Gladiator

The Roman Fighter's (Unofficial) Manual

Philip Matyszak

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9780500771716
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Roman Ancient History
• Index: History

Experience at first hand the spectacular, brutal life and savage death of the most iconic figure of ancient Rome.This manual will take the reader from the first faltering steps over the threshold of gladiator school, and through training to become a man of the sword. Find out how to get thousands to idolize you as the strongest, meanest fighter in the Roman empire. Learn why you should become a gladiator, how to join the profession, who will try to kill you (and what with), which arena of the empire is right for you, when and how often you will fight and what happens before, during and after the bout.

• VIII •

Death at the Colosseum

You are not injured until you think you are injured.

HANDBOOK OF EPICTETUS THE STOIC 30

• • •

In the imperial ludi

• • •

We live our lives in the gladiatorial barracks, we fight against men with whom we share a drink.

SENECA ON ANGER 2.8.2

• • •

The procuratores who supervise the imperial ludi are among the first to know when the emperor is planning a spectacular. Queries will have come down from the officials on the nearby Palatine Hill, asking how many gladiators are available and what condition they are in. It does not take long for news of this development to percolate through the entire complex, and suddenly training, always done with considerable intensity, acquires extra urgency. The imperial ludi cover a large area, but even this suddenly becomes claustrophobic as potential rivals assess each other, and each gladiator becomes aware that the person sitting next to him at table might soon be trying to carve him up as enthusiastically as he is now attacking his steak.

During practice sessions, trainers and senior gladiators stand together muttering and watching beady-eyed as tiros and lower-grade gladiators go through their paces. Long before the first handbills are written up, the lanista and the doctores will have lists of possible pairings. An entertaining fight will be as much about matching personalities as skill sets. Celer and Flamma loathe each other? Well and good, let the pair take their animosity out on to the sand and one way or another rid the familia of their brawling and squabbling. And the cool-headed Marcus Glauco will make an interesting counterpoint to the more skilful Proximo, who fights well – until his temper gets the better of him.

There is always rivalry among the different parts of the imperial ludi, but in the lead-up to a show this becomes potentially explosive. Before a fight is a good time to try to intimidate an opponent, and the more aggressive type of gladiator might well try to stage an ‘accidental’ confrontation with a potential rival to make sure that his psychological dominance is established before the two meet in the arena. Well before a fight, a wise administrator will keep a close eye on the interaction between the different parts of the gladiator complex.

The Ludus Matutinus Situated next to the Colosseum, the ‘morning school’ is partly outside the general rivalry, because, as the name suggests, its performers take part in the morning shows. They are the beast-hunters, and while there might be internal stresses and a severe disagreement about who gets to face a newly arrived batch of panthers, the fighters will at least all be on the same side come the big day. Also, they can’t be happy that their craft is somehow considered inferior to that of ‘real’ gladiators, and are united in their resentment.

The Ludus Dacius is where the Thracian-style gladiators train. The school gets its name from the Dacians, a doughty nation of warriors from the mountains beyond the Danube, but it deals with most of the eastern styles of fighters. It is situated on the Oppian Hill, conveniently close to the baths of Trajan, and next to the large barrack block which houses the sailors from Misenum who operate the Amphitheatre’s sunshades.

The Ludus Gallicus specializes in the murmillo style of gladiators, who evolved from the Gallic gladiators of the Republic. This ludus is the smallest of the schools, and there is no love lost between its members and those of the Ludus Dacius, against whom the school’s members are often paired.

The Ludus Magnus is right next to the Ludus Matutinus, so close to the Amphitheatre that it is linked to it by an underground tunnel. This ludus, like the others, consists of a closed quadrangle of buildings for storage, administration and residence. There is a central training area with a limited amount of seating from which trainers and favoured guests can watch the gladiators at practice. The mock arena of the Ludus Magnus is larger than the others, and is used for training by those with specialized equipment such as the essedari (chariot fighters) and the cavalry-style equites. In fact the mini-amphitheatre here can seat 3,000, and is capable of hosting a small munus all by itself. Because some of the fighters in the Ludus Magnus will be killing each other on show day, tensions here run particularly high.

