The papal Good Friday procession starts beside the Colosseum.

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From the 18th century onwards, there have been systematic efforts to restore the building.

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Today, to show their opposition to the death penalty, the Italian authorities turn the lighting of the Colosseum at night from white to gold whenever a prisoner anywhere in the world is reprieved from death row.