The Gladiators of Rome: Blood Sport in the Ancient Empire

Ancient Origins

The ancient Romans were well known for many things – their engineering marvels, their road networks, and the establishment of Roman law throughout the empire. They were, however, also renowned for their war-like nature. After all, this allowed the Romans to build an empire in the first place. This appetite for violence not only manifested itself in Rome’s imperialist policy, but also in its most well-known sport – the gladiatorial combats.

Two Venatores (those who made a career out of fighting in arena animal hunts) fighting a tiger. Floor mosaic in Great Palace of Constantinople (Istanbul), 5th century. (Public Domain)

It has been suggested that the concept of gladiatorial games has its roots in the Etruscans, the predecessors of the Romans. In Etruscan society, gladiatorial games were supposed to be part of the funerary rituals honoring the dead. Thus, gladiatorial combats originally possessed a sacred significance. Over the centuries, however, these funerary games came to be a form of entertainment, and the earliest Roman gladiatorial combat is said to have taken place in 264 BC

'The Garden Arbor', 1878, depicting a brutal gladiator battle ( Public Domain )

The gladiators were often prisoners of war, slaves, or criminals with a death sentence . The use of Rome’s defeated enemies in these games is reflected in some of the gladiator types, including the Thraex (or Thracian), the Hoplomachus and the Samnite. Thus, gladiatorial combats may be seen as a way for the Romans to re-enact the wars that they had with their conquered subjects. Yet, not all gladiators were forced into the trade.

Despite the hard and precarious life, gladiators were the superstars of their day. The benefits to be found in fighting in the arena – fame, glory and fortune, were strong enough to entice some people to become gladiators voluntarily. (However, the evidence of such citizen gladiators is extremely slim .) It is also recorded that some Roman emperors even participated in gladiatorial games themselves, the most famous of whom was probably the emperor Commodus. The participation of emperors in these games, however, was scorned by some, as gladiators belonged to the lowest of social classes.

 Studies analyzing the teeth of supposed gladiators which have been found in Driffield Terrace, York, UK have also suggested that gladiators generally came from harsh backgrounds. The research shows most of the men were extremely malnourished as children and likely came from disadvantaged homes. Their remains show the poor men were well fed and adapted to battle later in life – possibly so they would be stronger and more impressive looking combatants in the gladiatorial games.

Despite the low social status of gladiators, they had the potential to gain the patronage of the upper classes, even that of the emperor himself. According to Suetonius, the emperor Nero awarded a gladiator, Spiculus, with houses and estates worthy of generals returning triumphantly from a war. Regardless of the authenticity of his claim, Suetonius intended to highlight the extravagant nature of the emperor by demonstrating that Nero was willing to shower a presumably lower classed individual with such expensive gifts.

Carving showing a Roman Emperor presiding over gladiatorial games. ( Sailko/CC BY SA 3.0 )

Whilst the story of Spiculus may be an extreme case, assuming that it was true, gladiators were indeed valuable assets to their “owners”. The more victories a gladiator won the more valuable he was. The popularity of victorious gladiators is evident in the surviving graffiti on walls in Rome and other cities where such games were held. Some of the graffiti reveal the number of victories a gladiator had: Petronius Octavius 35, Severus 55, Nascia 60, whilst others suggest that gladiators were quite popular with the women: ‘Crescens, the net fighter, holds the hearts of all the girls’, and ‘Caladus, the Thraecian, makes all the girls sigh’.

Stele for the gladiator Urbicus, from Florence, killed after 13 fights aged 22, in the mid-3rd century. In the inscription the man is mourned by his wife of 7 years, Lauricia, and by his two daughters, Olympia and Fortunensis. The inscriptions warns obscurely "the one who kills the winner", adding that Urbicus' fans (amatores) would keep his memory alive. ( No Copyright Restrictions )

By the 4th century AD, the popularity of gladiatorial games was in a decline, as the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion. It was, however, only in 404 AD that gladiatorial games were altogether banned by the emperor Honorius due to the martyrdom of St. Telemachus. According to the historian Theodoret, Telemachus was a monk who came to Rome from Asia Minor. During one of the gladiatorial games in the city, Telemachus leapt into the arena to stop two gladiators from fighting. The spectators, who were obviously unhappy with Telemachus’ action, proceeded to stone the monk to death. However, one form of gladiatorial games, the venationes (wild animal hunts), continued for another century.

Telemachus stops two gladiators from fighting. ( Candle in a Cave )

Top Image: Dramatic painting portraying gladiators in the arena. Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1872. Source: Public Domain

By Ḏḥwty

Acta Diurna: The Telegraph of Ancient Rome, Bringing You All the Latest Gladiator Combat News

Ancient Origins

Roman emperor conquers new lands !’ ‘Five new ways to use your fish paste .’ ‘When do the stars say you will marry?’ ‘ Viae militares expand our reach to foreign lands.’ These may have been some of the headlines you would read in the Roman Acta Diurna – the daily notices many call the precursor to the modern daily newspaper.

The Roman Acta Diurna (translated from the Latin to mean ‘Daily Acts’ or ‘Daily Public Records’) were the daily public notices that were posted in certain public places around the ancient city of Rome. These notices kept the ancient inhabitants of Rome up to date with current events. They contained various forms of news, ranging from the official to entertainment, and even astrological readings.

Roman Fish Market. Arch of Octavius. ( Public Domain )

The Acta Diurna was posted in public places around the city. Content of the Roman Stone, Metal, or Papyri “Newspapers” The Acta Diruna is said to have first appeared around 131/130 BC during the Roman Republic. At this point of time, the Acta Diurna , which were known also as the Acta Popidi or Acta Publica , was carved on stone or metal. As the Acta Diurna were meant to reach a public audience, they were placed at public places, such as the forum, the markets, or the thermal baths. Initially these notices reported ‘serious’ news of importance to the Roman populace, such as the results of legal proceedings, and the outcomes of trials.

