|
Gladiator Games
The gladiators were the 'star attraction'. But the
games were also a venue for executing criminals and
Christians and for staging beast fights and wild animal
hunts. Romans loved to be
reminded of the great victories they had won in battle. And
the Gladiator games were often designed to re-enact scenes
of these Roman victories. The Gladiator games at the Colosseum
were planned with Roman precision. Every event was scheduled. Costumes, armor,
weapons and scenery all had to be in place for the gladiator
games held in the arenas in ancient Rome, such as the
Colosseum.
Order of Events at the
Gladiator Games
The order of events on the
opening day of a festival of gladiator 'games' started with the parades and processions
called the Pompa. The gladiator games continued throughout
the day with the following events:
- Animal Hunts - These shows
were called called venationes and the animal hunters were called
venatores and replicated hunting scenes involving many
different wild animals. Emperors joined in these events in
gladiator games, shooting animals
using a bow and arrows, albeit from the safety of their Imperial Box
- The Bestiarii came
next in the games. These were
gladiators trained to fight savage beasts such as tigers and lions.
- Criminals were sentenced to fight wild
beasts at the games but without any skills, weapons or armor
- Meridiani -
lightly armed gladiators fought in the middle of the
day, after the wild animal fights
- The
Andabatae were the hapless criminals who provided comic relief to
the audience. They wore helmets
without an openings for the eyes and
fought blindfolded, manoeuvred
closer and closer together by
attendants, slashing blindly at each
other
- At noon the executions were scheduled at the
games - the
tortures and varieties of executions amused the crowd
- Late afternoon the most important events of the
day - the gladiatorial games and combats
- The Gladiator fights started with
the Praegenarii who were the
'opening act' gladiators who fought with a whip, club and shield and these preliminaries would
then be followed by the proper Gladiatorial games where there were
various matched pairings of
gladiators
- Sometimes actual battles
were re-enacted at the gladiator games
Different Types of
Gladiator Games
There were different types
of gladiator games. Nearly 30 different types of gladiators
have been identified. Each demonstrating different skills
and providing novelty for the 'mob'.
- Gladiator games
included those featuring various combinations of the following
different types of gladiator:
- - Andabatae (Sight
Restricted Gladiators) *** Bestiarii (Beast
Fighters) *** Dimachaeri (Gladiators
With Two Swords) *** Eques
(Horseback And Sword Gladiators) *** Gallus (Gladiators With A
Lance) *** Essedari (War-Chariot
Fighters) *** Hoplomachi (Armed
Fighters) *** Laquerarii (Lasso
Fighters) *** Murmillones (Gladius
and Shield Gladiators) *** Naumachiarii (
Combatants in Sea-fights) *** Provocatores
(Challengers Protected by a Breastplate) *** Retiarii (Net Fighters) *** Rudiarius (Free
Gladiators) *** Sagittarius (Mounted
Bowman) *** Samnites: (Large
Shields and Plumed Helmets) *** Secutores (Two Small
Eye-Holes in Helmet) *** Scissores (Carvers -
Short Swords) *** Thracian, or Thrax (Curved
Sword) *** Velites (Spear
Fighters)
- Female gladiators also
appeared as 'speciality acts' in gladiator games
Gladiator Games
The content of this Gladiator Games
category on life in Ancient Rome provides free educational
details, facts and information for reference and research
for schools, colleges and homework. Refer to the
Colosseum Sitemap for a comprehensive search on interesting
different categories containing the history, facts and
information about Ancient Rome. Just like the subject of
Gladiator Games there is hardly a page of Roman history and the Romans that is not, on
some way, connected to the Roman Colosseum which became a
symbol of Rome, its society, culture and life.
|
