Gladiator Description

A gladiator (Latin: gladiator, "swordsman", from gladius, "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. ... The origin of gladiatorial combat is open to debate.

n Latin, the name Gladiator literally translates as 'swordsman'. They were professional fighters who fought in ancient Roman times, in front of a crowd, usually in large amphitheatres, including the Colosseum.

Gladiatorial games (called munera since they were originally “duties” paid to dead ancestors) gradually lost their exclusive connection with the funerals of individuals and became an important part of the public spectacles staged by politicians and emperors (click here for some modern assessments of the culture.


The bones revealed that the typical food eaten by gladiators was wheat, barley and beans - and this echoed the contemporary term for gladiators as the "barley men". There was little sign of meat or dairy products in the diet of almost all of these professional fighters, who performed in front of Roman audiences.

Gladiators customarily kept their prize money and any gifts they received, and these could be substantial. Tiberius offered several retired gladiators 100,000 sesterces each to return to the arena. Nero gave the gladiator Spiculus property and residence "equal to those of men who had celebrated triumphs."