Female Gladiators Analysis

The article, “Female Gladiators of the Ancient Roman World” is an article by Steven Murray that was published by the Journal of Combative Sport in July 2003 . It features several pictures from the Museum of London and the British Museum of evidence of female gladiators in the Roman world. The article itself is based on the exhumation of a female gladiator’s gravesite in what had once been Roman London and circles around the evidence of female gladiators in the Roman Empire. The reason for the author writing this article is to provide sources that “presents the evidence of female gladiators” in Rome from texts from both Ancient and modern writers, find out how the female gladiators lived and what exactly they did within the arenas, and find …show more content…
He accurately narrates historical events the affected the position of female gladiators and described how the scenes within the sports complexes would have looked before a bout and even shortly after a fight, telling the reader of the parades, feasts, and gladiatorial schools as well as the end of the fight and the slaying or freeing of the gladiatorial slaves. Although the article is clear, the author does not necessarily persuade one to his position of believing that the Dover Street remains are in fact that of a female gladiator. He lists several arguments against that theory by scholars outside of himself. The outside arguments that he adds surmise that the remains could be that of a wealthy woman who was a part of the cult following of Isis or that someone in the deceased family or the owner of the remains, themselves, could be a fan of gladiatorial sports. However, even if the remains of the Dover Street woman was not that of a famed female gladiator, these facts do not deter one from believing that female gladiators existed in …show more content…
The author, Steven Murray, does this by citing written and archaeological evidence found by scholars and classicists alike. He further tells of the daily lives of both gladiators in general and the public reaction of female gladiators and the women that took up the position. Finally, Murray goes on to discuss whether the remains of the woman found under Dover Street in what was formerly Roman London are actually that of a former female gladiator, based off of what other scholars have said about the goods that were found within her grave. The conclusion itself is not particularly convincing because throughout the article, the author seemed to be heading towards a positive outcome on whether the remains were those of a female gladiator, however he comes to the decision that it [the answer] will remain