Gladiators and gladiator fights: a look into the past

For the general public story Ancient Rome, since school, has been associated with gladiators and gladiatorial battles. Hollywood has undoubtedly left its mark on the understanding of the essence of the "institute" of gladiators. Contributed to the perception of gladiatorial duels and other areas of mass culture, including classical music. To what extent did the images of gladiators, created by the masters of cinema, writers and composers of modern times, correspond to the real ancient Roman gladiators - "sword-bearers"?

Gladiator fights began to gain popularity long before the onset of a new era. Even in the second century BC, the battles of gladiators in Rome began to acquire the character of truly mass spectacles. At the same time, for the then public, such spectacles, despite their frank cruelty, had a connotation, first of all, of fun. If today people allow themselves to relax, for example, in stadiums or in concert halls, then for the Romans amphitheaters were such a resting place, where performances, as they say, were not for the faint of heart. But the average Roman man in the street 2 thousand years ago cannot be called faint of heart either.

The historical magazine Proshloe tells about gladiators, gladiatorial battles and their features:

Comments

[Far B]

To be fair, I associate Ancient Rome from the school curriculum not at all with gladiators. And with surprise - How from such a spit, which was Rome in 510 BC, in five hundred years (and in fact, less - the Romans still had to deal with the Veii for a long time, with their fellow Latins, and Brennus with his "woe to the vanquished "much later was) such a huge empire has grown ?!
And gladiator fights - they were different in different periods. At first, when the prisoners were simply forced to fight, they didn’t care that everyone would kill each other. Enemies all the same. And then, when they put the case on professional rails, they began to take care of the gladiator carcasses. For it is expensive.

[Pilat2009]

Quote: Dalny V

as from such a spit, which was Rome in 510 BC, in five hundred years (and in fact, less - the Romans still had to deal with the Veii for a long time, with their fellow Latins, and Brennus with his "grief defeated "much later was) such a huge empire has grown ?!

Rome grew while there was a republican form of government. When the emperor began to rule, degradation began. Rarely was an emperor worthy and capable, and after him, the citizens began to decay. Rome, which fielded 200 thousand army could not find soldiers. It got to the point that the army was hired and consisted of barbarians who safely and overthrew the last emperor. In a word, the disintegration of the state begins with the elite, history gives many examples of this, including the Russian Empire and the USSR

[Glory1974]

Rome grew while there was a republican form of government. When the emperor began to rule, degradation began

Rome had both a royal and an imperial period. Under the republic, he had no less problems than under other forms of government, including the struggle for power. The question is debatable. But in modern history, this is undoubtedly one of the most powerful empires with a reasonable state structure.

[Egoza]

Quote: Dalny V

And gladiator fights - they were different in different periods

And in the ballet "Spartacus" different variants of gladiator fights are very colorfully presented. And this was done based on historical descriptions.

[Babay Atasovich]

they put the case on professional rails - here they began to take care of the gladiator carcasses. For it is expensive.

Along the way, then negotiated battles were born!

[riwas]

Gladiator fights are not a bloody sport. These are bloody spectacles. To this end, it was not uncommon to put up a strong gladiator against a weak one, since the fight of equals is not so interesting. For the same reason, female gladiators took part in the battles. And there were also just murders against the backdrop of the scenery of unarmed people, including women and children: they were given up to be torn apart by wild animals, and this practice existed long before the appearance of the first Christians, or according to a certain scenario, it was done by armed soldiers. The wounded people were finished off with a hammer by a special man dressed in a carrier suit across the Styx River. The ancient version of the consumer society is "bread and circuses".

[nikvic46]

The desire of today's historians to surprise, as well as latently say, they say, what you were taught before is all nonsense; very high. Among the slaves there were wealthy people. But at the same time they forget to say that they were forbidden to have families. The desire to have slaves stretched until the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Mamluks are also slaves. And among them there were very noble people with truncated everyday laws. they did not disdain to buy even European countries. Any post is not history, but only my opinion on history. And of course I may be wrong about something. I need to listen to serious historians.

[Engineer]

Oh, Kozlenko
Klim Zhukov is a healthy person.
I would like to see him as a permanent contributor to VO