of body armour was worn, it is found amongst Republican
gladiators right up to the time of Augustus. A relief in the
Glypothek in Munich shows two gladiators, one triumphant,
the other defeated, both wearing finely depicted sets of scale
armour ( lorica squamata). The cardiophylax (‘heart protection’)
or partial breastplate was quite common and worn by the
provocator and thraex amongst others. The protection offered by
such armour was rudimentary and could even be argued merely
to be token. Just as helmets had to be lined, so armour required
some form of padding to make it effective by helping to dissipate
the force from any blow. We know that both felt and leather
undergarments were used for this purpose.
Greaves
Greaves ( ocreae) were designed to protect the lower leg. They
were generally only used on the left leg, since it was this foot
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Gladiator painted on a glass vessel (photo by Shizhao)
that was advanced when in the ‘at the ready’ stance, with the
shield advanced and the sword drawn back ready to strike.
Normally made of a copper alloy (bronze or brass), a greave had
to have a fabric or leather liner to absorb shock when they were
struck with a blade (or even kicked!), as well as straps around
the calf to hold them in place. A possible military greave lining
of leather is known from Vindonissa in Switzerland. Shorter
gladiatorial greaves left the knee exposed (since it would
usually be concealed behind the shield), but were arched over
the foot, and were of two lengths (generally refl ecting the size
of the shield used). Longer ones provided some protection for
the knee and could weigh between 2.2kg and 2.5kg each. Feet
were left completely unprotected by greaves and thus remained
vulnerable.
Th e examples from Pompeii were decorated with both
embossed and engraved ornament. One pair depicts Neptune
centrally on one shin and Jupiter on the other, with engraved
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Laquearius (‘ceiling-maker’)
• Armour: shoulder guard
• Special feature: lasso, spear
• Period: Imperial
• Common opponent: arbelas; essedarius;
murmillo; secutor
tendrils surrounding them. Another pair is covered in embossed
mythological scenes, whilst a short example depicts a triumphant
gladiator holding aloft a palm branch, the sign of his victory.
Greaves were used by the Roman army during the Republican
period and were reintroduced during the early 2nd century AD
in some regions. Th ey were subsequently employed by Roman
cavalry in their games known as the hippika gymnasia , but
invariably providing protection for the knee, which cavalrymen –
unlike gladiators with large shields – needed.
Armguards
Just as with greaves, a metal armguard ( manica ) could be used
by both gladiators and infantry. Although no known gladiatorial
examples survive, a number of military examples have been
excavated and they are now understood in some detail. Th ey were
articulated on three or four leather straps that ran the full length
of the defence internally. A series of curved steel or brass plates
were riveted to the straps which overlapped upwards (from the
wrist to the shoulder) when worn on the sword arm. Th is ensured
that, when the sword arm being held horizontally was struck by
a blade, the blow was defl ected towards the inside of the elbow,
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where the plates naturally bunched together and so were at their
thickest. If worn on the left arm (as would a retiarius) then they
might overlap downwards. The defences are sometimes depicted
with multiple straps or laces hanging loose, suggesting that they
may be ties for securing the armour to the wearer’s limb.
Another form of manica that was depicted was made up of
overlapping scales, just like the scale body armour worn by
soldiers. No example of such a scale armguard has yet been
identified amongst the archaeological material, even though
scales are common finds on military sites. However, such a
indicating either steel or tinned copper alloy scales. Many
manicae , both scale and plate, are also shown with a body strap
attached to the top of the armguard, presumably to prevent the
defence from sliding down, out of position. To be effective, like
all armour, the armguard would have to have been worn over
padding of some kind.
Shoulderguards
Replacing a shield for a retiarius, there was a shoulderguard
(traditionally identified as the galerus, although the evidence
for this term is slim at best). This rested at the top of the left
arm and afforded the wearer some protection for his face. When
combined with an armguard, it offered protection similar to that
of a shield but allowed a retiarius to hold his trident two-handed
if he so wished. They were curved at the top as well as turned
outwards, to prevent the wearer hitting his head and also deflect
blows outwards. Surviving examples from Pompeii are decorated
with various embossed motifs, including in one case a bust of
Hercules and in another various nautical elements (a steering
oar, anchor, trident, dolphin and crab!) recalling the supposed
fishing origin of the retiarius. Used together with an armguard
and padding, this would have made a good substitute for a shield.
