Daily Life: Gladiators

Gladiators are one of the best known aspects of Roman life, and certainly one of the most cinematographic.

Andabata: File under weird, these gladiators had helmets with no eye holes and rode around on horseback trying to hit each other with lances. You can almost hear them saying:"With the blast shields down I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?"

Bestiarius: Are gladiators who fight wild animals. These are not the same as condemded criminals who were thrown to animals since bestiarii were trained and armed.

Eques (pl. eqites):

Gladiatrix (pl. gladiatrices): Female gladiators were rare, but they did exist. Occasionally they were dressed like Amazons and a (female) Achilles. There were specific laws against high born Roman women becoming gladiatrices, so there must have been some interest.

Hoplomachus:

Laquearius: Are lightly armored gladiators who use lassos to immobilize their opponent and then stab them with a trident.

Murmillo (pl. murmillones):

Nauta: Are slaves who man ships during mock naval combat (naumachia). The arena was filled with water (or stands set up overlooking a lagoon) and ships would fight each other. It was a bloody and expensive affair.

Retiarius: Were lightly armed gladiators who fight with a trident and net. Romans felt they were morally reprehensible since they were "girly", which is funny since we tend to look with askance at people who make slaves fight to the death.

Veles (pl. velites):

Ventior (pl. ventiores): Hunt wild animals in the area and not to be confused with bestiarii since they hunted fast harmless animals, not big fierce ones.