‘Cicero Denounces Catiline’ (1889) by Cesare Maccari. ( Public Domain ) Representation of a sitting of the Roman Senate. Initially the notices reported ‘serious’ news of importance to the Roman populace, such as the results of legal proceedings, and the outcomes of trials.

As time went by, the range of topics reported by the Acta Diurna increased as well. The contents of the Roman notices began to include public announcements, such as military victories, and the price of grain. Apart from these, the Acta Diurna also included other pieces of noteworthy information, such as notable births, marriages, and deaths, as well as news about gladiatorial combats and other games that were being held in the city. The Acta Diurna even included a gossip column, which often contained the latest amorous adventures of Rome’s rich and famous.

By the time of the 1st century BC, the Acta Diurna was no longer carved on stone or metal. Instead, they were hand-written, most likely on sheets of papyri. They continued to be posted in public places, and after a couple of days, were taken down to be archived. Unfortunately, papyrus is not the most durable of materials, and no intact copy of the Acta Diurna is known to have survived till the present day.

Fragment from the front of a sarcophagus showing a Roman marriage ceremony. ( CC BY SA 4.0 ) Notable marriages were mentioned in the Acta Diurna too.

Scribes Copied the News for Wealthy Romans Living Outside the City
The Acta Diurna were very popular indeed. For example, the rich (presumably those living outside of Rome) would often send scribes to the city to seek out the latest edition of the Acta Diurna . These would then be copied and brought back to their patrons. Provincial governors would also send scribes to make copies of the Acta Diurna for them, so that they were kept abreast of the latest happenings in the capital. During this time, the concept of copyright was not in existence, and the scribes could copy the Acta Diurna freely.

The Acta Diurna were used also as a source of information by various ancient authors. Suetonius, the author of The Lives of the Twelve Caesars , for example, is said to have relied on the Acta Diurna for information about the dates and place of various births, deaths, and other important events. News form the Acta Diurna was also resourced by the Pliny the Elder, who wrote the encyclopaedic Natural History . In his work, Pliny recounted a story he read in the notices, which was about a faithful dog who followed his dead master’s body into the river at the funeral. Tacitus, who wrote The Annals and The Histories , saw the Acta Diurna as not worthy of reporting great historical events, but only good enough for trivial matters. Nevertheless, it is from this writer that we learn about the popularity of these notices, so much so that they were brought to the distant provinces of the empire by couriers.

Pliny the Elder. ( Public Domain )

 Pliny the Elder is one of the ancient authors who turned to the Acta Diurna for information.

The publication of the Acta Diurna continued until around 330 AD. As a result of the decision by the Emperor Constantine to move the capital of his empire from Rome to Constantinople, the Acta Diurna came to an end.

Top image: Relief from a scribe's tomb found in Flavia Solva. ( Public Domain ) Background: Latin stone inscription. ( Public Domain )

 By Wu Mingren

Ancient Rome – 6 burning questions

History Extra

Who founded Ancient Rome?
 Like all ancient societies, the Romans possessed a heroic foundation story. What made the Romans different, however, is that they created two distinct creation myths for themselves.

In the first it was claimed that they were descended from the royal Trojan refugee Aeneas (himself the son of the goddess Venus). In the second it was stated that the city of Rome was founded by, and ultimately named after, Romulus, son of a union between an earthly princess and the god Mars.

Both myths helped establish the Romans as a divinely chosen people whose ancestry could be traced back to Troy and the Hellenistic world. Roman tradition had Romulus’ foundling city established on the Palatine Hill in what became, for Rome, ‘Year One’ (or 753 BC in the Christian calendar of the West). Archaeological excavation on the hill has found settlement here dating back to at least 1000 BC.

 Who ruled in Ancient Rome?
Rome made much of the fact that it was a republic, ruled by the people and not by kings.

Rome had overthrown its monarchy in 509 BC, and legislative power was thereafter vested in the people’s assemblies: political power in the senate, and military power with two annually elected magistrates known as consuls.

The acronym ‘SPQR’, for Senatus Populusque Romanus (‘the Senate and People of Rome’) was proudly emblazoned across inscriptions and military standards throughout the Mediterranean – a reminder that Rome’s people (theoretically) had the last word.

By the late 1st century BC, the combination of power-hungry politicians and large overseas territories resulted in the breakdown of traditional systems of government. Even after the rise of the emperors – kings in all but name, who ‘guided’ the Roman political system in the 1st century AD – ‘SPQR’ continued to be used in order to sustain the fiction that Rome was a state governed by purely republican principles.

Who were gladiators in ancient Rome?
Gladiatorial games were organised by the elite throughout the Roman empire in order to distract the population from the reality of daily life.

Most gladiators were purchased from slave markets, being chosen for their strength, stamina and good looks. Although taken from the lowest elements of society, the gladiator was a breed apart from the ‘normal’ slave or prisoner of war, being well-trained combatants whose one role in life was to fight and occasionally to kill for the amusement of the Roman mob.

Not all those who fought as gladiators were slaves or convicts, however. Some were citizens down on their luck (or heavily in debt) while some, like the emperor Commodus, simply did it for ‘fun’.

Whatever their reasons for ending up in the arena, gladiators were adored by the Roman public for their bravery and spirit. Their images appeared frequently in mosaics, wall paintings and on glassware and pottery.

In Ancient Rome, what was the law of the twelve tables?
The Twelve Tables was the primary legislative basis for Rome’s republican constitution, protecting the working classes from arbitrary punishment and excessive treatment by the ruling elite (patricians).

