Gladiators
(Legion XXII members as Gladiators at Ft. Meigs)
The unit does from time to time host gladiatorial games for several events. This is something that several of the members do as a secondary impression. We are not a gladiator reenactment group, and we do not have full time gladiator members. However, if someone does wish to get involved as a gladiator the unit is more than willing to help the person out. Below is a brief history on gladiators and the different types of gladiators.
The origin of the gladiatorial games is not known for certain. There are two theories: that the Romans adopted gladiatorial fights from the Etruscans, and that the games came from Campania and Lucania. The evidence for the theory of Etruscan origin is a passage by the Greek writer Nicolaus of Damascus in the second half of the first century BCE describing the origins as Etruscan, an account by Isidore of Seville during the 600s relating the Latin word for gladiator manager, lanista, to the Etruscan word for "executioner", and also likeness of the Roman god of hell, Charon, who accompanied the executed bodies as they exited the arena, to the Etruscan god of death, also named Charon. The theory that the games developed from a Campanian and Lucanian tradition is supported by frescoes dating to the fourth century BCE depicting funeral games in which pair of gladiators fought to the death to commemorate the death of an important individual. However, the Campanians could also have adapted this tradition from the Greeks who could have introduced funeral games with human sacrifices to the area in the eighth century BCE. Regardless of the origin, the Romans adopted the tradition of funeral games to display important people's status and power.
The earliest known gladiatorial games were held in 310 BC by the Campanians (Livy 9.40.17). These games re-enacted the Campanians' military success over the Samnites.
The first recorded Roman gladiatorial combats took place in Rome in 264 BC, at the start of the First Punic War against Carthage. Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus staged it in honour of his dead father Brutus Pera. It was held between three pairs of slaves chosen from among 22 prisoners of war, and held in the cattle market (Forum Boarium). The ceremony was called a munus or “duty paid to a dead ancestor by his descendants, with the intention of keeping alive his memory” (Baker, Gladiator 10). Roman aristocrats soon took up the practice as an alternative to the earlier custom of sacrificing prisoners on the graves of warriors, with events being held for notable people and repeated every one to five years after the person’s death.
These games became popular throughout the Empire and were especially popular in Greece. So popular that there are many records of people in towns where prominent citizens died virtually extorting promises of gladiatorial games from the survivors. The aristocracy also began to compete in having the best games so that whereas the sons of Brutus Pera offered three matches, a century later, Titus Flamininus offered 74 matches lasting three days for his father's funeral and by the passing of yet another century Julius Caesar promised 320 matches for his daughter, Julia. As a result the emperors eventually had to regulate how much could be spent on gladiatorial performances to prevent members of the elite from bankrupting themselves.
Gradually, as the connection to funerals faded in the late second century BC, the funeral games gradually transformed into public performances. Julius Caesar eventually owned so many gladiators that the Senate, fearing the use such a "private army" could be put to, passed a law limiting private citizens to owning no more than 640 gladiators. The moment when a true split from the funeral backdrop occurred was after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Bad omens plagued the city and the games were seen as a method to please the gods and save Rome. During the first century A.D., giving games even became a requirement of some public offices.
Over time the games had became integrated ever more into the Imperial cult through games financed by the state or by the Emperors as a means to get public approval, and especially so in the provincial towns. After Caesars' death a clear distinction between games organized by public officials (ludi) and those held by private citizens (munera) was set. Although it was still possible for private citizens to organise their own gladiatorial games, Augustus decreed that they could use no more than 120 gladiators and the days on which such private games could be organised were limited: from December 2 to December 8, during the Saturnalia from December 17 to December 23 (the Winter solstice), and between March 19 and March 23 for the Spring celebration of Quinquatria.
Types:
- Andabatae: (1st cent. BC) Clad in chainmail like eastern cavalry (cataphracti), wore visored helmets without eye holes. They charged blindly at one another on horseback as an ancient precursor to the medieval joust.
- Bestiarii: (beast fighters) originally armed with a spear or knife, these gladiators were condemned to fight beasts with a high probability of death. In later times, the Bestiarii were highly trained, specializing in various types of exotic, imported beasts.
- Dimachaeri: Used two-swords, one in each hand.
- Equites: Fought on horseback with a spear and gladius, dressed in a full tunic, with a manica (arm-guard). Generally, the Eques only fought gladiators of his own type.
- Essedari: Celtic style charioteers, likely first brought to Rome from Britain by Caesar.
- Hoplomachi (heavily armed) or Samnite: Fully armored, and based on Greek hoplites. They wore a helmet with a stylized griffin on the crest, woollen quilted leg wrappings, and shin-guards. They carried a spear in the Hoplite style with a small round shield. They were paired against Mirmillones or Thraces.
- Laquerii: Laqueatores used a rope and noose.
- Mirmillones (or murmillones): Wore a helmet with a stylized fish on the crest (the mormylos or sea fish), as well as an arm guard (manica). They carried a gladius and an oblong shield in the Gallic style. They were paired with Hoplomachi or Thraces.
- Provocatores (challengers): Paired against the Samnites but their armament is unknown and may have been variable depending on the games.
- Retiarii: Carried a trident, a dagger, and a net, a larger manica extending to the shoulder and left side of the chest. They commonly fought secutores or mirmillones. Occasionally a metal shoulder shield, or galerus, was added to protect the neck and lower face.
- Saggitarii: Mounted bowman armed with reflex bows capable of propelling an arrow a great distance.
- Samnites: see Hoplomachi.
- Secutores: Had the same armour as a murmillo, including oblong shield and a gladius. They were the usual opponents of retiarii.
- Scissores (carvers): Little is known about this ominous sounding gladiator.
- Thraces: The Thracian was equipped with a broad-rimmed helmet that enclosed the entire head, a small round or square-shaped shield, and two thigh-length greaves. His weapon was the Thracian curved sword, or the sica. They commonly fought mirmillones or hoplomachi.
- Velites: Fought on foot, each holding a spear with attached thong in strap for throwing. Named for the early Republican army units of the same name.
- Venatores: Specialized in wild animal hunts. Technically not gladiators but still a part of the games.
Sources
· http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-gladiators.php ,August 15, 2008· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator , August 15, 2008
