"Rome Wasn't Built in a Day"- The Gladiators

“Rome wasn’t built in a Day” 
(Great Things take time)

 - The Gladiators -

  By Suryatej Vakkalanka

“Of the thousands of men who ended up in the arena, the vast majority were either prisoners of war, criminals, or slaves.” As the Roman Empire grew through battle, defeated captives were forced to fight in the Colosseum. After they entered Rome, the foreigners were auctioned off to be slaves. The biggest and strongest were sent to gladiator schools to be trained as gladiators. The Emperor flashed a thumbs-up if a fighter earned his freedom, although a gladiator had to wait for the occasional thumbs-down to kill another unlucky gladiator. Although criminals, slaves, and captives were forced to be gladiators, it was amazing to think ordinary people volunteered to be gladiators. Citizens did this because, if anybody fought as a gladiator honorably enough, they would receive a ‘rudius’, a wooden baton. It was considered an honorable award, and the fighter could get loads of money if he came back after he received the rudius. Occasionally a nobleman would dare to fight in the Colosseum. This would make the audience go crazy, but it was shameful to his fellow nobles. The only thing that was more bizarre was when an emperor fought in the Gladiator. Their opponents were treated badly before the battle, even drugged. The Emperor Commodus even paid himself 1,000,000 sesterces for each battle he participated in. Later, because of christianity growing in Rome, Emperor Constantine ended gladiator games in 404 B.C.. Today, there are representations of Gladiator fights in illegal chicken fights and robot fights.

The Retiarius is one of “The most readily identifiable of all the gladiators…” (Suetonius,) who is depicted to like like a fisherman. Until 100 A.D., there were no official records about this particular gladiator. The Retiarius became popular when he started to fight the Secutor, becoming one of the common pairs of gladiator history. The Retiarius was a unique type of gladiator because he was ocean-themed, and other Gladiators’ origins were elsewhere. His trident was used as his primary weapon, and his net was used to capture the enemy. A dagger was his secondary weapon, used in an emergency. The Retiarius’ armor consisted only of a loincloth as his main garment, and a metal shoulder-guard as his armor.

Known as the most heavily harmed gladiator, the Crupellarius originated from Gaul. Like the Retiarius, the Crupellarius was first mentioned in 100 A.D.. The crupellarius wore a bucket-like helmet, finished off with a lightweight sword and a rounded rectangle-shaped shield. As described by the historian Tacitus, the Gallic gladiators fought against the Roman legionaries. They were “slaves training to be gladiators. Completely encased in iron...crupellarii, as they were called, were too clumsy for offensive purposes but impregnable in defense...Romans used axes and mattocks and struck at their plating...Others knocked down the immobile gladiators with poles or pitchforks…”.    

The Murmillo got his name from the Greek word for a type of fish, as many modern sources indicated. Quintilian recorded a Retiarius addressing a Murmillo by saying “It’s not you I’m after, it’s your fish; why are you running away from me, Gaul?” The fish he was talking about was the one on a Murmillos’ typical helmet. Other than that, the helmet’s features included a high angular crust and broad curved brim. The Murmillo and Secutor shared the same loincloth clothing, right arm and left leg pads, straight sword, and curved rectangular shield.