The roman Gladiators

Filed in archive Roman history on June 16, 2010

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The word gladiator derives from latin word 'gladius', 'a sword' , a gladiator was a professional fighter in the arena of Roman amphitheater, against either another gladiator or the wild beast. The custom of giving gladiatorial exhibitions seems to have been borrowed from Etruria, where slaves and prisoners were sanctioned on the tombs of illustrious chieftains. At Rome the gladiatorial contests took place at first at funerals only, but afterwords in the amphitheater; and in the process of time they lost the traces of religious character, and came to be a common form of amusement. The first show of the kind that we read in Roman history was one between three pairs of roman history gladiators, arranged by Marcus and Decius Brutus on the death of their father in 264 BC, the fashion rapidly gained ground, especially during the last days of the republic, and as it did so it became customary for magistrates, public officers and candidates for the popular suffrage to give gratuitous gladiatorial exhibitions to the people. But the emperors exceeded all others in the extent and magnificence of these spectacles.