This gallery features images of Roman gladiators. In ancient Rome, gladiators were professional combatants who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire by violently confronting other gladiators and wild animals. They fought in hugely popular organised games held in large purpose-built arenas throughout the Roman Empire. Gladiator spectacles were one of the most-watched forms of popular entertainment in the Roman world.
The earliest gladiator contests occurred in Paestum in southern Italy in the 4th century BCE, but the first recorded gladiator fight in Rome was in 246 BCE, at the funeral of a man called Junius Brutus. The combat included three pairs of slaves and took place in the Forum Boarium. In 65 BCE, Julius Caesar paid for shows, which had 320 pairs of gladiators fighting against each other, and a wooden amphitheatre was built for the occasion. The shows extended from one day to as many as a hundred, under the Roman emperor Titus, and the emperor Trajan in his Roman triumph (107 CE) had 5,000 pairs of gladiators.
Most gladiators were slaves captured in war or condemned prisoners. As fights were usually to the death, gladiators had a short life expectancy. They were trained in special schools called ludi. Victors in the contests, particularly those with many fights behind them, became heroes and led glamorous lives. There were different types of gladiators, and their weapons or armour often helped identify them.
