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M I C R O B I T E S
GLADIATORS
RIVETING READS FOR CURIOUS KIDS
By
John Malam
Consultants
Guy de la Bédoyère, Peter Chrisp
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Second Edition
DK London DK Delhi
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Art Director Karen Self Pooja Pipil
Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf
First Edition
Project Editor Steve Setford
Project Art Editor Peter Radcliffe
Senior Editor Fran Jones
Senior Art Editor Stefan Podhorodecki
Category Publisher Jayne Parsons
Managing Art Editor Jacquie Gulliver
Picture Researcher Sarah Pownall
DK Picture Library Sally Hamilton, Sarah Mills, Rose Horridge
Production Erica Rosen
DTP Designer Siu Yin Ho
This American Edition, 2020
First American Edition, 2002
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
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Copyright © 2002, 2020 Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK, A Division of Penguin Random House LLC
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Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited
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ISBN 978-1-4654-9771-0 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4654-9846-5 (Hardcover)
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C O N T E N T S
6
INTRODUCTION
8
DEADLY HEROES
14
THE RISE OF ROME
58
24 EVERYDAY LIFE
LEGIONARIES
68
AND LEADERS
THE ARTS OF ROME
32
76
CRUEL COLOSSEUM
GODS AND TEMPLES
36
82
MADE TO FIGHT
DECLINE AND FALL
42
85
INTO THE ARENA
REFERENCE SECTION
50 94
HUNTERS AND INDEX AND
CHARIOTEERS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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INTRODUCTION
Picture the scene: a huge stadium in
ancient Rome is packed with a noisy,
excited crowd. They are here to watch
gladiators fight to the death. Suddenly,
the spectators fall silent as a fighter falls
to the ground wounded. Then they start to
shout in Latin “Iugula!” It means “Kill him!”
It’s hard to imagine that anything so horrible,
so bloodthirsty, could ever have happened. But to
the Romans, the spectacle of highly trained fighters
attacking each other with swords, daggers, lances,
tridents, and nets was simply great entertainment!
Although gladiators are long gone, the fascination
with these Roman fighters is as strong as ever. Today,
crowds still like to watch them
perform—not in blood-
soaked stadiums,
but in plush movie
theaters, where
actors play the
part of Roman
fighters. As we
watch the latest
blockbuster film,
packed with
THIS CARVING OF TWO
WOMEN FIGHTING SHOWS
THAT WOMEN, AS WELL AS
MEN, FOUGHT AS GLADIATORS.
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DRESSED TO KILL—THIS BRONZE HELMET
PROTECTED A GLADIATOR’S HEAD FROM THE
BLOWS OF HIS OPPONENT’S WEAPON.
special effects,
or play the latest
computer game,
we can imagine
that we’ve traveled
back in time to the
world the Romans knew.
But what was that
world really like? That’s
where you’ll find this book
helpful. You’ll travel through
the magnificent city that was
ancient Rome, in Italy. You’ll find
out about the Romans’ everyday
lives, their emperors and gods,
and their soldiers and empire. But
most of all, you’ll get to know the
gladiators whose blood was spilled
in the Colosseum, Rome’s most
awe-inspiring stadium. It could
seat 50,000 spectators and might
even be flooded for mock sea battles. Yet it was just
one of more than 230 great amphitheaters that the
Romans built across their empire, from North Africa
to the eastern Mediterranean.
But enough introduction. As the Romans would have
said, “Mox nox in rem!”—“Let’s get this show on the road!”
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G l a d i a t o r s
DEADLY HEROES
Gladiators were the superstars of their
time. They were adored by their fans
and rewarded with large sums of money—
just like today’s stars of music, sports, and film.
But there was one crucial difference between
gladiators and modern crowd-pleasers—these
Roman entertainers killed one another.
Cold-blooded killing was their job.
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D e a d l y H e r o e s
A taste for violence heroes in action. Roman
Gladiators were a Roman audiences were as happy to
fashion—the world has watch gladiators spilling each
seen nothing like them before other’s blood as they were to
or since. In towns and cities watch actors perform a comedy
throughout the Roman Empire, play at the theater. The Romans
arenas of all sizes were built thought that gladiator fights
to stage shows for the public— were a perfectly acceptable
especially gladiatorial games. form of entertainment. It
These violent, bloody contests was gory but glamorous, and
were usually the most popular they loved it. It’s only later
event in a town’s social calendar, generations—and that includes
a chance for people to see their us—who think of them as
horrible acts of violence,
the nastiest, cruelest blood
sport ever invented.
Bringers of good luck
The Roman liking for watching
fighting and killing in public
lasted for around 500 years.
It’s not surprising then that
gladiators played such a big
part in Roman society. All
manner of superstitions and
beliefs grew up around them.
For example, during a marriage
ceremony, it was the custom on
the wedding day for the bride
to part her hair with the tip of
a spear—and if it had belonged
to a gladiator killed in the
arena, she would be blessed
THIS PICTURE CAPTURES THE DRAMA
OF THE ARENA. A FALLEN GLADIATOR
LOOKS TO THE CROWD TO SEE IF THEY
WILL SPARE HIS LIFE. THEIR “THUMBS
DOWN” RESPONSE SIGNALS THAT THE
LOSER SHOULD DIE.
9
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G l a d i a t o r s
with good luck. Perhaps the It was because gladiators were
meaning of this strange act professional fighters, trained
was to drive out harmful spirits in the brutal art of committing
believed to be tangled in the public executions, that they
bride’s hair. Customs such as scared most Romans.
this show how fascinating Despite this, the Romans
gladiators were to ordinary loved watching these powerful
Roman people. fighters battle it out in the
arena from the safety of their
Feared fighters ringside seats. Children played
The truth is, underneath with pottery gladiator dolls,
this fascination with gladiators and people had pictures of
lay a tremendous fear of them. them in their homes—on
THE LAST GLADIATOR CONTESTS TOOK
PLACE MORE THAN 1,600 YEARS AGO.
lamps, tableware, and
mosaics. These often
showed real fights,
with the names of
the gladiators written
beside them. We
know from the
writings of Pliny
the Elder that
gladiators were a
popular subject in
Roman art for many
generations.
THIS IS A TOMBSTONE OF A
RETIARIUS—A GLADIATOR
WHO FOUGHT WITH A NET
AND A THREE-PRONGED
SPEAR CALLED A TRIDENT.
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