Created around 450 BC, the tables were a code that set out the rights and obligations of the people in areas such as marriage, divorce, burial, inheritance, property and ownership, injury, compensation, debt and slavery.

Key provisions included the establishment of burial grounds outside the limits of the city walls, the control of property if the stakeholder was decreed insane, the continual guardianship of women (passing from father to husband), the treatment of children and of slaves (as property), and the settling of compensation claims for injuries sustained at work.

Although the power of the ruling classes was not really constrained by the plebs, the twelve tables were never repealed – they formed the cornerstone of Roman law until well into the 5th century AD.

What did they eat in Ancient Rome?
The Romans ate pretty much everything they could lay their hands on. Meat, especially pork and fish, however, were expensive commodities, and so the bulk of the population survived on cereals (wheat, emmer and barley) mixed with chickpeas, lentils, turnips, lettuce, leek, cabbage and fenugreek.

 Olives, grapes, apples, plums and figs provided welcome relief from the traditional forms of thick, cereal-based porridge (tomatoes and potatoes were a much later introduction to the Mediterranean), while milk, cheese, eggs and bread were also daily staples.

The Romans liked to vary their cooking with sweet (honey) and sour (fermented fish) sauces, which often helpfully disguised the taste of rotten meat.

Dining as entertainment was practised within elite society – lavish dinner parties were the ideal way to show off wealth and status. Recipes compiled in the 4th century supply us with details of tasty treats such as pickled sow’s udders and stuffed dormice.

Why did Ancient Rome fall?
A whole variety of reasons can be suggested to explain the fall of the Roman Empire in the west: disease, invasion, civil war, social unrest, inflation, economic collapse. In fact all were contributory factors, although key to the collapse of Roman authority was the prolonged period of imperial in-fighting during the 3rd and 4th century.

Conflict between multiple emperors severely weakened the military, eroded the economy and put a huge strain upon local populations. When Germanic migrants arrived, many western landowners threw their support behind the new ‘barbarian’ elite rather than continuing to back the emperor.

Reduced income from the provinces meant that Rome could no longer pay or feed its military and civil administration, making the imperial system of government redundant. The western half of the Roman empire mutated into a variety of discrete kingdoms while the east, which largely avoided both the in-fighting and barbarian migrations, survived until the 15th century.

Dr Miles Russell is a senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology, with more than 25 years experience of archaeological fieldwork and publication. These Q&As were taken from our ‘History Extra explains’ series, which answers burning questions about ancient Rome, the Tudors, ancient Egypt and the First World War.

Roman Gladiators Were War Prisoners and Criminals, Not Sporting Heroes

Ancient Origins

For centuries, the bloody gladiator conflicts that the Romans staged in amphitheatres throughout the empire have engrossed and repelled us. When it comes to gladiators, it is almost impossible to look away. But the arena is also the place where the Romans feel most foreign to us.

 The gladiator was the product of a unique environment. He can exist only within a very particular set of religious, social, legal, political and economic circumstances. It is not surprising that this is a form of spectacle we have not seen either before or since the Romans. To acknowledge this is also to acknowledge that they are only ever going to be partially comprehensible to us.

Sadly, this is not a view shared by the Queensland Museum, which last week opened its new exhibition, Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum . The exhibition brings together 117 objects from Italian museums, most notably the collection of the Colosseum at Rome. Highlights include some extremely well preserved and intricately decorated gladiatorial helmets and pieces of armour from Pompeii, as well as some very fine carved reliefs depicting scenes of combat.

Yet, while the quality of the individual objects is without question and certainly worth the price of admission alone, the intellectual framework of the exhibition is far more problematic.

This is not an exhibition that is plagued by doubts or uncertainties. It firmly knows who gladiators were and what they stood for – gladiators, the opening panel of the exhibition proclaims, were the “elite athletes” of the ancient world. The antique equivalent of today’s fighters in the popular sport MMA, if you like.

The Colosseum in Rome. Source: BigStockPhotos

Sporting analogies pepper the exhibition. Spectators are routinely referred to as “fans” and the catalogue promises that this is an exhibition that “touches on many issues that have parallels with modern day sport and sporting culture”.

At times, the exhibition also feels like it has taken its cues from contemporary videogame culture. The special weapons of the various types of gladiators are spelled out and visitors are invited to contemplate who would win between a gladiator fighting with a net (known as a retarius to the Romans) and one heavily armed ( secutor). A videogame spinoff from the exhibition is easy to imagine.

This mosaic depicts some of the entertainments that would have been offered at the games. Tripoli, Libya, first century. (Public Domain)

Rogues not heroes
Gladiatorial combat was certainly popular among the Romans. Evidence for gladiators is found in every province of the Roman Empire.

These fights initially began as contests of matched pairs as part of funeral rites honouring the dead. However, over time their popularity grew. By the time of the Roman Empire, hundreds of gladiators might be involved in spectacles that could last as long as 100 days.

These games were never just displays of gladiatorial fighting. At their most elaborate they involved beast hunts with exotic animals, the execution of criminals, naval battles staged in flooded arenas, musical entertainments and dances.

The Queensland Museum is not the first to try to understand gladiators as sporting heroes. However, it is an analogy that causes more problems than it solves.

The vast majority of gladiators were either prisoners of war or criminals sentenced to death. Gladiators were the lowest of the low; violent murderers, thieves and arsonists. Even your most badly-behaved football team at their most morally blind would have had no trouble in rejecting this crew.

 Gladiators in Rome were regarded as fundamentally untrustworthy and outside of legal protection. It is more useful to think of gladiators as prisoners on death row than as David Beckham with a net and trident. The section in the exhibition where children are encouraged to dress up as gladiators would have appalled any respectable Roman parent (that said, it’s great fun).

