Gladiator Helmets: Fit for Purpose, Not Just Protection

Ancient Origins

The gladiator is most likely the first image one calls to mind when thinking about entertainment in ancient Rome. As most would already know, gladiators fought either each other or wild animals, in amphitheatres, such as the Colosseum in Rome, across the Roman world. There are various types of gladiators, each distinguished by the weapons and armor that were used. Thus, there were also a variety of gladiator helmets, which will be explored in this article.

A variety of gladiator types with their armor and weapons are shown on the Zliten mosaic. ( Public Domain )

Who wore Gladiator Helmets?
 One may begin with the fact that not all gladiators wore helmets. As an example, the retiarius (which may be literally translated to mean ‘net-man’ or ‘net-fighter’) is a type of gladiator that does not use a helmet. This gladiator is armed with a net, a trident, and a dagger. Compared to other gladiator types, the retiarius wore little armor, which consisted of an arm guard, a shoulder guard, and fabric padding. Thus, the retiarius relied on speed and agility in the arena. Needless to say, a heavy helmet would be a liability, and thus was not used by the retiarius. Another type of gladiator that did not use a helmet was the gladiatrix, or female gladiator. Battles involving gladiatrices were rare, and the lack of helmets was meant to emphasize their sex.

A retiarius gladiator stabs at his secutor opponent with his trident. Mosaic from the villa at Nennig, 2nd-3rd century AD ( Public Domain )

The Secutor Helmet
The retiarius and the gladiatrices may be said to be the exceptions, rather than the norm, as most other types of gladiators were equipped with helmets. It may be added that the design of the helmets depended on the class of gladiator. For instance, the secutor (meaning ‘follower’ or ‘chaser’) was regularly pitted against the retiarius, and thus had a helmet devised specifically to protect him from the weapons of his opponent. The helmet of the secutor is shaped like the head of a fish, considering that its traditional opponent was meant to represent a fisherman. To maximise protection against the thrusting attacks of the retiarius’ trident, the secutor’s helmet was fitted only with two small eye-holes. The downside to this, however, was the visibility was limited. Additionally, the helmet had a rounded top, and lacked decorations, so as to prevent it from getting caught in the net of the retiarius.

Iron secutor style helmet from Herculaneum, 1st century. ( CC BY-NC-SA-2.0 )

 Thracian Style Helmets
 In contrast to the plain helmet of the secutor, some gladiator helmets had elaborate ornamentations. This may be seen, for instance, in the helmet of the Thraex (also known as Thracian). An example of this helmet is exhibited in the Louvre in Paris. This particular helmet was made of bronze and was unearthed in Pompeii. In terms of embellishments, this Thraex helmet has a crest decorated with plumes, and terminating in a griffin’s head. Additionally, there is a silver-plated head of Medusa on the front of the helmet. Plume holders are also present on either side of the helmet, which allowed feathers to be attached.

The helmet of a Thracian gladiator, the Louvre. (Image: © RMN, Musée du Louvre )

Murmillo Head Protection
 It may be said that the design of the helmet used by the Thraex is quite similar to that worn by the murmillo, another type of gladiator. Both types of gladiators were heavily armed, and thus had a similar sort of helmet. The helmet of the murmillo, like that of the Thraex, had a broad brim, as well as a crest, which was adorned with plumes or horsehair. This crest would typically have a stylized fish on it, as the murmillo is sometimes referred to as the ‘fishman’. In contrast to the helmet of the secutor, those used by the thraex and the murmillo have ‘grill’ visors with multiple holes, which made breathing and seeing a bit easier.

Helmet of a murmillo (a type of gladiator during the Roman Imperial age), 2nd century AD, Neues Museum, Berlin. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 )

  Last of all, some attention may be drawn to a rather curious type of gladiator called the andabata (which may be translated to mean ‘blindfolded gladiator’). This type of gladiator was referred to by Cicero in one of the letters to his friends. This type of gladiator is said to have fought on horseback - although this is questioned by some - and wore a type of helmet which had no eyeholes. In other words, such gladiators would be charging blindly at one another in the arena.

Top image: The helmet of a gladiator (reproduction). ( Public Domain )

By Wu Mingren

Pompeii: A Snapshot of Ancient Roman Life

BY GRAHAM LAND

Made From History

In August of 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted, covering the Roman city of Pompeii in 4 – 6 metres of pumice and ash. The nearby town of Herculaneum met a similar fate.

 Of the 11,000-strong population at the time, it is estimated that only around 2,000 survived the first eruption, while most of the rest perished in the second, which was even more powerful. The preservation of the site was so extensive because rain mixed with the fallen ash and formed a sort of epoxy mud, which then hardened.

 What was a large-scale natural disaster for the ancient residents of Pompeii turned out to be a miracle in archaeological terms, due to the incredible conservation of the city.

Ash moulds preserved human forms at the time of death. Credit: Sören Bleikertz (Wikimedia Commons)

 Written Records of Pompeii

You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognise them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.
—Pliny the Younger

Before the rediscovery of the site in 1599, the city and its destruction were known only through written records. Both Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger wrote about the eruption of Vesuvius and the death of Pompeii. Pliny the Elder described seeing a large cloud from across the bay, and as a commander in the Roman Navy, embarked on a nautical exploration of the area. He ultimately died, probably from inhaling sulphuric gases and ash.

 Pliny the Younger’s letters to the historian Tacitus relate the first and second eruptions as well as the death of his uncle. He describes residents struggling to escape the waves of ash and how the rains later mixed with the fallen ash.

 An Incredible Window into Ancient Roman Culture

A house in Pompeii. Credit: Sean Hayford O’Leary (Wikimedia Commons)

 Though much about Ancient Roman culture and society was recorded in art and the written word, these media are purposeful, thought-out ways of transmitting information. Contrastingly, the disaster at Pompeii and Herculaneum provides a spontaneous and accurate 3-dimensional snapshot of ordinary life in a Roman city.

 Thanks to the temperamental geological nature of Vesuvius, ornate paintings and gladiator graffiti alike have been preserved for two millennia. The city’s taverns, brothels, villas and theatres were captured in time. Bread was even sealed in bakery ovens. There is simply no archaeological parallel to Pompeii as nothing comparable has survived in such a way or for such a long time, which so accurately preserves the lives of ordinary ancient people.

 Most, if not all, the buildings and artefacts of Pompeii would have been lucky to last 100 years if not for the eruption. Instead they have survived for nearly 2,000.

 What Survived in Pompeii?
Examples of preservation at Pompeii include such diverse treasures as the Temple of Isis and a complementary wall painting depicting how the Egyptian goddess was worshiped there; a large collection of glassware; animal-powered rotary mills; practically intact houses; a remarkably well-conserved forum baths and even carbonised chicken eggs.

A fresco shows a young woman holding a stylus and wooden tablets

 Paintings range from a series of erotic frescos to a fine depiction of a young woman writing on wooden tablets with a stylus, a banquet scene and a baker selling bread. A somewhat more crude painting, though just as valuable in terms of history and archaeology, is from a city tavern and shows men engaging in gameplay.

 A Remnant of the Ancient Past Faces an Uncertain Future
While the ancient site is still being excavated, it is more vulnerable to damage than it was all those years buried under ash. UNESCO has expressed concerns that the Pompeii site has suffered from vandalism and a general decline due to poor upkeep and a lack of protection from the elements.

 Though most of the frescos have been rehoused in museums, the architecture of the city remains exposed and requires safeguarding as it is a treasure not just of Italy, but of the world.

Pompeiian gladiator graffiti

How to Train Like an Ancient Roman Gladiator

Roman Fitness Systems

In antiquity, stories of ancient heroes were used to inspire youngsters towards greatness. One story tells of Milo of Croton, the greatest wrestler of his generation.

Milo was so strong that after his victory at the Ancient Olympics, he carried a life-size bronze statue of himself to its stand in the alleyway of heroes at Olympia.

Just like the Olympics today, ancient athletes spent considerable time training in order to win their individual matches, as well as immortality; stories of their feats are still being recounted after generations.

Milo is one such athlete; stories of his discipline and training are legendary.

 He came from the city of Croton in Magna Graecia (now in southern Italy) and was a six-time Olympic champion, also winning numerous titles at the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games.

One mantra of modern training that Milo also used is the progressive overload, where you add heavier and heavier weights as you progress. The story goes that one day, seeing a small bull that had recently been born, he hoisted it onto his shoulders and walked around with it. He got such a good workout out of it that he decided to do it every day.

As the bull grew stronger and larger over time, and so did Milo.

Ancient Heroes: The Gladiators
Forget Spartacus as the greatest gladiator of all time. He’s more famous for leading a revolt than what he accomplished in the arena.

 Remember this name: Spiculus.

 Spiculus was the Mike Tyson of his day, the greatest fighter of his generation. Men trained in order to be able to look and fight like him, and women threw themselves at his feet.

One way that Spiculus trained was with The Tetrad System. This divided training into 4-day cycles, each focusing on a different type of training.

Day 1 was the day of preparation and consisted of short, high-intensity workouts that prepared the athlete for the next day’s workout.

Day 2 was the killer day. It consisted of long, strenuous exercises and served as an all-out test of the athlete’s potential. He was meant to give 110% during this day.

 Day 3 was the rest day. Athletes would either rest or perform only very light exercise. The ancients knew that you needed rest in order to recover and incorporated this principle in their training systems.

Day 4 came after the rest day and consisted of medium intensity exercises. After Day4, the entire cycle was rebooted and started again.

Different gladiator schools used different systems, but The Tetrad System was one of the most popular systems of its time.

 Galen, an ancient Roman physician (no, I’m not talking about the smart chimps from Planet of the Apes) got his start at a gladiator school. After treating so many gladiator’s injuries, he developed several principles for training.

 The key three were:

 1. You need to vary your intensity. Do a proper warm-up and gradually increase the intensity of your workout. Galen taught the gladiators to never start exercising at their full speed.

 2. A cool down is important. This principle was stressed by many ancient physicians. In order to prevent injury, you need to cool your body down after an intense effort. Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician, recommended that everyone take a slow walk after exercising.

3. You need to rest and let your body recover. Rest was very important to the gladiators. In order to aid recovery, many gladiator schools included bathhouses. Like athletes today trying to get rid of all the lactic acid build-up, gladiators would soak in pools of hot and cold water to ease their tired bodies.

 Your Attitude is Everything
 Seneca compared the life of a gladiator to that of a stoic; the stoic philosophy was incredibly popular in the ancient world and helped many people deal with the stresses of day-to-day life, including gladiators.

 Marcus Aurelius (who you might recall from the first few scenes of The Gladiator) was a stoic philosopher who kept a daily journal to keep himself grounded. It was published after his death as Meditations and gives guidance on how to live a good life and stay sane in a world of chaos.

 My favorite quote is about how to deal with annoying, petty, or malicious people:

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine.”

 One of the main tenets of stoicism is to focus on the things that you can control and forget about the rest.
You have certain amounts of control over some things and zero control over others. You can control what you eat or if you enter each arena with your game face on, but you cannot control the weather.

If you’re wasting time complaining about things that are out of your zone of control, focus your mental energy on trying to improve things that you can control.

 One important aspect of stoicism is learning to accept things as they are or that are inevitable. You’re going to grow old. You’re going to die; it’s inevitable. Stoicism helped people accept that.

 The Mind and Body
 A gladiator would enter ever arena ready for combat, knowing that he might die that day. This was a given that he had to accept.

 Building a healthy mindset was as important to ancient gladiators as was building a strong, capable body. There are certain risks and inevitabilities in life, both of which you can never escape. Like the gladiators, you need to learn to accept them and not let them negatively affect your life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peter Burns is a world traveler whose interests include fitness, history, gaining weight, learning languages and a wide variety of other things. He is on a quest to become a superhero. Join him on his journey by checking out his blog, Renaissance Man Journal.