There are a number of specialized buildings nearby in the gladiator complex, including the Summum Choragium where scenery and machinery are stored. There’s the armoury, since the authorities very sensibly keep gladiators and swords well apart except on officially sanctioned occasions. Every gladiator will at some point end up in the Saniarum, since this hospital treats not only fight-day wounds, but also everyday illnesses as well as bumps and breaks incurred during training. However, only one visit – at most – is required to the Spoliarum, where a dead gladiator is stripped of his armour and prepared for burial.

Once a gladiator knows who his actual opponent will be, there are several steps he should take.

Know your enemy

• • •

Cassius concentrated entirely on the war, as a gladiator focuses on his opponent.

APPIAN THE CIVIL WARS 4.133

• • •

The public handbills give the basic details of a gladiator – his name, type of weaponry, and the number of victories. As his opponent, you need to know much, much more. So talking to those who have sparred against him is essential. If he is in a different school, then you can assume that your doctor is on your side. He may even have seen your future antagonist fight, and will have a number of tips.

Temperament Does this fighter play a long game, going for victory through debilitating cuts and flesh wounds, while giving his opponent minimal opportunity to retaliate, or does he go for a quick, high-risk closure that means one of you will end up stabbed through the heart within a minute?

Tricks Are there any techniques that this gladiator favours, such as a sword beat-down (whacking the top edge of an opponent’s sword so hard that the weapon temporarily points to the ground), followed by a body-charge and trip? Learn all your opponent’s best moves by heart and spend a lot of time practising the counters, and make sure that you do your practising as privately as life in a busy ludus allows.

Turns If a murmillo loses sight of someone who has slipped behind him, or a retiarius turns to avoid an onrushing secutor, will he turn to his right or his left? Usually a left-handed person looking behind or turning his body will turn anti-clockwise, and a right-handed person will turn clockwise. However, a gladiator might have trained himself to respond differently, depending on which leg is forward or whether he wants to bring his shield or sword into play as he turns.

Tells Every fighter has these ‘give aways’. It might be a slight tilt of the head or a scrape of the foot before a rush or a dip of the shoulder that happens before a real stab, but not with a feint. Obvious tells, such as pulling back the arm before a stab, are eliminated early in training (or the people with such tells are eliminated early in combat), but this still leaves small involuntary gestures which are very hard to avoid making. This is because constant practice allows a gladiator to act and respond at an instinctive level using pure muscle memory – so the tell is built into a series of movements that have become a conditioned reflex. And it’s not easy to stop a reflex.

• • •

To the gladiator on the sand, a facial expression, a twist of the hand, or a particular posture of the body warns of an adversary’s intentions.

SENECA LETTERS 22.1

• • •

Intimidate your opponent

The battle for mental dominance begins for some gladiators the moment they step into the ludus for the first time. Some people just have to be top dog, and this is how every good gladiator sees himself. So there’s a lot of snarling, bullying and dominance displays even during everyday life. A gladiator who is accustomed to deferring to another in the ludus has that much more to do if he is going to defeat that same man in the arena.

Expect aggression from your opponent before the coming contest. He will take every opportunity to violently denigrate your skills and pass messages explaining in colourful detail exactly what he intends to do when he gets you out on the sand. Of course, it’s a game that two can play, and the winner is the one who has a fearful, demoralized opponent who comes out expecting to lose. Play hard.

Know your odds

The authorities frown on gambling on the outcome of a fight, not least because this can lead to a certain degree of fixing of that outcome. This is commoner in smaller arenas where the loser is likely to survive. The Roman crowd will have no mercy on anyone they suspect of throwing a fight and if they feel strongly the emperor will probably defer to their wishes. It’s harder to get someone to lose deliberately if they won’t survive losing, but those who lose their bets love to cry ‘foul’.

Despite official disapproval of gambling, human nature ensures there’s always a lively ‘book’ going on the odds for a particular fight. No one knows you or your opponent better than you do, so if you like the odds being offered on your fight, get an agent to place a substantial bet on your beha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• About the Author
• Other Titles of Interest
• Contents
• I Becoming a Gladiator
• II How Did We Get Here?
• III Arenas of the Empire
• IV Ludus Life
• V The Making of a Gladiator
• Colour Plates I
• VI Gladiators Outside the Arena
• VII Preliminaries to a Bout
• VIII Death at the Colosseum
• Colour Plates II
• IX Death and Other Alternatives to Retirement
• Map of the Roman Empire
• Glossary
• Acknowledgments
• Further Reading
• Sources of Quotations
• Index
• Copyright