Were they really the heroes they are made out to be? Dramatic painting portraying gladiators in the arena. Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1872. Public Domain.

The Queensland Museum can’t escape the lowly, servile and criminal origins of the gladiators, but it does attempt to moderate our opinion of them by suggesting that some free citizens wilfully chose to be gladiators in search of “eternal fame and glory”. In fact, the evidence of such citizen gladiators is extremely slim. It was almost certainly extreme desperation that forced them into the arena rather than a desire to be remembered by posterity.

At another point, the exhibition suggests that the crowd saw reflected in gladiators the virtues of the soldiers who guarded the empire. Such talk would have had any self-respecting Roman legionary reaching for his short sword.

Gods and monsters
Representing gladiatorial combat as sport also inevitably underplays the religious dimension of the fighting. The exhibition includes some fabulous tomb paintings from the city of Paestum, which illustrate the origins of gladiatorial combat in the funerary rites for the dead. These are wonderful works that deserve to be much better known; however, they are a rare intrusion into an otherwise secular narrative.

 Gladiatorial combats never stopped being religious events. Every day of the games would begin with a “solemn procession” with sacrifices on altars. The gladiators themselves were deeply implicated in the Roman theology of the divine, death, and the relationship between mortal and immortal. These spectacles were Roman sermons written in blood.

The final problem with focusing on gladiators as sporting heroes is that it tends to isolate their combat from the other elements that made up the games. Beast hunts and the execution of criminals were just as popular, possibly even more so. They were not precursors to the main event or entertainment for the intervals.

Relief of two female gladiators (gladiatrices) found at Halicarnassus. (Public Domain)

 The execution of criminals could involve extravagant mythological tableaus. Prisoners were dressed as Hercules and burnt alive. The fatal flight of Icarus towards the sun might be re-enacted for the audience.

Certainly, these elaborate, gruesome affairs captured the attention of ancient writers far more than the gladiators who accompanied them. Wealthy Romans seem far more preoccupied with obtaining suitably rare fauna for their spectacles .

For the poorer members of the audience, the beast hunts had an added attraction. Often the animal meat was distributed to the audience members to take home. They were literally watching their dinner being butchered in front of them.

One of the most intriguing items in the exhibition doesn’t relate to gladiatorial combat but to one of these beast hunts. It is a second-century CE mosaic that features what appears to be a female hunter facing off a giant tiger. Who is this woman? Evidence for female hunters (like female gladiators) is practically non-existent. Is she part of some mythological tableau? A woman pretending to be an Amazon? Or a man dressed up as a woman? Is this a scene from real life at all?

She is an enigma and a worthy reminder that the real secret of the appeal of Roman combat spectacle is that it raises more questions than it answers.

Top image: The helmet of a heavily armed ‘secutor’, first century AD. Rógvi N. Johansen, Department of photo and medie Moesgaard

The article ‘ Roman Gladiators Were War Prisoners and Criminals, Not Sporting Heroes ’ by Alastair Blanshard was originally published on The Conversation and has been republished under a Creative Commons license

Who were gladiators in ancient Rome?

History Extra

Gladiatorial games were organised by the elite throughout the Roman empire in order to distract the population from the reality of daily life.

 Most gladiators were purchased from slave markets, being chosen for their strength, stamina and good looks. Although taken from the lowest elements of society, the gladiator was a breed apart from the ‘normal’ slave or prisoner of war, being well-trained combatants whose one role in life was to fight and occasionally to kill for the amusement of the Roman mob.

 Not all those who fought as gladiators were slaves or convicts, however. Some were citizens down on their luck (or heavily in debt) while some, like the emperor Commodus, simply did it for ‘fun’.

 Whatever their reasons for ending up in the arena, gladiators were adored by the Roman public for their bravery and spirit. Their images appeared frequently in mosaics, wall paintings and on glassware and pottery.

 Dr Miles Russell is a senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology, with more than 25 years experience of archaeological fieldwork and publication.

Researchers Discover Gladiator Fans Had Souvenirs, Fast Food, and Fresh-Baked Treats at Their Fingertips

Ancient Origins

A team of archaeologists from Austria claim that they have uncovered the remnants of bakeries, fast-food stands, and shops that once served the Gladiator spectators of the ancient Roman city of Carnuntum in modern-day Austria. The team also created impressive digital reconstructions of what the area would have looked like at its heyday.

 Ancient Ruins Reveal the Habits of Roman Spectators
A new discovery in Carnuntum, Austria, shows once again how much the Greco-Roman culture has influenced and shaped Western civilization. Just like most spectators do nowadays when they attend a sporting event, Roman “sports fans” also used to buy souvenirs of their favorite and most popular gladiators. The bakeries, fast-food stands, and shops detected in the area indicate that spectators back then would eat before, during, or after the gladiator or chariot events - even though we’re pretty sure that hamburgers and hot dogs weren’t on the menu back then.

Gladiator school and shops. ( LBI ArchPro/7reasons )

Modern Carnuntum
The quiet town of Carnuntum which exists today, just a few miles outside Vienna, doesn’t look anything like the fervid city it once used to be (it was the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire during the 2nd century AD), even though there are certain ruins, such as the monumental Heathen's Gate and the amphitheater, that designate the city’s rich cultural past. Most of the city’s remains are laying underground beneath pastures, while the site has recently been the target of treasure hunters.

Carnuntum reconstructed. ( LBI ArchPro/7reasons )

In 2011, Wolfgang Neubauer, director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro), with the help of his colleagues, identified a gladiator school at Carnuntum , complete with training grounds, baths, and cells where hundreds of gladiators spent their lives as prisoners. Neubauer has been studying the underground city for a long time, but without disturbing it, with the help of noninvasive practices, such as aerial photography, ground-penetrating radar systems, and magnetometers.

 Last Research Reveals City’s “Entertainment District”
During the most recent research, Neubauer’s team discovered Carnuntum's "entertainment district," unconnected from the rest of the city, outside the amphitheater, which could welcome around thirteen thousand people. The archaeologists of the team identified a broad, shop-lined boulevard directing to the amphitheater. After comparing the newly identified structures to known buildings found at other popular Roman cities, such as Pompeii, Neubauer and his colleagues concluded that many of those buildings along the street had most likely served as ancient businesses, "Oil lamps with depictions of gladiators were sold all around this area," Neubauer told Live Science .

 In addition to the souvenir shops, the researchers also discovered a string of taverns and "thermopolia" where people bought food at a counter, "It was like a fast-food stand. You can imagine a bar, where the cauldrons with the food were kept warm," Neubauer told Live Science.

Research Also Reveals Another Amphitheater
The researchers also found a storehouse for threshed grain with a huge oven, which was probably used for baking bread. Objects that are usually exposed to such high temperatures have a distinguishable geophysical signature, so when Neubauer's team found a large, rectangular structure with that signature, they concluded that it must have been an oven for baking as Live Science reports

A carbonized loaf of ancient Roman bread from Pompeii. ( CC BY SA 2.0 )

More importantly, however, the latest research also revealed another, older wooden amphitheater, almost 400 meters (1,300 feet) from the main amphitheater, covered under the later wall of the civilian city. Finally, the team announced that they plan to publish the results in an academic journal.

Top Image: Carnuntum reconstructed. Source: LBI ArchPro/7reasons

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Gladiators in Ancient Rome: how did they live and die?

History Extra

A retiarius (left) and secutor do battle in a mosaic. The former’s weapons consisted of a barbed trident and weighted net. (AKG Images)
   

In 1993 Austrian archaeologists working at the Roman city of Ephesus in Turkey made a spectacular discovery – a cemetery marked by the tombstones of gladiators. The stones gave the names of the men and showed their equipment – helmets, shields, the palm fronds of victory.
With the tombstones were the skeletal remains of the fighters themselves, many of which bore the marks of healed wounds as well as the injuries that caused their deaths. Perhaps the most spectacular find was a skull pierced with three neat, evenly spaced holes. This man had been slain with the barbed trident wielded by a type of gladiator called a retiarius, who also fought with a weighted net.
The gladiator has long been an iconic symbol of ancient Rome, and a popular element in any Roman epic movie, but what do we really know about the lives and deaths of these men?
Until the discovery of the cities of Vesuvius in the 18th century, virtually everything we knew about gladiators came from references in ancient texts, from random finds of stone sculptures and inscriptions, and the impressive structures of the amphitheatres dotted about all over the Roman empire.
It is difficult now to quite comprehend the impact that the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum (both in the 18th century) had on the classically educated of Europe, who suddenly saw the reality of Roman lives in a bewildering array of objects, graffiti and paintings.
The reality could be spectacular, and in some cases seemed to confirm the more lurid stories in the sources. In 1764 the temple of Isis at Pompeii confirmed the practise of mysterious and esoteric eastern religions. Two years later, in rooms around the courtyard of the theatre, a number of skeletons were found together with a large quantity of gladiatorial armour, identifying the rooms as a gladiator barracks. Among the dead was a woman adorned with bracelets, rings and an emerald necklace.
Ever since, this discovery has become part of the mythology not only of Pompeii, but of the arena. At the time, it seemed to confirm scandalous stories in ancient sources of wealthy and aristocratic women having sexual adventures with brawny gladiators – though we now see the 18 skeletons in this room as a group of frightened fugitives sheltering from the disaster of the volcanic eruption.

_{Reliefs showing gladiators in the arena. The most successful could earn fame, if not fortune, but few would survive more than a dozen fights. (Bridgeman Art Library)}
From the point of view of reconstructing the gladiator, the most important discovery was the bronze gladiatorial armour and weaponry. This included 15 helmets richly ornamented with mythological scenes, and six of the curious shoulder guards known as galerus.
Gladiators were divided into categories – each armed and attired in a characteristic manner – and were then pitched against one another in pairings designed to show a variety of forms of combat. Each different type of equipment provided varying levels of protection to the body, deliberately giving the opponent the opportunity to aim for specific points of vulnerability.
All gladiator categories wore a basic subligaculm and balteus (a loincloth and broad belt). Among the most heavily armed gladiators were the thraex (Thracian) and the hoplomachus (inspired by Greek hoplite soldiers). Both wore padded leg-guards with bronze greaves (a form of armour) strapped over them on their legs (14 of such greaves were found in Pompeii).
Each carried a small shield: rectangular for the thraex, who was armed with a short, curved sword; round for the hoplomachus, who carried a spear and short sword. Both wore a padded arm-guard or manica, but only on the sword/spear arm. The shield arm was unprotected, as was the torso.
The thraex and hoplomachus wore heavy bronze helmets of the type found in Pompeii. These had broad brims, high crests and face guards. Visibility was limited to what he could see through a pair of bronze grilles.
As gladiatorial re-enactors have discovered, breathing in these helmets isn’t easy, as the wearer is forced to inhale the air trapped in the face guard. Factor in fear and exertion – which would inevitably shorten the breath anyway – and you’ve got the makings of a lung-busting experience.

_{A gladiator’s helmet found in Pompeii. Breathing in these helmets wouldn’t have been easy, as the wearer was forced to inhale the air trapped in the face guard. (AKG Images)}
Another type of gladiator to wear a large helmet and carry a short sword was the murmillo. He was also armed with a large rectangular shield, which he used to defend his legs. He only wore armour on one leg – though the leg on the shield side was protected with padding and greave.
Two other gladiators – the provocator and secutor – also fought with one vulnerable leg, and only carried a manica on the weapon arm. While they also carried a short sword and large shield, they wore lighter helmets than the thraex, hoplomachus and murmillo.
The secutor’s helmet fitted close to his head. Visibility was restricted to two small eye-holes, and there was no decoration. The helmet was shaped like the head of a fish – for the simple reason that the secutor’s opponent, the retiarius, was equipped as a fisherman.
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Gladiators in Britain

Compared with most other provinces of the Roman empire, Britain has surprisingly little evidence for gladiators. The differences between Britain’s amphitheatres may help to explain this. Those sited at the legionary fortresses of Chester and Caerleon were built in the AD 70s to serve legionaries – the citizen-soldiers of Rome. Drawn from all over the empire, they would have expected to be provided with an amphitheatre – both for entertainment and to enact games on festivals associated with the imperial cult.
The legionary amphitheatres were stone-built like many across the empire. However, at the British tribal capitals the Romans built earthwork amphitheatres. There is evidence to show that these were infrequently used, and it appears that the native population didn’t wholly embrace the Mediterranean concept of the Roman games.
Despite this, there is evidence for the presence of gladiators. In 1738, a stone relief was found near Chester amphitheatre showing a left-handed retiarius – the only such depiction from the empire. And at Caerleon, a graffito on a stone shows the trident and galerus of a retiarius flanked by victory palms. These are the only references to gladiators from any British amphitheatre, and both are from the legionary sites.
In Britain there is but a single gladiator wall painting. Of the three gladiator mosaics left to us, the best is a frieze of cupid-gladiators at the villa of Bignor in Sussex. This features a secutor, a retiarius, and the summa rudis (referee) in a comic strip of an arena event.
Knife handles in bone and bronze are also found in the form of gladiators. An evocative piece is a potsherd discovered in Leicester in 1851, on which was scratched the words “VERECVNDA LVDIA : LVCIVS GLADIATOR”, or “Verecunda the actress, Lucius the gladiator”. This love token may relate to a couple in Britain but there is ambiguity. The pottery is of a type imported from Italy, and the graffito may have been made there as well.
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The retiarius is perhaps the most extraordinary of all the gladiator classes, and his equipment shows most clearly the carefully choreographed balance between strength and vulnerability that ensured a degree of fairness and balance in gladiatorial combat.
The retiarius was almost wholly unprotected. If he was right-handed, his left arm would be protected by a padded manica, and on his left shoulder would be strapped a high shoulder-guard, the galerus. An example of a galerus was found in the Pompeii barracks, decorated with a dolphin and a trident, a crab and the anchor and rudder of a ship.

_{Bronze greaves (leg protectors) discovered at Pompeii’s gladiator barracks. The discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum transformed our knowledge of ancient Rome, and the lives of its arena-warriors. (AKG Images)}
The retiarius wore no helmet, but he was armed with a long-handled trident, a short knife and a lead-weighted net or rete, after which he was named. The net could be used as a flail, but it is clear that the job of the retiarius was to throw the net over his opponent, catching the fish-like secutor, and then dispatching him with the trident.
Once he’d thrown the net the retiarius could use the trident as a pole arm. This is when the galerus comes into play: when using the trident two-handed, the left shoulder would be forward, and the galerus would prove an effective head-guard.
One tomb relief of a retiarius from Romania shows him holding what seems to be a four-bladed knife. The identity of this weapon remained a mystery until archaeologists discovered a femur at the Ephesus cemetery. This showed a healed wound just above the knee consisting of four punctures in the pattern of a four on dice. 
The effectiveness of the retiarius is gruesomely revealed by the punctured skull discovered in Ephesus, but he did not always get his own way. A mosaic from Rome, now in Madrid, shows two scenes from a fight between a secutor named Astanax and the retiarius Kalendio. Kalendio threw his net over Astanax, but when he caught his trident in the folds of the net, Astanax could cut his way out and defeat Kalendio, who was then killed.

_{The skull of one of the 68 gladiators’ skeletons found in Ephesus in 1993. The bones suggest that the fighters usually died from large, single wounds, rather than numerous smaller ones – the kind delivered in a coup de grâce. (Medical University of Vienna)}
The same mosaic features another figure – an unarmed man in a tunic carrying a light wand. He is the summa rudis, the referee, reminding us that this was not a free-for-all, but a fight that must be carried out within a framework of rules and rituals. These rules would clearly be understood by the audience, who would have been at least as appreciative of the fighters’ skills as excited by pure blood-lust.
The audience would also have been fully aware who was putting on such entertainment for them. Gladiatorial shows were almost always staged by leading citizens – often to enhance their political careers by currying favour with the electorate. Thus the walls of Pompeii are daubed with painted election notices, alongside advertisements for gladiatorial spectacles.
One of many examples, found near the forum, reads: “The gladiatorial troupe of Aulus Suettius Certus will fight at Pompeii on 31 May. There will be a hunt and awnings. Good fortune to all Neronian games.”
There is little doubt about the popularity of the combats. Even tombs are covered with scratched graffiti showing the results of particular fights. A cartoon of two gladiators fighting in neighbouring Nola is captioned “Marcus Attius, novice, victor; Hilarius, Neronian, fought 14, 12 victories, reprieved.”