Gladiator Fights Revealed in Ancient Graffiti

Live Science

Graffiti discovered in the ancient city of Aphrodisias shows gladiator fights between a retiarius (a gladiator armed with a trident and net) and a secutor (gladiator equipped with a sword and shield). Credit: Drawing by Nicholas Quiring, photograph courtesy Angelos Chaniotis

Hundreds of graffiti messages engraved into stone in the ancient city of Aphrodisias, in modern-day Turkey, have been discovered and deciphered, revealing what life was like there over 1,500 years ago, researchers say.
The graffiti touches on many aspects of the city's life, including gladiator combat, chariot racing, religious fighting and sex. The markings date to a time when the Roman and Byzantine empires ruled over the city.
"Hundreds of graffiti, scratched or chiseled on stone, have been preserved in Aphrodisias — more than in most other cities of the Roman East(an area which includes Greece and part of the Middle East)," said Angelos Chaniotis, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton New Jersey, in a lecture he gave recently at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.

"Graffiti are the products of instantaneous situations, often creatures of the night, scratched by people amused, excited, agitated, perhaps drunk. This is why they are so hard to interpret," Chaniotis said. "But this is why they are so valuable. They are records of voices and feelings on stone." [See Photos of the Graffiti in the Ancient City of Aphrodisias]
The graffiti includes sexual imagery, with one plaque showing numerous penises. "A plaque built into the city wall has representations of phalluses of various sizes and positions and employed in a variety of ways," Chaniotis said.
Trident man vs. sword man
The graffiti also includes many depictions of gladiators. Although the city was part of the Roman Empire, the people of Aphrodisias mainly spoke Greek. The graffiti is evidence that people living in Greek-speaking cities embraced gladiator fighting, Chaniotis said.
"Pictorial graffiti connected with gladiatorial combat are very numerous," he said. "And this abundance of images leaves little doubt about the great popularity of the most brutal contribution of the Romans to the culture of the Greek east." [Photos: Gladiators of the Roman Empire]

Some of the most interesting gladiator graffiti was found on a plaque in the city's stadium where gladiator fights took place. The plaque depicts battles between two combatants: a retiarius (a type of gladiator armed with a trident and net) and a secutor (a type of gladiator equipped with a sword and shield).
One scene on the plaque shows the retiarius emerging victorious, holding a trident over his head, the weapon pointed toward the wounded secutor. On the same plaque, another scene shows the secutor chasing a fleeing retiarius. Still another image shows the two types of gladiators locked in combat, a referee overseeing the fight.
"Probably a spectator has sketched scenes he had seen in the arena," Chaniotis said. The images offer "an insight (on) the perspective of the contemporary spectator. The man who went to the arena in order to experience the thrill and joy of watching — from a safe distance — other people die."
Chariot-racing rivalry
Chariot racing is another popular subject in the graffiti. The city had three chariot-racing clubs competing against each other, records show.
The south market, which included a public park with a pool and porticoes, was a popular place for chariot-racing fans to hang outthe graffiti shows. It may be "where the clubhouses of the factions of the hippodrome were located — the reds, the greens, the blues," said Chaniotis, referring to the names of the different racing clubs.
The graffiti includes boastful messages after a club won and lamentations when a club was having a bad time. "Victory for the red," reads one graffiti; "bad years for the greens," says another; "the fortune of the blues prevails," reads a third.
Three religions
Religion was also depicted in the city's graffiti. "Christians, Jews and a strong group of philosophically educated followers of the polytheistic religions competed in Aphrodisias for the support of those who were asking the same questions: Is there a god? How can we attain a better afterlife?" said Chaniotis.
Graffiti was one way in which these groups competed. Archaeologists have found the remains of statues representing governors (or other elite persons) who supported polytheistic beliefs. Christians had registered their disapproval of such religions by carving abbreviations on the statues thatmean"Mary gives birth to Jesus," refuting the idea that many gods existed.
Those who followed polytheistic beliefs carved graffiti of their own.
"To the Christian symbol of the cross, the followers of the old religion responded by engraving their own symbol, the double axe," said Chaniotis, noting that this object was a symbol of Carian Zeus (a god), and is seen on the city's coins.
Aphrodisias also boasted a sizable Jewish population. Many Jewish traders set up shop in an abandoned temple complex known as the Sebasteion.
Among the graffiti found there is a depiction of a Hanukkah menorah, a nine-candle lamp that would be lit during the Jewish festival. "This may be one of the earliest representations of a Hanukkah menorah that we know from ancient times," said Chaniotis.
End of an era
Most of the graffiti Chaniotis recorded dates between roughly A.D. 350 and A.D. 500, appearing to decline around the time Justinian became emperor of the Byzantine Empire, in A.D. 527.
In the decades that followed, Justinian restricted or banned polytheistic and Jewish practices. Aphrodisias, which had been named after the goddess Aphrodite, was renamed Stauropolis. Polytheistic and Jewish imagery, including some of the graffiti, was destroyed.
But while the city was abandoned in the seventh century, the graffiti left by the people remains today. "Through the graffiti, the petrified voices and feelings of the Aphrodisians still reach us, and they still matter," Chaniotis said.
The lecture by Chaniotis was the keynote address given at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of Canada.

