tour 3 of 12
Gladiators
Terracotta figurine of 2 gladiators
Early representations of gladiatorial combat
show both men dressed and armed in the same way. However, there was
a change in the late republican period (1st century BC) when a
number of different categories evolved, with different armour and
weapons. By the Imperial period (1st-4th century AD), we have
evidence of around a dozen clearly distinct
armatura, or
gladiatorial categories. The variety of armour and weapons meant
that each had different strengths and weaknesses, making the combat
more interesting.
The
distinctive small shields of this pair of gladiators show that the
duel is between two heavily-armed combatants, a
hoplomachus with
circular shield and a
thraex, with small
rectangular shield. The
thraex, armed in the
Thracian style, and the
hoplomachus, with his
Greek equipment, were usually pitted against the
murmillo, armed like a
legionary, mimicking the opposition between Roman soldiers and
their various non-Italian enemies.