Death of the Gladiator Perhaps one of the most ambiguous characters throughout Roman society was the hated yet beloved gladiator. Courageous and daring, the gladiators of ancient Rome risked their lives every time they stepped into the amphitheater. Through daring fights, these men won glory and the admiration of thousands through their courageous fighting and skillful tactics. Although the popular presumption from movies such as Gladiator is that becoming a gladiator amounted to a death sentence, this profession did not automatically make them dead men walking. Two scholars Fik Meijer, author of The Gladiators: History’s Most Deadly Sport, and Mary Beard, author of The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found, project general age ranges …show more content…
, Argued most strongly by Susanna Shadrake, the historian uses research on skeletal remains to confirm that medical treatment was both accessible and progressive to the gladiators, also that these athletes had good diets. Other scholars such as Alan Baker note that some gladiators were skillfully trained, and these performances put on by them contributed to lower fatality rates. However, common perceptions that have developed over time, and the work of Michael Poliakoff, have come to depict gladiator battles as gory atrocities. The viewpoint has remained popular that gladiators barely had a chance at survival with few exceptions. However, these trained athletes were valuable commodities, given great medical care, and good meals, thus they did not always have a high fatality rate. This essay will focus on common perceptions of gladiator games, and analyze graffiti and dipinti related to gladiators from Pompeii as well as other cities of the Roman Empire, grave epitaphs, skeletal remains, and the works of numerous scholars to shed light on whether being a …show more content…
Especially for those gladiators who were popular and loved, the citizens could chant for their lives to be saved. The emperor, or lictor (sponsor of the game), had the final say in the matter of life or death of the fighter. Yet if the gladiator was loved most were granted their lives by the sponsor of the game, called a missio or mission. Most evident of these accounts for missios and battle statistics are located in dipinti and graffiti. From these one may note how grim or victorious gladiators were in the arena. As Fik Meijer notes in The Gladiator, while some fighters performed very often, one may assume each gladiator fought between two to three fights per year. This statistic is based on recovery time from injuries, and the fact that there would have been a mix of different gladiators, as to not bore the crowd. Meijer also asserts there was a group who lived over thirty years old whom were exceptionally skilled. However, if one were to show the utmost courage in the arena, missios were usually granted. Thus, in the context of these statistics one may assume with the right care and training, most gladiators would be able to survive these few fights per year. To a certain extent, the scholar Mary Beard in her novel The Fires of Vesuvius agrees and confounds Meijer’s thesis. Beard first concurs with Meijer that gladiators would fight about two to three shows a
The story of Gladiator takes place in Ancient Rome and contains intense action, great acting, and fantastic storytelling. Although most of this action drama is mostly fictitious, some certain events and characters appear in the history books.
Scott’s film, Gladiator, contains an inherent meaning or theme, not connected to any other films or literature. Scott’s film explains everything that the viewer needs, within the movie itself. This allows the viewer to watch and understand the film with no extra or background information. Although background information, helps the viewer understand the circumstances in the film, it is not needed to understand the meaning or theme. Scott’s film, portrays a theme of the greatness of man, and freedom. Forced into slavery, as a gladiator, maximus, must fight for not only his life but his beliefs. Once a great hero, Maximus, must fight and kill, to rise once again, and enact his revenge. Maximus’ character reveals this heroic nature, through his actions, and thoughts. The viewer sees and understands this, without the need of background information. ...
Along with movie stars and musicians, athletes are arguably the most famous people to walk the planet. Most people think that athletes have become idols just recently but this is not the case. The first famed athletes can be traced back to Rome, these athletes being the gladiators. Now by watching movies or reading stories about gladiators it is easy to fall to the stereotype that pits them as bloodthirsty humans who kill for fun. This belief is mostly false and it is easy to forget where the gladiators came from. Most of them were forced to fight and did not do it for fun. The gladiators trained hard in order to perform well in hopes to finally win their freedom after a successful career. The gladiator games are misunderstood so it is now time to learn the truth about the famed gladiators.
"Gladiator", comes from the latin word "gladius", for sword. They were primarily made up of slaves, criminals, prisoners of war or even volunteer free men. The crimes that could lead one to the arena included treason, robbery, and murder, among others. Some free men became gladiators of their own free will in hopes of gaining notoriety and patronage amongst the wealthy citizens. By the end of 50 BC almost half of the gladiators fighting in the Colosseum were free men.
