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Who were the most renowned Roman gladiators? From slave rebel Spartacus to debauched emperor Commodus, they varied widely.
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Who were the most renowned Roman gladiators? From slave rebel Spartacus to debauched emperor Commodus, they varied widely.
Before ancient Roman gladiators fought grisly battles in rowdy public arenas like the Colosseum , they squared off in much more solemn venues: funerals.
Early gladiator fights began in the 3 rd century B.C.E. as ritual blood offerings to the spirits of recently departed nobles. That changed around 27 B.C.E., when Augustus took power in Rome, says Michael J. Carter, a classics professor at Brock University in Ontario: “He detaches gladiatorial combat from its purely funerary context and makes it into a regular part of the entertainment cycle in Rome.” The shift gave rise to some of the most famous gladiators today: Spartacus, Spiculus, Marcus Attilius and more.
Most gladiators were enslaved people forced to fight. But a small contingent were free-born citizens who volunteered in hopes of earning money and fame. Before they could enter combat, gladiators trained for months in specialized schools managed by wealthy investors who profited from their fighters’ success.
Contrary to popular perception, gladiators didn’t necessarily battle to the death. Instead, fighting progressed until one of them surrendered, usually by holding up a single finger. All told, only between 10 and 20 percent of gladiators died during matches—a reflection, in part, of their high financial value to investors.
It wasn’t easy for gladiators to stand out. Each warrior fought only two to three times per year, usually in events featuring 10 to 13 gladiator fights, according to Murray—with each individual match lasting about 10 to 15 minutes. But some, owing to their extravagant personalities, personal backgrounds or memorable performances, gained lasting renown via ancient artists or historians. Here are five gladiators still remembered centuries later:
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A free-born Roman, Attilius enrolled in gladiator school seemingly of his own volition—making him part of a small but elite pool of gladiators who volunteered to fight.
To make matches as equal as possible, Roman overseers generally assigned gladiators to compete against people of roughly similar experience level: novices against novices, experts against experts. But when Marcus Attilius first stepped into an amphitheater in Pompeii, as a “tiro”—a term for a new gladiator—he faced Hilarus, a veteran fighter who had won 12 out of 14 matches in his career, equal to several years of experience as a gladiator.
In a stunning performance, the young Marcus Attilius not only fought Hilarus to a surrender, but in his next battle, defeated another 12-time-winning gladiator. The back-to-back upsets prompted Pompeiian graffiti artists of the time to memorialize his achievement. While Attilius was likely not widely known across the Roman Empire—one scholar suggests his fame was only regional at best—his renown in Pompeii came at a convenient historical moment: In 79 A.D., just a few decades after Attilius’s fights, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city—and its graffiti—preserving his legacy for centuries.
Spiculus attended gladiator school in the Italian city of Capua, where he must have shown immense promise. In his first amphitheater match, he squared off against Aptonetus, a veteran gladiator and free Roman who had won 16 fights. In a stunning upset, Spiculus beat—then killed—Aptonetus. His triumph gained the attention of Rome’s then- emperor Nero .
Taking a liking to Spiculus, Nero lavished him with gifts—including a palace. This placed the young gladiator in a peculiar social position: technically enslaved, but living in luxury, attended to by servants who were themselves enslaved.
In 68 A.D., as Nero faced a rebellion in the empire and near-certain death, he asked his friend Spiculus to execute him. But Spiculus either didn’t get the message or refused, and Nero took his own life. Afterward, Roman citizens protesting his brutal reign began uprooting and destroying the emperor’s statues; according to the writer Plutarch, the mob used them to crush his friend Spiculus to death.
Today, Commodus is best known as the “mad” emperor whose disastrous rule from 180 to 192 A.D. marked the end of Rome’s golden era (also known as the Pax Romana ). The son of Marcus Aurelius , Commodus became co-emperor with his father at age 16. He rose to power on his own in 180 A.D., after his father died—possibly from disease, possibly by murder.
Cruel, lewd and debauched, according to early historian Aelius Lampridius, Commodus kept a harem of 600 boys and young women and considered himself a god. Believing he was the reincarnation of Hercules , he often walked around the palace enrobed in the mythic strongman’s signature lion skin.
Not surprisingly, Commodus also styled himself a gladiator. He purportedly entered the ring 735 times, often fighting against animals, but occasionally battling other gladiators. Commodus wasn’t particularly skilled, but no rival fighter dared hurt or kill a reigning emperor, wrote historian Herodian; wounding Commodus seemed like a certain path to their own grisly death.
