By: Jake Coblyn

1
The Roman Gladiators

• By Jake Coblyn
• Andrew Brennan

2
Table of Contents

• Where they come from
• Types of Gladiators
• Gladiatorial equipment
• The Coliseum
• The battles
• Winning freedom
• Pictures

3
Where they come from

• Most gladiators were either war prisoners,
  slaves, condemned criminals, bankrupt people, and
  occasionally freedmen.
• The gladiators were trained in gladiatoral
  schools called ludi.

4
Types of Gladiators

• Myrmillo carries a dagger and shield, wears a
  wide leather belt and leg bands.
• Thracian uses a small shield and a curved
  dagger, wears greaves on both legs.
• Andabatus Wears a helmet with no eye holes.
  Charges blindly on horseback.
• Essedarius A gladiator who drives a horse drawn
  chariot
• Retarius tries to snare an opponent in his net,
  left arm and shoulder are protected by armor.

5
Types of Gladiators (cont.)

• Woman an uncommon sight, but women fight as
  gladiators too.
• Samnite wears a visored helmet with crest,
  carries a sword and a large shield.
• Dimachaerius fights with two swords, wears
  little armor.
• Laquerius similar to a retarius, but with a
  lasso instead of a net.
• Secutor a lightly armed fighter who chases his
  opponent.
• Velitus armed with only a spear.

6
Gladiatorial equipment

• Fascina A harpoon
• Galea a visored helmet
• Galerus metal shoulder piece
• Gladius a short sword
• Hasta a lance
• Iaculum Net
• Manicae Leather elbow or wrist band
• Ocrea metal or boiled leather greaves
• Parma a round shield
• Scutum a large oblong shield
• Sica a curved scimitar
• Subligaculum loin cloth

7
The Coliseum

• The Coliseum was built in 72 A.D. by emporer
  Vespasian. It was the place where all
  gladitorial events were held. The emperor,
  government, and all regular people came to watch
  the gladiators fight to the death!!!!!! In the
  Coliseum, there was held man vs. man battles, man
  vs. beast battles, and when the drains were
  closed, the Coliseum could be flooded for mock
  sea battles.

8
The Battles

• There are many types of battles that gladiators
  fought in.
• One was man vs. man combat where you fought until
  one gladiator held his sword or spear up to the
  opponents throat and the crowd would either shout
  Mitte! (let him go!) or Habet hoc Habet! (let him
  have it) If someone was unfortunate enough to get
  it the gladiator would stab him through the
  neck. After the gladiator was killed he was
  dragged away and dumped into a pit.
• There were also mock sea battles where the
  Coliseum was flooded and ships were put in it.
• Some gladiators fought animals such as tigers and
  lions.

9
Winning Freedom

• Slaves who survived and were noted for there
  bravery in the arena became freedmen and were
  relieved of all future fighting duties.