Training was hard for these great warriors, they often trained at special gladiator schools, the largest of which was connected to the great Coliseum by underground passages. Here they learned how to fight skillfully with swords, daggers, nets, chains, and an...
sent to the gladiatorial schools to become a gladiator, criminals thought twice before commiting a
After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to Aristotle, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude”(Kwheeler). In order for someone to be considered a tragic hero, the person must meet the criteria of high social status, suffer from a hamartia, face a catastrophe, invoke catharsis, and experience anagnorisis and peripeteia(Kwheeler).
Throughout the history of the Republic, there was a difference between the gladiatorial contests and other forms of spectacular entertainment. The Romans did not invent the concept of gladiatorial fighting; there is some uncertainty as to the exact source. One ancient source says it was the Etruscans, a non-Indo-European people who lived directly north of the Romans.
The first chapter of Strauss’ work, titled “The Gladiator”, explores both Spartacus’ background as a gladiator and Rome’s fascination with the sport. Strauss outlines how a gladiator match worked in Rome, usually in carefully chosen pairs starting with a practice match with wooden weapons followed by the real officiated match that was generally to the death unless the crowd decided that the wounded deserved to live. The attention is then turned to where the Spartacus legend begins, Capua. Strauss gives a sweeping view of Capua’s history in the Roman Empire, from being punished for allying itself with Hannibal to returning to some prominence as a slave center, in particular for gladiators. Gladiators were usually slaves, and much like Spartacus, were foreign. Spartacus was a Thracian, feared by Romans for their fierceness on hors...
It is said that the Romans were known for their honor and glory as a reflection of the society they lived in. This may perhaps explain why the gladiator games were popular to the citizens, because the Romans enjoyed observing these characteristics throughout the battles. Most of the time the contestants were slaves, these individuals were bought and traded at the coliseum with the intentions of battling in these games until their death. Soldiers that were captured at the end of a battle were chained to one another as they marched hundreds of miles back to Rome.... ... middle of paper ...
But Gladiators competed much differently than professional athletes do today. Gladiators were forced to fight for the entertainment of others and were considered slaves. (“The Roman Gladiator”). Gladiators did not just fight for friendly sport either, they had to fight to the death. This made the gladiatorial games so exciting for the people watching.
Gladiator (2000) is an action drama about a Roman general that is betrayed by his country and is forced to fight in the Colosseum. This particular scene, which runs for approximately 5 minutes, is the aftermath of the fight scene between Maximus, the betrayed general, and Commodus, the jealous emperor who betrayed him. This scene is not only significant because it is the concluding scene of the film, but also because it represents the end of Maximus’s enslavement and his coming to peace with dying.
Gladiators were combatants equipped for arena battles. These battles were against other soldiers, conquered enemies, slaves, and criminals. Even wild beasts were added to be part of the bloody spectacle. Gladiators were a source of entertainment for Roman crowds, politicians and nobility at the Coliseum. It was the Roman equivalent to a Packer game at Lambeau field. A few gladiators were volunteers, but most were detested as slaves. Regardless of where they came from, gladiators allowed spectators to see an example of Rome 's military principles and, how to die an honorable death. The origin of gladiator combat is unclear, evidence supports that it became an important attribute of politics
The ancient Roman Masterpiece, The Dying Gaul (also known as The Dying Gladiator) symbolizes more than just heroism; it represents stressful situations and events that soldiers went through whilst dealing with an opposing army. The sculpture is well known for its realistic depiction of human emotions and for capturing sentiments displayed in the battlefield.
The expectancy theory proposes an individual will behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to what they expect the result of that selected behavior will be. In essence, the motivation of the behavior selection is determined by how much one desires the outcome to be. This is shown when Maximus is initially recognized as a supreme gladiator by his owner Proximo, the man who taught him how to fight as a gladiator. Proximo took great interest in Maximus’ abilities and encourages him to go to the Roman Coliseum to fight for his freedom. Proximo advises him that if he is able to “win the crowd”, he will earn their respect and eventually his freedom. Performance to Outcome poses the question on whether success will lead to reward. The reward in this case would be after successfully winning battles, and the crowds’ favor, Maximus would gain his freedom and seize his opportunity to kill Commodus. Maximus’ strong desire of vengeance for the murder of his family drives him to win every battle he comes up against. Infuriated by Maximus’ success, Commodus sets up a fixed fight between Maximus and Tigris of Gaul, the undefeated gladiator. Maximus prevails in the battle and against Commodus’ orders, spares Tigris’ life. Maximus’ defiance of the emperor and mercy to Tigris made him more popular to the crowd than even Commodus