Gladiators in Ancient Rome – Term Paper

Gladiators in Ancient Rome got noted as individuals who got acquainted with specialized professional skills on weapons that could fight to a great- built in the whole of Roman Empire. Further explanation depicts them as people with very short life expectancy because most of their fights led to death. Most of them also got condemned to slaves and ex- slaves. Some of them also took the role of prisoners. Therefore, the paper gets founded on an elaborate research particularly on these kinds of people. On the same light, the research also explores other unknown activities which got associated with people of this nature with the inclusion of a review of history and their background. The research will also take exception on the various critics which have been brought forward on the subject. Finally, there will also exist the brief summary of the investigation and information on data and different evidence.

It gets argued that other than the gladiators getting used as fighting machinery in the Ancient Roman Empire, they were also used as sex objects, for example, in the series Spartacus, Crixus became Domina’s sexual slave in her quest of searching for a child. Her husband Batiatus was unable to offer her an heir which formed the fundamental reason for taking on Crixus according to the history of former champion of Capua. Another unknown issue about the gladiators gets drawn from the opportunities which their fights unfolded. The matches offered an opportunity for the wealthy Aristocrats and Emperors of other Empires to prove the magnitude of their assets to the people and initiate military victories (Roger, 2013). The Cultural analysis also mirrors their fight to act as the human sacrifice to the gods. The mentioned formed the underlying reasons which led most of their fights to death coupled with bloodshed. Those who got recruited were men without any moral dignity and the barbarians (Thomassen, 2009). The war prisoners and convicts of capital offenses won chances of joining the team as well. The mentioned also contributes in offering further justification why the individuals got used as human sacrifice.

History depicts a broad range of weapons which got employed by the people in the discussion. Most of their weapons got pointed out to get made of armors and objects. The objects were made up of great artistry which highly got embossed by decorative motifs that got coupled with peacock or even the ostrich- plumed crests. The most famous gladiators’ of all time gets depicted on Spartacus who led the mission of slaves uprising against Capua. History further illustrates that the fights by gladiators formed a platform for them to celebrate their birthday and commemorate important days of their lives. It goes ahead to image their background based on slavery or getting heavily indebted by capital offenses (Taylor et al., 2015). Their training was also rigorous. The underlying reason for the strict training was to enable them to stay fit and be in a position which could allow them to fight.

Some authors such as Eliot also drew the comparison between the existence of gladiators and other people like the martyrs and how the two characters got depicted from the heroic perspective. According to Elliot, the martyrs were iconic whereas gladiators were taking the role of the social icons (Elliot, 2015). Jacobellis went further to mirror gladiators’ blood as a crucial issue on marriage preparation. They used blood to take part of their hairs when the marriage activities unfolded. Jacobelli also mentions the Roman women to get seriously obsessed with the gladiators based on their overrating (Jacobelli, 2003).

The Gladiators also get noted to have commanded a large following mostly made up citizens of the ancient Rome who were enthusiastic to watch their fights. Many Romans got attracted from very far places to join the congregation in watching the matches. There equally existed a belief of the gods watching how the gladiators fought. The depicted improved the views of the people on the sacredness of the fights and its imaging of sacrifice to the gods (Losch et al., 2014). Apart from the highlighted, the gladiators were also used by the ruling class to offer a distraction to the masses from matters of social and economic problems which encountered the society. It may, therefore, get argued that the group of people in discussion offered great significance to the population of the Roman Empire. The research imaged them to suffer most on behalf of the people and got used to taking roles which other average human beings would opt out in taking (Ganeri, 2010).

Further arguments on gladiators reveal them to influence the society from the different dimension. The impact mostly revolved matters of mortality and those of morality. Many Roman invested their time especially those who were bloodthirsty in watching the fights take place (Malam, 2012). Some also invested their feelings on the same. The Romans would fail in other areas but not those which involved the fights. They turned out in large numbers and never offered support to a particular gladiator in the arena. They could easily get swayed into supporting any of them provided he seemed to be performing better on the battlefield. As the gladiators fought, they encouraged the stronger one to kill the other. In some cases, some of the gladiators got lucky and never died on the battlefield. In such situations, they would be called again in the war arena where they would fight against each other to death (Weidman, 2002).

In consideration of the circumstances which surrounded the lives of gladiators, there exists an archeological site whose cemetery got founded in a place known as Ephesus (Stanley, 2017). The site depicts how the fighters lived coupled with writings of the sufferings they underwent. The site also draws their diet and the categories which they assumed. A Roman from Ephesus conducted a study on the same through the analysis of isotopes which belonged to 53 persons of whom 20 got believed to take on the existence of gladiators (Romans from Ephesus, 2014). Lastly, the research mentions these people as individuals of interest in both ancient and current times hence should get studied for the realization of more information about their existence.

Conclusion

In summary, gladiators in the Ancient Roman Empire get imaged as people who got equipped with specialized skills on fighting. They served various roles with the inclusion of entertainment. Even though they served those functions, they lived very dangerous lifestyle due to their vulnerability to death. They often fought and the sight of bloodshed was a usual scenario as imaged in the various sections of the research. Their death also served as a sacrifice, and there existed underlying beliefs which connected the sacrifice to the gods.

References

Elliott, Susan M. Elli. (2015) “Gladiators and Martyrs.

Ganeri, A. (2010). Gladiators and Ancient Rome. Tunb ridge Wells, Knet, UK: Tick tock

Gerner, D. E (2010). A Matter of Life and Death: Gladiatorial Games, Sacrificial Ritual, and Literary Allusion. Diss. The University of Oregon.

Jacobelli, L. (2003) Gladiators at Pompeii. Getty Publications. Media.

Losch, S, et al. (2014). “Stable Isotope and Trace Element Studies on Gladiators and Contemporary Romans from Ephesus.

Malam, J (2012). You Wouldn’t Want to be a Roman Gladiator!: Gory Things You’d Rather Not;Know. Urban Media Comics.

Roger D. (2013).;Gladiators: violence and spectacle in ancient Rome. Routledge,

Romans from Ephesus (2014) (Turkey, 2nd and 3rd Ct. AD)-Implications for Differences in Diet.” PloS one 9.10: e110489

Stanley, A (2017). “Rome Journal; In This Gladiators’ Arena,

Taylor, S. J., Robert. B, and Marjorie D. John .W & Sons (2015) Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource.

Thomassen, L (2009). “Gladiator, Violence, and the Founding of a Republic.” PS: Political Science

Weidman (2002). Emperors and Gladiators. Routledge.