Roman Gladiators Essay

Improved Essays
Throughout history, there have been a lot of important warriors like Celtics, Samurai’s, Ninja’s and Aztec warriors, but out of all of them the coolest warriors of all is the Gladiators. Gladiators were introduced in the first into second century in Rome, around the year 216 B.C. Gladiators were the big shots of Rome, like the military of Rome. Gladiators were named after the sword,
“Gladius,” because they would fight with swords. To become a Gladiator you were either a prisoner of war or a slave. How would you become a Gladiator from being a slave? Well, because they were strong and were able to fight. Why would some volunteer? Gladiator volunteers were free citizens who gave up their rights to be free. It is known that Gladiator life was easier
…show more content…
11-21)

History and Origin of the Roman Gladiators
Gladiatorial combat was a religious event. The games and training was adopted from the
Etruscans, but there is little evidence to support that statement. The Greeks, like in Homer’s lliad, held funeral games in the honor of the fallen fellow Gladiators. The Roman historian Livy wrote the first ever known gladiatorial games, which were held in 310 BCE. These games were held as re-enactment of the military Campanians’ success. The first known gladiatorial game was held in the tear of 246 BCE by Decimus Brutus and Brother Marcus. This game was in the honor of their father Junius Brutus. It was a small affair. Gladiatorial games reached spectacular heights in the number of the monumental venues. In the year of 183 BCE, it was a tradition to hold a game with 60 duels that took place. In 64 BCE, Julius Caesar had added 260 duels of pairs of gladiators to fight against each other. By now, the gladiatorial games had been made a big jump beyond being religious games or event. They started fighting in stone amphitheater known as the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in the shallows and in miseries. (4.3 220-230) This quote sheds advice that has stood the test of time, giving hope to the characters as they faced war and in lands far away, inspiring those that need hope. This quote lends one of the oldest pieces of advice, missed opportunities lead to heartache. Within Julius Caesar, the characters are on the brink of war after the death of their beloved emperor, Julius Caesar.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Olympic Games Dbq

    • 73 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Perhaps the most influential contribution by ancient Greek to the western civilization is sports. The origin of the Olympics derived from the competition of multiple isolated/ independent states in Greece that had the passion for competitions through series of sports events. And perhaps this passion led to the creation of a long lasting tradition of tournaments that is now known as the “Olympic games” that is now currently held internationally worldwide (Document 6).…

    • 73 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Crixus presses the subject and asks if he would try to kill him. Spartacus says yes, he goes on to say “I’d try to stay alive and so would you.” This brilliantly adds a justification to the violence gladiators were forced to inflict on one another. Another gladiator film that romanticizes violence is Gladiator. In this film, Maximus, a respected Roman general, becomes a slave after fleeing from Commodus rule.…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How did Ancient Rome maintain a well structured civilization for centuries? According to Keith Hopkins author of “Murderous Games,” an article depicting the life of Romans that tells how violence, discipline, and death were all tools that ensured the people of Rome were obedient. Hopkins presents these components of Roman life by illustrating the Gladiatorial shows and the effect it had on every social class. This paper will be a brief summary and opinion on the Gladiatorial games and how it shaped Roman culture. After a period of almost two centuries when Rome went through a continuous imperial expansion, they controlled a good portion of north-western Europe and the Mediterranean basin.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This importance is displayed through numerous accounts of the festivals, the lengths of which they were celebrated and the events that took place at the times of each celebration. However lack of evidence also makes many aspects of festivities up to speculation. An example of this is the battle at Marathon where, according to Herodotus, Sparta had agreed to send troops to aid Athens in repelling the Persian forces although they “could not take the field”. It was believed that they were unable to immediately assist Athens due to a festival of which they had to take part in before leaving for battle. This shows that worshipping the gods and goddesses of Sparta and honouring them was more important than their military endeavours, which was also a fundamental aspect of Spartan life.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In shows, movies and games gladiators fight horrific battles against each other and till death. In paragraph 5 titled “Big Entertainment” it states “ Huge crowds gathered to watch these warriors battle to their death in amphitheater..” This shows that we believe that most gladiators would fight until they died. We believed that most gladiators were prisoners. In paragraph 6 the archaeologists did say “They were prisoners.”…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Gladiators

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Although the gladiators are all different they all take the sacramentum gladiatorium which states “uri, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari.” All gladiators attend to a special school, located near the Coliseum, where they are trained hard for lengthy amounts of time. These gladiators are usually slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war, sometimes they are fighting for their freedom or serving a death sentence. Occasionally people, including women (isn’t that so cool, maybe we should try it), actually volunteer to be gladiators because of the benefits, including food, money, and fame. Every once in awhile they have animals such as bears, rhinos, tigers, elephants, and giraffes…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Roman Gladiators

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Captured slaves would be sent back to Rome. If you were sold and bought as a slave, that name was stuck to you forever. Salves could be gladiators, who had a lot of admiration among the society. Being a gladiator was a way to gain your freedom, as well as buying it. Slavery in ancient Rome is an example of how Rome appreciated everyones liberty, yet created one of the greatest revolts for liberty.…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    You’re a 7 year old boy taken away from your family, to train as a soldier. After years and years of training, you start to get more obedient, have courage, and get stronger. This relates to our topic because boys, at a young age, get ready to train for battle. Sparta is mostly known for their violent and cruel actions. The strengths did not outweigh the weaknesses because of many reasons.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To create the perfect soldier, the soldier must be desensitized to killing and must be able to survive in the wild. This training was called the Krypteia which directly translates to “secret thing”. The Krypteia was the process of secretly killing helots which were the slaves and laborers of Sparta. Boys would be sent to the woods and hide during the day and would come out during the night to kill any helots they saw in the area. This not only taught the boys how to adapt, survive, and be stealthy but it kept the slave population in check which was a major problem in Sparta.…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The fall of the Roman Republic nearly saw the destruction of Roman civilization. From the ashes of constant infighting between powerful generals and senators, Octavian—the adopted son of Julius Caesar—rose to unquestionable power. This marked the beginning of the Roman Empire. Octavian, given the title Augustus, was regarded as the example that each emperor would model his reign after. In order to stay in power, the emperors had to ensure political dominance and foster unity among the people.…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Achilles A Hero Essay

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This is not the behavior of a hero, a true hero will sacrifice himself and his honor for the greater good. Achilles, on the other hand, was so terrified of disgracing his family and his community he let hundreds of his men die. Achilles believed that if he lost respect life was not worth living. People in the Iliad relied on their heroes to protect their…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The great Roman athletes of battle. Famed for their fitness and fighting abilities, but I knew they would be no soldiers, unable to keep formation, moving around great distances. An infantryman cannot do this. They were of high muscle and low fat. All clean before the day had begun, wearing little to no chest armor, only on the limbs and head, in varying styles.…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gladiator Film Analysis

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Through Gladiator, history comes to life. The great amount…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays