[INTENSE MUSIC] In ancient Rome arena combat
was an ingrained tradition that bridged the worlds of
sports, politics, religion and entertainment. It was also totally nuts. Romans loved the
games and gladiators were like rock stars and
sports heroes rolled into one. They fought before
massive crowds with a wide variety of weapons. And often under
circumstances that were mindblowingly dangerous. But that's just the
tip of the iceberg. Today we're going to take
a look at some insane facts about what it was like
to be a Roman gladiator. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel and let us
know in the comments below what other historical entertainment
you would like to hear about. OK this is going to
escalate quickly. When we think of gladiators
we tend to picture warriors fighting for sport in an arena,
as entertainment for a crowd. However that wasn't
always the case. Long before the games
became a public event, gladiator combat was part of
the funeral rites for Rome's wealthiest aristocrats. It was believed that the
spilling of blood in combat would purify the
soul of the deceased, and prepare them for their
coming time in the afterlife. This ritual, which had been
appropriated from Atruscan culture, was originally
a luxury reserved only for the richest Roman citizens. But as time went on and
the culture evolved, the fights transformed into a
highly popular, state funded spectacles. The idea of two people fighting
to the afterlife for sport, might sound pretty insane to us. But for the ancient Romans,
it got old real fast. So to keep things exciting
and hopefully keep the crowds coming back,
promoters turned to gimmicks. Instead of ten cent
beer night, there was andabata, a
gimmick that meant in combat the gladiators
wore blindfolds and helmets without eye holes. And if that's not
dangerous enough, they also couldn't
wear any armor, being restricted to only
loin cloths and sandals. Yeah, it sounds pretty
harsh especially if it's a chilly day. But this particularly
brutal contest was typically reserved
for criminals who had been sentenced to death. Spectacles in the arena weren't
limited to human combat. Wild animals like crocodiles,
elephants, and lions were also part of the action. The animals might be
pitted against each other, or sometimes fight
against a human. When these events occurred,
the beast didn't typically fight with regular gladiators. Rather they were usually
part of a special hunting event which featured
warriors known as venatores and bestiarii. Venatores were highly
trained hunters armed with spears
and bows, who would showcase their formidable
skills by killing animals from a distance. Bestiarii on the
other hand, were criminals accused of
particularly heinous offenses. They typically had
no combat training and were tossed into the arena
as punishment for their crimes. The bestiarii were usually taken
out by the animals they faced, which absolutely
delighted the crowds. Matches like these were often
the opening event of the games. Because presumably, nothing
says fun entertainment like a convict being eaten by
a croc, chomp, chomp, chomp. The vast majority of
gladiators were men. But there were some women. Although it's not known
when the practice started, women are also known to
have fought in the arena. The existence of these
warriors, known as gladiatresses is known only from a
handful of accounts. However, some
historians believe they may have been a common
feature of the games, by the first century. Gladiatresses
fought for spectacle and often joined in
the hunting activities. But the gladiatresses
weren't always treated as respectfully as
their male counterparts. They were often used in
parody matches, meant to get laughs from the crowd. For example, the
emperor, Domitian, is known to have staged
fights between gladiatresses and dwarves, Despite this, there were
also legitimate contests between these lady gladiators
and they were known to have fought with honor. An ancient commemorative relief,
in the city of Halicarnassus, depicts such a battle. Fought between two
women identified as Akeelah and
Amazon, the reliefs suggests the combatants were
released after the battle ended in a stalemate. The age of the gladiatresses
came to an end in the year 200, when emperor Septimius Severus
banned them from the games. Hollywood would have us believe
that gladiatorial combat was a gory hellscape that didn't
end until someone was dead. But the truth is much
more complicated. In actuality, gladiators
were expensive to train. And they also had to
be fed and housed. As such, their owners
weren't exactly in a rush to see their investment
get taken out in the arena. As a result of these
financial considerations, killing was a lot less
common than we've all been led to believe. To help minimize expenses,
there were numerous loopholes that allowed for both combatants
to escape the fight alive. For example, if the
fight grew boring it might be declared a stalemate
so the event could move on to the next match. Conversely if a fight was
particularly thrilling, both gladiators
might be rewarded for putting on such
a good show and then allowed to leave with honors. If all else failed, a gladiator
who had been squarely beaten or was about to be, could
always beg for their life. The defeated gladiator would
have to acknowledge their loss by raising their fingers. Once this was done,
there was a chance his life could be spared. But there were no guarantees. The final decision about
who lived and who died rested with an arbiter. Different games had
different arbiters, unless the emperor was present. In which case, the emperor