The Syrian-born gladiator, who rose to fame under the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117 to 138 A.D.), is best known for the length of his career, and for being awarded his freedom four times—and repeatedly turning it down. Flamma finished an impressive 34 matches, mostly in Sicily. He owed that long career not just to his success in the amphitheater, but also to the mercy of event organizers: He received some 13 reprieves, in which umpires either spared his life during a defeat or crowned both competitors as winners.
Flamma’s record shows just how dependent gladiators were on the mercy of umpires, who could either save a losing gladiator’s life or allow the opposing fighter to land a death blow. Flamma finally died at the age of 30, older than many of his peers.
Colored engraving of Spartacus (109-71 BC), ancient Roman leader of the slave revolt that evolved into the third Servile War
The most prominent gladiator in Ancient Rome never actually fought in an amphitheater at all. Spartacus, memorialized in the 1960 Kirk Douglas film of the same name, was likely born in the Balkans, and was sold into slavery to train at a gladiator school in Capua.
In 73 B.C.E., still early in his training, Spartacus grew fed up with the abuses of gladiator school. He ran away and took refuge on Mt. Vesuvius. Soon, thousands of other enslaved gladiators fled their schools and joined Spartacus, as he organized one of the most famous uprisings in ancient Rome: the Third Servile War. In 72 B.C.E., a year after he fled, Spartacus led an army of enslaved people—by some estimates, as many as 100,000—to fight the Romans in Gaul. His success spurred the Roman Empire into action, and at Lucania the next year, General Marcus Licinius Crassus crushed the rebels. Nearly all of Spartacus’s army perished, including Spartacus himself.
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The Roman Empire was founded when Augustus Caesar proclaimed himself the first emperor of Rome in 31BC and came to an end with the fall of Constantinople in 1453CE.
An empire is a political system in which a group of people are ruled by a single individual, an emperor or empress . The Roman Empire began with the reign of Emperor Augustus. The power of the Senate was limited and became an organ to support the emperor.
The period between Augustus and Diocletian is called High Empire, while the Low Empire is the era between Diocletian and the fall of the Roman Empire in the West.
Between the years 14 and 68 the heirs of Augustus succeeded him: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. This dynastic succession was interrupted when emperor Nero died and a civil war broke out in the year 68. Three emperors fought for the power and finally the war was won by Vespasian, part of the Flavian dynasty.
The Flavian dynasty was succeeded by the Antonines (96 – 193) , a generic name given to Nerva , Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus . These emperors had a very similar policy to the Flavians.
The accession of Septimius Severus (197 – 235) made him the first of the Imperial Severan Dynasty to rule (197 – 235). He was replaced by Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus.
The absolute power of Rome, capital of the Empire, was weakened over time. Between 235 and 300 Rome’s only priority was to defend its borders from the continuous attacks by the Barbarians and from the Sasanians (from Persia) . The pressure of these raids prompted the army to assume power in 235. This era is known as the military anarchy and lasted about fifty years. The emperors of this time had one sole purpose: fighting the Empire’s enemies and securing the borders.
As a consequence of these constant wars the army was very expensive to maintain, and thus the Empire became crippled with debts . This in turn impoverished the population and many lost their identity and values. Many put in doubt their religious beliefs, especially with the arrival of new doctrines from the East.
The persecution of an ever growing Christian minority by Diocletain was a way to rid the empire of the dangers it was facing.
In 284 a military revolt saved the Empire and Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. During his rule he instaured the Tetrarchy, a form of government that divided the power. Diocletian designated the general Maximian to take charge of the western regions of the Empire, while the emperor governed over the eastern regions. Years later, he would appoint two Caesars.
Diocletian abdicated in 305, revealing that the Tetrarchic political system didn’t work without someone to lead it.
After the abdication of Diocletian in 305, a series of conflicts took place until 312, when Constantine became the sole emperor of the West. He was to be the last emperor of the unified empire. He instituted Christianity as the official religion of the Empire.
The capital of the Empire is moved to the ancient city of Byzantium , which is reconstructed. Byzantium, from 8 November, 324, is renamed Constantinople or the city of Constantine.
Constantine’s successor, Theodosius , divided the empire between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius, creating the Westen Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.
The Western Roman Empire falls in 476. Meanwhile, the other half, called the Byzantine Empire, survives until 1453 with the decline of Constantinople, now called Istanbul.
The Roman Republic was installed after the Roman kingdom was overthrown in 509BC and lasted until 27BC. One of the most important figures of this period is Julius Caesar.