_{The tombstone of a murmillo gladiator, holding the palm of victory. His helmet lies beside him on the ground. (Alamy)}
This says a lot. Attius unexpectedly beat a veteran, but, like most of the combats recorded at Pompeii, the loser was spared. Being a gladiator was not an automatic sentence of violent death. The person funding the games (the editor) would commission a troupe (familia) of gladiators run by a proprietor/trainer (lanista). One such lanista, recorded in Pompeian graffiti,was Marcus Mesonius. He would acquire gladiators from the slave market. Legally, gladiators were the lowest of the low in Roman society, but a trained gladiator was a valuable commodity to a lanista, representing a considerable investment of time and money, and it would be in his interest to keep his stable well and to minimise the death rate.

Survival rates

A graffito now in Naples Museum gives the results of a show put on by Mesonius. Of 18 gladiators who fought, we know of eight victors, five defeated and reprieved, and three killed. This kind of ratio may be typical given the records in graffiti and on tombstones. There were veterans; an unnamed retiarius on a tombstone in Rome boasted 14 victories, but few survived more than a dozen fights.
The painstaking forensic work on the Ephesus gladiator skeletons has provided startling and intimate insights into the way these men lived and died. Of the 68 bodies found, 66 were of adult males in their 20s. A rigorous training programme was attested by the enlarged muscle attachments of arms and legs. These were strong, athletic men, whose diet was dominated by grains and pulses, exactly as reported in classical texts. Yet as well as muscle and stamina, gladiators needed a good layer of fat to protect them from cuts.
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The emperor who loved to fight

The relationship between the emperor and the arena was complex. Emperors could get a bad reputation for showing too much enthusiasm for spectacles of death. Claudius, for example, was reputed to have keenly watched the faces of gladiators as they died, favouring the killing of the helmetless retiarii. For a member of the elite to fight in the arena was shameful – which was why Caligula, Nero and Commodus forced well-born Romans to do so.
Special contempt was reserved for those emperors who chose to fight as gladiators in the arena. Caligula liked to appear as a thraex. Commodus, however, was the most notorious for his arena appearances. He fought as a secutor, and was a scaeva – a left hander. According to Cassius Dio he substituted the head of the Colossus by the Colosseum with his own, gave it a club and bronze lion to make it look like Hercules (with whom he identified himself). He inscribed his own titles upon it, ending “champion of secutores – the only left-handed gladiator to conquer 12 times one thousand men”.
Interestingly, Aurelius Victor relates a story of Commodus refusing to fight a gladiator in the arena. The gladiator’s name was Scaeva. Perhaps Commodus was afraid to lose his usual natural advantage in fighting a fellow southpaw.
In AD 192, intending to assume the consulship of Rome in gladiatorial guise, he was strangled by an athlete. Thus he died in shame without the opportunity to take the coup de grâce with dignity like a true gladiator.
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The Ephesus skeletons also provided evidence for good medical treatment. Many well-healed wounds were found on the bodies, including 11 head wounds, a well-set broken arm and a professional leg amputation. On the other hand, 39 individuals exhibited single wounds sustained at or around the time of death. This suggests that these men did not die from multiple injuries but a lone wound. This provides further evidence for the enforcement of strict rules in the arena, and the delivery of a coup de grâce.

_{Though this mosaic from Terranova in Italy (left) shows gladiators dispatching their opponents, evidence suggests that defeated fighters were often given a reprieve. (Bridgeman Art Library)}
At the end of a bout a defeated gladiator was required to wait for the life or death decision of the editor of the games. If the vote was for death, he was expected to accept it unflinchingly and calmly. It would be delivered as swiftly and effectively as possible. Cicero speaks of this: “What even mediocre gladiator ever groans, ever alters the expression on his face. And which of them, even when he does succumb, ever contracts his neck when ordered to receive the blow?”

As we have seen, gladiators were at the bottom of the heap in Roman society. This remained the case no matter how much they were feted by the people. Above most qualities, the Romans valued ‘virtus’, which meant, first and foremost, acting in a brave and soldierly fashion. In the manner of his fighting, and above all in his quiet and courageous acceptance of death, even a gladiator, a despised slave, could display this.
Tony Wilmott is a senior archaeologist and Roman specialist with English Heritage. He was joint director of the Chester Amphitheatre excavations, and is the author of The Roman Amphitheatre in Britain.

History Trivia - Nepotianus enters Rome

June 3 350 

Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaimed himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
 

Unraveling the Origins of the Roman Sword Discovered Off Oak Island

Ancient Origins

Last month, we reported on the startling discovery of a Roman ceremonial sword off Oak Island , located on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, radically suggesting that ancient mariners visited North America more than a thousand years before Columbus. While the announcement was largely met with surprise and excitement, many have also questioned the authenticity of the artifact. Here we explore the origins of the mysterious Roman sword.

Discovery of the Roman Sword

The finding of the Roman sword off Oak Island, which was originally announced by Johnston Press and published in  The Boston Standard , was revealed by researchers involved in The History Channel’s series  Curse of Oak Island , which details the efforts of two brothers from Michigan as they attempt to solve the mystery of the Oak Island treasure and discover historical artifacts believed to be concealed on the island.

Main: Oak Island, Nova Scotia. Credit:  Farhad Vladia / Panoramio . Inset: The Roman sword found in water just off the mysterious Oak Island, Nova Scotia. Credit: investigatinghistory.org and National Treasure Society

J. Hutton Pulitzer, lead researcher and historic investigator, along with academics from the Ancient Artifact Preservation Society, have compiled a paper on the finding, which is scheduled to be published in full in early 2016.
According to Pulitzer, a shipwreck, believed to be Roman, was found off Oak Island, and within the wreck a well-preserved Roman ceremonial sword was retrieved. 
Pulitzer told the Boston Standard that the sword was hauled onto a fishing boat decades ago, but was kept secret because the finder and his son feared they would be punished due to strict laws in Nova Scotia regarding retrieving treasures from shipwrecks. 
However, relatives of the finder, who is now deceased, recently came forward to reveal the precious sword to researchers. 