was always the arbiter. Arbiters could do
whatever they pleased but they often took the wishes
of the crowd into account. By cheering for a
fighter they liked, a crowd could literally
save the man's life. Pro athletes get a
ton of respect today. But in ancient Rome it
was a little different. Crowds loved the
gladiators but they didn't want to associate
with them personally. Because socially
speaking, entertainers were considered to be low
on the social totem pole. This reality made it awkward for
everyone on the rare occasion an emperor decided he wanted to
get into the arena and fight. And it did happen. Despite being seen as a massive
degradation of themselves and their empires, emperors,
like Titus and Caligula couldn't resist the
call of the arena. Thanks to Ridley
Scott's 2000 film, Gladiator, the most famous
of the fighting emperors is Commodus. Commodus was presented
as an egomaniac who insists on personally fighting
Russell Crowe's Maximus, before the crowds at the arena. This might feel like something
contrived for the screen. But the real Commodus
believed himself to be a divine warrior of the people. And he did enjoy
fighting in the games. Of course, he didn't like the
idea of losing in the game. So just like in the
film, he preferred to fight in a staged or rigged
combat, where the odds were overwhelmingly in his favor. Whether gladiators or golfers,
everybody lets the boss win. Gladiators are usually
depicted fighting with swords, but in real life they used
a wide array of weapons. This variety of combat was
another way for promoters to keep things interesting. And in any given
match, a crowd might see gladiators fighting
with swords, spears, lances and shields. These weapons each offered
advantages and disadvantages that shaped the
gladiators fighting style. This in turn would
create a personal brand that might make one
particular warrior more memorable than the others. Along these lines,
weapons were often assigned based on the
gladiators home culture. For example Thracians
got curved short swords. And Samnites used lances. One highly specialized class
of gladiator were the retiari. Their style was based
on the practices of fishermen, which
meant that they typically wore little armor. This in turn made them
highly mobile and agile, allowing them to use their
weapons to maximum effect. Those weapons, again,
were the weapons of a fisherman, namely
a trident and a net. The idea would be
for the retiari to use their mobility to
avoid their more heavily armored opponent. At an opportune
moment, they would then try to snare their
enemy in the net, and then quickly run them
through with a trident. In the same way that
modern boxers need to be separated
into weight classes to keep things competitive,
ancient gladiators were broken up into classes
based on differences in their weapons and armor. The major divisions were between
lightly armored combatants and heavily armored combatants. But there were numerous
subcategories of each. The fighters were also separated
according to experience level, so that new recruits didn't find
themselves up against veterans. The lightly armored
gladiators typically fought in the middle of the day,
after the opening beast fights. While the toughest
and most experienced fighters were saved for last. So let's say you were
too scared to fight or maybe taking out
another human being for the entertainment of a crowd
violated your moral principles, could you get out of it? Uh, no. You could beg for
mercy if you lost. But gladiators
scheduled for a contest were absolutely
required to fight. Anyone who refused
to fight would be attacked by the slave
manager and his team, usually with whips
and hot metal rods. Why do the rods have to be hot? The only sure way
to avoid combat was to commit suicide which
wasn't always an easy task, as if it's ever an easy task. It's a bit of a rock and
a hard place situation. Take for example, a group
of dramatic prisoners from the year 401,
who were looking to avoid fighting in the arena. The only way they got out, they
had to strangle themselves. That takes commitment. The Roman Empire had contact
with numerous other cultures and gladiators could
come from any of them. As such, many gladiators
had armor that was reflective of their origin. For example, Germanic gladiators
often wore heavy armor, while Greeks and others
from the east of the empire typically wore light armor. Murmillo gladiators wore fish
shaped crests on their helmets and were accordingly known
as fishermen gladiators. Romans loved all
types of combat, including the
vehicular combat, which is not to be confused with
chariot racing, an entirely different event. There was even a
class of gladiators who specialized in such fights. Known as the essedarii,
these fighters used chariots as a platform
for gladiatorial combat. They typically
performed reenactments of famous battles in which
Rome fought, using chariots, such as in the fight against the
British warrior queen, Boudica. While large scale battles
in the gladiatorial games weren't unknown, they
weren't typical either. Rather than epic spectacles,
the vast majority of fights were simple skirmishes
between two combatants, in an otherwise empty arena. Once again, this had to do
with the considerable expense involved in training and
maintaining gladiators. Fielding so many
fighters at once would require deep pockets. Accordingly, such
large scale fights were usually reserved
for special occasions for the richest and most
powerful spectators. So what do you think? How long would you
last in the arena? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