When Romulus Augustulus was overthrown in the west by Odoacer, the Germanic King, in 476CE, the Papacy gained authority over the following years.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Occurrences and people in the Roman Empire
Imperium Romanum ( Latin ) Senatus populusque Romanus ( SPQR ) Senate and People of Rome [n 1] Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων ( Ancient Greek ) Basileía Rhōmaíōn
The Roman Empire in AD 117, at its greatest extent. [1]
c Abbreviated "HS". Prices and values are usually expressed in sesterces; see below for currency denominations by period.
Main articles: Macrinus and Diadumenian
Main articles: Diocletian and Tetrarchy
Main articles: Valentinian I and Valens
A golden solidus depicting Valentinian I (r. 364–375) and (righthand image) a marble statue of his son and later ruler Valentinian II (r. 375–392)
Main articles: Gratian and Valentinian II

^ Other ways of referring to the "Roman Empire" among the Romans and Greeks themselves included Res publica Romana or Imperium Romanorum (also in Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων – Basileíā tôn Rhōmaíōn – ["Dominion (Literally 'kingdom') of the Romans"]) and Romania . Res publica means Roman "commonwealth" and can refer to both the Republican and the Imperial eras. Imperium Romanum (or Romanorum ) refers to the territorial extent of Roman authority. Populus Romanus ("the Roman people") was/is often used to indicate the Roman state in matters involving other nations. The term Romania , initially a colloquial term for the empire's territory as well as a collective name for its inhabitants, appears in Greek and Latin sources from the 4th century onward and was eventually carried over to the Byzantine Empire (see R. L. Wolff, "Romania: The Latin Empire of Constantinople" in Speculum 23 (1948), pp. 1–34 and especially pp. 2–3).

^ Bennett, J. Trajan: Optimus Princeps . 1997. Fig. 1. Regions east of the Euphrates river were held only in the years 116–117.

^ Jump up to: a b c Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 BC to AD 600". Social Science History . Duke University Press. 3 (3/4): 118. doi : 10.2307/1170959 . JSTOR 1170959 .

^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires" (PDF) . Journal of World-Systems Research . 12 (2): 219–229. doi : 10.5195/JWSR.2006.369 . ISSN 1076-156X . Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 February 2012 . Retrieved 12 August 2010 .

^ John D. Durand, Historical Estimates of World Population: An Evaluation , 1977, pp. 253–296.

^ Christopher Kelly, The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 4ff.

^ Claude Nicolet, Space, Geography, and Politics in the Early Roman Empire (University of Michigan Press, 1991, originally published in French 1988), pp. 1, 15.

^ T. Corey Brennan , The Praetorship in the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 605 et passim .

^ Clifford Ando , "From Republic to Empire," in The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World (Oxford University Press, pp. 39–40.

^ Dio Cassius 72.36.4 , Loeb edition translated E. Cary.

^ Brown, P., The World of Late Antiquity, London 1971, p. 22.

^ Jump up to: a b "Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity: The Late Roman Empire" . University of Oxford. 2012 . Retrieved 8 December 2018 . The late Roman period (which we are defining as, roughly, AD 250–450)...

^ Adrian Goldsworth, How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower (Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 405–415.

^ Potter, David. The Roman Empire at Bay. 296–98.

^ Chester G. Starr, A History of the Ancient World, Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 1974. pp. 670–678.

^ Isaac Asimov. Asimov's Chronology of the World. Harper Collins, 1989. p. 110.

^ Asimov, p. 198.

^ Eck, Werner; translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider; new material by Sarolta A. Takács. (2003) The Age of Augustus. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p. 12.

^ Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World's Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 63.

^ Eck, Werner; translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider; new material by Sarolta A. Takács. (2003) The Age of Augustus. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p. 40.

^ Birley, E.B. (1928). "A Note on the Title 'Gemina' ". Journal of Roman Studies . 18 : 56–60. doi : 10.2307/296044 . JSTOR 296044 .

^ Abbott 1901 , p. 272.

^ Jump up to: a b Abbott 1901 , p. 273.

^ Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories XXVIII.5.23.

^ Abbott 1901 , p. 293.

^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome , p. 269.

^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire , p. 38.

^ Scramuzza, Vincent (1940). The Emperor Claudius Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 29.

^ Dio-Loeb 1925 , 29 (p. 191) .

^ Cassius Dio; Thayer, Bill. "Cassius Dio – Epitome of Book 63" (retyped, unproofread tra
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