They weighed in the region of 1 kg and were 30–35 cm in height.
80 | GLadIatOrs
Padding
As well as some padding under any armour, gladiators were
also sometimes depicted wearing thick padding on their limbs.
This was by no means universal, since it invariably involved a
compromise between protection and manoeuvrability. There
are no surviving examples, but mosaics and wall paintings are
general a pale, creamy colour, suggesting they may have been
from something like padded, undyed cotton. Straps or binding
around the limbs held the padding in place.
Shields
Several different types of shield were used by gladiators. One
of the most familiar from reliefs, mosaics and frescoes, was the
curved rectangular body shield also used by legionary troops.
It not only provided excellent protection between the shoulder
and knee, but could also be used as a weapon in its own right,
punching with the metal boss or the upper rim, perhaps even
slamming the lower rim down onto an opponent’s foot.
An actual example of this type of shield, often known as a
scutum (although the word actually refers to any type of shield),
was excavated from the city of Dura-Europos in Syria, on the
west bank of the Euphrates. The city served as a base for a
Roman army unit during the 3rd century AD. The shield was
shown to be made of three layers of wooden laths, the outer
layers being glued horizontally and the middle one vertically,
th
ereby using the grain of the wood to increase the protection
offered. The outer face was painted with elaborate designs
depicting scenes from the Trojan Wars, as well as bearing
an image of a lion (a possible legionary badge) and winged
victories with an eagle. Like nearly all Roman shields, it had a
horizontal wooden handgrip. Modern reconstructions of the
shields, which might have a brass or iron boss, weigh in the
region of 7 kg.
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Retiarius and secutor on the Nennig mosaic (photo by Carole Raddato) Representations of gladiatorial shields of the curved, rectangular
type suggest that these too were decorated on the front face. Most
include right-angled digamma motifs in each of the four corners
and these are sometimes depicted on legionary shields too. Th ey do
not feature the thunderbolts and eagle wings found on legionary
shields, however, with abstract designs appearing instead.
Small circular shields ( parmae ) were also used by some types
of gladiators, including equites , hoplomachi and thraeces . Some
may have been made of wood but a convex example with a rim
excavated from Pompeii, 0.37 m in diameter, was made of metal
and decorated with two concentric laurel wreaths in low relief
around a central repoussé boss of silver, which represented a
head of Medusa. It weighed just 1.6 kg and closely resembles a
82 | GLadIatOrs
to a hoplomachus gladiator.
The distinction between the two types of shield – large
rectangular ( scutum) and small circular ( parma) – led to a
certain factionalism amongst followers, with adherents of the
two types known as scutarii and parmularii. This was true for
murmillo/ thraex and murmillo/ hoplomachus contests in particular.
It may have reflected the fact that the gladiator with the smaller
shield was placed at a disadvantage and was thus inevitably an
underdog when facing an opponent with the larger shield.
Props
One type of gladiator, the pontarius, required a piece of apparatus
for their performance: the pons or bridge. No examples survive,
merely rather crude representations, but it seems to have been
made of timber and comprised a platform with ramps at either
end. A pontarius then piled his rocks on the platform and could
hurl them at his attacking opponents.
Other scenery was used for themed conflicts, where groups of
fighters were set against each other in recreations of major battles
from the past (particularly those Rome had won). However,
these were normally fought by condemned criminals, rather
than true gladiators from the gladiatorial schools, whose battles
were usually one-on-one, minimalist affairs.
the armaturae
The different types of gladiator were known as armaturae. We know
from the Roman military writer Vegetius that the armatura was
the type of drill performed by a soldier (or gladiator) according to
the type of equipment with which he had been issued. This means
that armaturae were less about how gladiators were equipped (and
minor differences within the same type can be found), but rather
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how they actually fought. The whole point of such a wide range of
armaturae was to provide variety for audiences. Whilst some stock
pairs were used ( retiarius v. secutor, eques v. eques and so on) mixing other types could be interesting, particularly when matching a
left-handed gladiator with a right-handed one.
Andabata
The andabata (the name may be Gallic in origin) was a type of
gladiator who fought blind, either because they were blindfolded
or because they wore helmets with no eye holes. They seem to
have been paired together. Their purpose seems to have been to
provide comedic value, as they staggered around trying to find
their opponents. However, they do not seem to have been very
common, which may have been part of the novelty, although
they were sufficiently well known for Cicero to joke about them.
