Being A Gladiator Essay

Gladiator fights were a brutal, barbaric way of entertainment. These battles were fought man vs. man, man vs. beast and beast vs. beast. The fighters were trained in schools. Criminals and slaves were sent to these schools. At the schools the gladiators were trained on everything up to how to die correctly. The acts performed in the games were considered choreography. Because of this, when a gladiators opponent was left-handed it was considered a special event because they were only taught how to fight right handed men. But to become a gladiator one must go through 3 major steps. One, they had to swear their lives to the gods of the underworld. Two, they had to sign with a “manager” to keep track of their shows. And three, a physical examination
After winning a battle the slave was allowed to ask their leader for liberty. If liberty was granted the slave was given a wooden sword, signifying they will never have to fight again. Criminals however, were not allowed to ask for freedom until they have fought 3 years and lived to ask. The show went on until a fighter was wounded and the crowd would decide whether they were worthy enough to be spared. “Killing a defeated gladiator required a specific ritual,” the loser, on one knee, grasps the thigh of the victor (who hold the losers helmet firmly) and makes no noise when the victor either slits their throat or plunges their sword into their neck. The loser was then taken to a separate room where he would be finished. Losers were not aloud to scream or ask for mercy when being killed as a code of discipline. Gladiator fighting was not only male combat. Female gladiators also known as “gladiatrix” were rare but they existed. Emperor Domitian made women fight bh torchlight, however in A.D. 200 another emperor Septimius Severus banned the female contests. The evidence declaring that female gladiator fighting was indeed a thing, is all writing by Roman scholars and historians. A common difference discovered about female gladiators is that they appear not to be wearing helmets. Gladiators were not just men and the battles weren't always with people, and some we are still trying to figure out