Gladiators Essay

Roman gladiators are often recalled when thinking of the Roman civilization for several reasons, including the extreme brutality of the gladiatorial games that took place. These games took place at funerals and ceremonies, as an offering of blood.

All gladiators were slaves, prisoners or war, or volunteers recruited to be trained at a gladiator school. The goal of gladiator schools was to produce strong, fighting specimens. The schools mimicked prisons with shackles and cells but they had the best medical care possible and food meant to build muscle and energy. Doctors checked the trainees for medical problems and for their physical suitability before they were sent to be trained. Initial training was overseen by doctores, who were former gladiators with knowledge of the weapons. In this portion of training, training was held in the ludus, which is the training area modeled after the arena. The gladiators were taught different techniques for fighting. A wooden pole, the palus, in the arena was used as a target to practice different moves with the sword. A shield and dummy were also a popular form of training. The dummy was suspended from a swinging pole and the goal of the gladiator was to avoid the rotating arms of the dummy. Gladiators used heavier weapons than they would typically use to build stamina and strength. A large part of the training process was to teach the gladiators how to die gracefully and with honor. They had to die bravely with no fear, which required them to offer themselves to murder. Through the training, gladiators gained respect and honor. There were several advantages to being a gladiator: shelter, meals, medical care, fame, and the opportunity to win money and goods. However, gladiators were at the bo...

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...members of the Flavian Dynasty, dedicated by Emporer Titus. The Colosseum could hold 45,000 people sitting and 5,00 standing. Beneath the floors were passage ways by which stage effects were raised into the arena.

Politicians began sponsoring the games, making these politicians more prestigious and stronger leaders. The sponsorship of the games started to become expected of rising politicians as the games grew to be larger and a bigger part of the Roman culture. The upper class began to question the morality of the games and it’s excessive brutality and began to stop attending the games. The games became less and less popular as more people realized it was spiritually harmful to participate in such activities. Many Romans began to realize that these games could be thought of as a form of human sacrifice that was not condones in the evolving society.