Gladiator Best Fight Scene

DID YOU KNOW: The armor used in Gladiator was made of rubber covered with leather to make it malleable while shooting fight scenes.

Many thanks to author and fellow history buff, Elise VanCise, for stopping by.  I just love this stuff - thanks, Elise.

Gladiator trivia: film vs. history

By Elise VanCise

 

Often filmmakers and even authors blur the lines of history to make a story work. Nothing wrong with that; fiction is supposed to be made up, filled with adventures that perhaps historic figures might cringe at in real life. It’s fun to go back and compare some of these retellings with actual facts.  Here are some fun trivia facts to go with the fiction of one of my favorite films Gladiator.

 

 

 

Modern day athletes often do product endorsements. Ancient Roman gladiators actually did this also. The producers of the film considered including this in the script but discarded the idea as unbelievable.

 

During the opening battle we see roman soldiers marching to meet the barbarians in open combat with their pilas, today we call them javelins, in hand as if they were spears. In actual Roman battle, they were thrown at the enemy before the two sides would meet. A pilum was too fragile to be used as a spear because the tip was designed to break off and bend after contact to disallow the enemy to throw them back at the legionaries.

 

Before the opening battle in the film we see Maximus with a ‘pet’ wolf who accompanies him in battle. The fierce Roman army was known for intimidation tactics. At the forefront of the ranks an individual known as a Signifier was placed. It was a position of honor, and he carried the standard that displayed the legion’s honors. Over the Signifier’s helmet and armor, he would wear an animal skin, often a wolf, in order to make a fierce impression on the enemy.

 

 

When Commodus goes with Lucius to meet Maximus at the Colosseum, he tells Maximus that Lucius insists Maximus is Hector reborn. Then Commodus asks Lucius, "Or was it Hercules?" The real emperor Commodus believed he was Hercules reborn.

 

The short sword used by the Roman army, the Gladius Hispaniensis, is seen being used by many gladiators in the film. The version used in the arena in the film is accurate as it was often shorter than the military version. The use of the common use of the gladius in arena battles is actually the source of the word "gladiator".

 

The real Commodus actually fought several times in the arena as a gladiator.

 

Unknown to the Gladiator Emperor Commodus, the soldiers would weaken his opponent by stabbing the gladiator in the back to prevent harm to their liege but also to ensure their emperor won.

 

In the film, Maximus kills Commodus in the arena. In life, the emperor was strangled in his dressing room by a man named Narcissus. Narcissus was a Roman wrestler employed as Commodus’ sparring partner at the time.

 

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of Roman trivia. I’ve always had a fascination with this period of history and its people. Could be why I named my blog Gladiator’s Pen.  Stop by anytime  for stories, guest authors, tips posts, and of course a little history now and then.

 

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