what were fights called in the colosseum

It's quite possible that in later periods, women who were slaves fought in arenas, but the first Gladiatrix were free women who were looking for adventure. The main difference between male and female gladiators is that the women weren't slaves in the beginning. Gladiator School Discovery Reveals Hard Lives of Ancient WarriorsĮxample of early Gladiatrix ( trooper111 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 ).Ancient Roman Tunnel from Gladiator Training School to Colosseum set to be Revived.The Real Lives of the Gladiators of Rome – The Unfathomable Sport of Life and Death.Fighting women were an important part of noble private parties and they were sometimes invited into private homes to entertain the guests. Gladatrix were thus representative of indulgence on the part of the wealthy elite. Gladiator women were also used as sexual objects for the Roman elite. Written records, such as those of Cassius Dio, Petronius, and Juvenal, show that it's very likely that female fights were very lavish because of the infrequency of female gladiators. The use of female gladiators was closely associated with decadence and luxury. ( Public Domain ) A Symbol of Roman Vanity The Ludus magnus in Rome: barracks for gladiators built by Emperor Domitian (81–96 CE), view from Via Labicana. Women didn't use helmets usually to show their feminine hairstyles and as an obvious demonstration of the sex of the fighters. There are few male gladiators who didn't use the helmet, but it seems that in case of women, there was a different reason for not using it.

The lack of helmets for most female gladiators also may be of interest. They also used a sword called the gladius, wore arm and lower leg protectors, and a body shield. In place of tunics they wore only a loincloth.

Ancient reliefs depict the female gladiators as clothed and equipped similarly to the male gladiators, yet there were some significant differences.įirst of all, they did not wear helmets or tunics. In Rome, people liked to see their fights in arenas like the Colosseum, and believed them to be examples of the legendary Amazons from the east. However, decades of research have made it possible to finally confirm their existence and importance in the Ancient Roman culture of gladiator fights.įemale gladiators were often called ‘The Amazons’. Female gladiators (gladiatrix) were just a thing of legend for many years.

What were fights called in the colosseum