When we think of ancient Rome, gladiator fights are often top of mind. And yet, very little is known about these Colosseum battles, which is what arguably makes them great fodder for imaginative screenwriters. Case in point: Gladiator II—the sequel to 2000’s blockbuster, five-time Academy Award-winner Gladiator—out in theaters today (Nov. 22).
There are examples of gladiators in art, including mosaics, but the only written description of their fights comes from an account of gladiators Priscus and Verus in “On the Spectacles,” an anthology by the poet Marital published circa 80 AD. According to the poem, the two men let out “mighty shouts” and were described as well-matched, fighting until the emperor raised a finger.
“People are often surprised by the fact that we only have one description, in a poem from the end of the first century AD, of an individual gladiatorial contest between two gladiators,” says Mary Beard, a classicist and author of Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World. “One of the big puzzles is, what are they for? Why are (gladiators) doing this? We don’t know where they originated.”
What is known is that gladiator fights were beloved by Romans and a true civic bonding experience, according to Beard. Citizens of all levels of society could attend. In the movie, the crowd loves all of the blood and gore.
Gladiator II imagines that the legendary emperor Marcus Aurelius’s illegitimate grandson winds up as a slave and gladiator in Rome’s Colosseum after his city-state is conquered. A top businessman named Macrinus (Denzel Washington) purchases Lucius, part of his plan to raise an army of gladiators.
While there really was a school for gladiators in an arena next to the Colosseum that taught several types of fighting—and Macrinus was a real person who later became emperor of Rome—Macrinus never trained gladiators himself. But it’s true that gladiators could have come from regions conquered by Rome. In the film, the purpose of one fight is said to be “a victory of Rome over the barbarians.”
“It’s an ordered ritualized slaughter,” says Beard. Some audience members “must have enjoyed seeing the slaughter of people they regarded as enemies.”
Gladiators were chosen from the fringes of society
Gladiators were drawn from a range of backgrounds, including enslaved people, condemned criminals, and prisoners of war. Others were vagrants. Generally, gladiators were “on the outside of Roman society,” according to Beard.
It is also true the Colosseum was flooded periodically to recreate famous naval battles, a demonstration known as naumachia. Andrew Scott, a classical studies professor at Villanova University, likens them to battle reenactments of the American Civil War. But it is extremely unlikely that there were any sharks, as depicted in the movie. “I don’t think I’ve ever read the word shark in an ancient historical narrative,” Scott says.
Fights also included staged hunts, and it’s conceivable that gladiators rode exotic wildlife. In Gladiator II, a gladiator rides on a rhinoceros in one fight. In real ancient Rome, soldiers might have brought back animals from the places they conquered. More likely, the animals hunted in the arena were wild boars from the local countryside.
The plot of Gladiator II might not be completely historically accurate in all respects, but, as Beard puts it, the Gladiator franchise captures “the wondrous, almost unbelievable spectacles” that were real gladiator fights.