Arbelas
The arbelas is only mentioned once in a single literary source and
does not occur in any inscriptions but is shown on several reliefs
wearing scale armour, but this may well be the Greek name for
a contraretiarius, since they seem to have been paired with the
retiarius. The key element was that, like the dimachaerus, the arbelas
fought shieldless and wielded a gauntlet a with semi-circular blade
on his left arm and arbelas may well have been just another name for
the scissor. According to Artemidorus, as with a man who dreamed
of fighting as a dimachaerus, one who dreamed of being an arbelas
would marry a wife who was a poisoner, ugly, or malicious.
Bestiarius
Those who performed such hunts were known as bestiarii, or
men who fought animals, although they were sometimes also
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Murmillo (‘little fi sh’)
• Armour: helmet, greave, armguard, curved
rectangular shield
• Special feature: short sword
• Period: Imperial
• Common opponent: retiarius; thraex;
hoplomachus
known as venatores (hunters). Indeed, there seems to have been
as much confusion over the diff erence between the two in
ancient times as there is now. Confusingly, a handler of such
animals who prepared them for the arena might also be known
as a bestiarius . Sculpted reliefs of the Republican period show
fully armed gladiators fi ghting wild animals but, by the Imperial
period, bestiarii fought with a spear and no armour, although
some padding might be used on the left arm. Th e poet Martial
describes a bestiarius called Carpophorus who achieved fame
by killing a bear, a lion and a leopard. One particular variant
of combat against wild animals was what is now known as
taurocatapsia or bull-wrestling, fi rst exhibited at the games by
Julius Caesar. A man would quite literally wrestle a bull to the
ground, starting off on horseback and leaping onto the beast.
Bestiarii were generally held in lower esteem than ‘proper’
gladiators and they baffl ed the Christian writer Cyprian:
What state of things, I pray you, can that be, and what can it be
like, in which men, whom none have condemned, off er themselves
to the wild beasts – men of ripe age, of suffi ciently beautiful
person, clad in costly garments? Living men, they are adorned for
a voluntary death; wretched men, they boast of their own miseries.
Th ey fi ght with beasts, not for their crime, but for their madness.
(Cyprian, To Donatus 7)
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The Emperor Domitian established a training school not far
from the Colosseum for bestiarii (one of four gladiatorial schools
he set up) known as the Ludus Matutinus.
Crupellarius
We have only one reference to the type of gladiator known as a
crupellarius and that comes in Tacitus’ account of the revolt of
Fl
orus and Sacrovir in AD 21. The Gallic revolt associated with
these two men was associated with the tribes of the Treveri and
Aedui respectively. Florus was quickly defeated by the Romans in
the Ardennes with the help of his fellow Treveran, Iulius Indus,
a Roman cavalry commander, but the Aedui under Sacrovir
proved a tougher nut to crack. Finally meeting the Romans in
battle to the north of Autun, their forces included slaves armed
as gladiators, described by Tacitus as crupellarii, ‘clad after the
national fashion in a complete covering of steel’, going on to
note that ‘though they were ill-adapted for inflicting wounds,
they were impenetrable to them’. The legionaries’ swords could
not penetrate their armour, but the ever-resourceful Roman
army soon found a solution,
snatching up hatchets and pickaxes, hacked at their bodies and
their armour as if they were battering a wall. Some beat down the
unwieldy mass with pikes and forked poles, and they were left lying
on the ground, without an effort to rise, like dead men. (Tacitus,
Annals 3.46)
Our understanding of the crupellarii would end there, were it not
for a small statuette from Versigny in France which some scholars
believe might represent just such a gladiator. The figure wears a
large, cylindrical helmet with a distinctive nasal protrusion and
small holes, presumably for ventilation, resembling the great
helm of a medieval knight rather than the familiar types of
gladiatorial helmet. His limbs, shoulders and upper torso bear
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incisions suggestive of segmental
armour of the type worn by Roman
legionaries.
Tacitus is very clear that this was
a Gallic type of gladiator, perhaps
meaning that it was only ever seen
in Gaul itself, which might explain
the Romans’ evident surprise
at encountering these heavily
armoured men in the field and the
lack of any other references to them.
Dimachaerus
This gladiator’s name literally
means ‘two swords’ in Greek and
thus provides the vital piece of
information we need to know – Statuette of a crupellarius
the dimachaerus fought shieldless (drawing by M. C. Bishop)
with a second blade in his left hand