Essay On Gladiator

Words: 765
Pages: 4

Gladiators: fierce warriors of ancient Rome. They were trained killers, but not to take land, guard cities, or to execute criminals. These warriors fought for sport, in front of thousands of people. Gladiators were important to Roman life and history because they provided entertainment and fought in one of the most recognisable ancient Roman buildings, the Colosseum. Today, they help paint a picture of ancient Roman life and culture. In ancient times, gladiatorial combat was a sport. Today, we have sports like soccer or baseball. But back in ancient times, the Romans had people fight others for sport. Usually the fighters were slaves or prisoners of war, but sometimes they chose to fight. They participated in schools to learn how to fight. The schools were called Ludus’. In a ludus, the Tiro, or beginner gladiator would practice fight with a Rudis (Brothers). The rudis was the wooden training sword. Throughout the …show more content…
Gladiatorial bouts were often for funerals or celebrations. Sometimes gladiators fought animals, in fact nine thousand animals were slain during a 100-day ceremony to mark the opening of the Colosseum (Andrews). Sometimes convicted criminals and Christians were often thrown to ravenous dogs, lions and bears as part of the day’s entertainment. There were many different types of gladiators, one of which is the retiarius, who fought with a net and trident. Gladiators fought in the structure known as the colosseum. You have probably heard of the Colosseum before, as it is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. The Colosseum is also the most visited monument in italy. The Colosseum is located right in Rome, Italy. Today, a lot of the colosseum is damaged. Most of this is due to an earthquake in 1349 (Brothers). Because on the earthquake, large chunks of the wall are missing. After that, many different people had come to loot stone and other materials from the