A close-up of the sword found off Oak Island. Photo courtesy of investigatinghistory.org and National Treasure Society

• Roman Sword discovered off Oak Island radically suggests Ancient Mariners visited New World 1,000 years before Columbus
• The Lost Treasure of Oak Island and the Centuries-Old Quest to Find It

Verifying Authenticity

In his blog article ‘ How can a sword cut history? ’, Pultizer states that the sword underwent various analyses, including XRF testing , and has been verified by the Roman Antiquities  authority as a gladiator ceremonial votive sword. XRF testing (X-ray fluorescence) is a proven technique for material analysis, including metals. The results found the same arsenic and lead signature in the metal of the sword, down to the atomic level, as that found in other ancient Roman artifacts.
Interestingly, the sword was also found to have magnetic qualities, causing it to point true north, a navigational feature built into some swords of the era through the use of lodestones. Ancient peoples were aware of the magnetic properties of lodestones from as early as the 6 ^th century BC. Cast iron replicas of Roman swords do not possess such characteristics.

“History shows many such items were given out by the Emperor to legion commanders, possibly as “protection, strength, and guidance of Hercules” prior to entering into battle or departing on a special mission,” reports Pultizer. “When such ceremonial swords were made they used solid cast, then hand crafted using a lost wax technique, and lastly gilded with gold like various Egyptian artifacts, making them very rare and highly prized.”

The Roman sword found off Oak Island is believed to be part of a rare set of votive swords. Four similar swords having been recovered and verified, now in private collections and museums, including the Museum of Naples, Italy, which issued cast iron replicas of the sword. Many replicas of these rare swords can now be found on websites such as eBay and Amazon.

Cast iron replica from the Naples Museum ( Design Toscano )

Symbolism of the Sword

Arts and antiquities collector and researcher David Xavier Kenney , has extensively studied the features and symbology of one of the Roman votive swords belonging to the same set, currently owned by a private collector in the Netherlands and dated to between 190 to 192 AD.
According to Kenney, the sword hilt depicts a statuette holding a piece of driftwood, tree trunk, branch or club overhead, ready to destroy a shrine that includes a type of Irminsul of the north (pillar that played an important role in Germanic paganism) associated with solar worship.

Roman votive sword studied by David Xavier Kenney, dated to 190 to 192 AD. Credit: David Xavier Kenney.

Connection with North America

Kenney maintains that the symbolism of the sword may reflect an ancient belief that there was a legendary or mythical sacred island to the far north in the west that was associated with a meteor strike, the magnetic, the water compass, navigation, and solar worship.

“Most likely much of that belief was based on ancient sea lore about visitations to Iceland and Greenland - that traveled among peoples who did not have a known, or accepted, written language,” writes Kenney.
“Further study in relation to this sword was initially prompted by my findings in 2008 that suggested that some of the sword's symbolism appears to have been connected to the North Atlantic Ocean,” adds Kenney. “I did additional studies in December 2012 on a Roman metal votive artifact found in West Virginia, then a bit more in August of 2014 researching an ancient Native American stone tool/Roman votive artifact from Pennsylvania. Symbolism contained on both of those artifacts appear to indicate at least a Roman knowledge of the Cape York meteorite in Greenland, and possibly with a keen interest.”

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Evidence to Support Roman Presence in North America

In an attempt to dismiss skeptics, who may suggest the artifact had simply fallen off the side of a boat in more recent times, Pultizer and his team have dug up numerous other pieces of evidence to support the theory that the Romans made it to the New World more than 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus.  This includes DNA, botanical, linguistic, stone symbols,  archaeoastronomy, structure and architectural  evidence, artifacts including coins,  burial mounds, and a Roman shipwreck — where the Oak Island sword was found.

“When you put all these things together and you look at the anomalies, it’s not a coincidence,” Pultizer told the Boston Standard. “The plants, the DNA, the artifacts, the language, the ancient drawings - you have something that deserves to be taken seriously.”

Featured image: The Roman sword found just off Oak Island. Photo courtesy of investigatinghistory.org and National Treasure Society
By: April Holloway

Timeline: The rise and fall of the Roman games

History Extra

A heroic charioteer is immortalised in bronze. © BAL

753 BC 
The traditional date given for the first chariot race between the Roman people and their neighbours, the Sabines, organised by Rome’s legendary founder, Romulus.

264 BC 
The first recorded gladiatorial fight to the death is staged between slaves at the funeral of aristocrat Brutus Pera, in the Forum Boarium, Rome.

_{Roman gladiators. © TopFoto}

174 BC 
The Roman Consul, Gaius Flaminius, hosts a games within a purpose-built timber arena constructed in the Forum Romanum. It stars 74 gladiators, fighting over a three-day period.

174 BC 
The Circus Maximus chariot race-track is rebuilt in stone. It can now seat some 150,000 spectators, but it will be developed further, making room for 100,000 more.

73 BC 
The gladiator Spartacus leads a slave revolt from the training school at Capua.

_{© Mary Evans}

65 BC
Opponents of Julius Caesar, worried that he is staking a claim for supreme power, attempt to curb the number of gladiators owned by any one individual. Despite this, Caesar’s games go ahead, with over 640 gladiators fighting to the death.

29 BC 
The first purpose-built stone amphitheatre is constructed by General Titus Statilius Taurus in Rome. Taurus also paid for the inaugural games.

AD 37 
The emperor Caligula entertains the crowds by having criminals thrown to carnivorous wild animals in the arena.

_{Emperor Caligula. © SuperStock}

AD 59 
Large numbers of spectators are killed in rioting at the Pompeian games. Outraged, the Senate bans Pompeii from hosting any games for a decade.

AD 67 
Emperor Nero takes part in a ten-horse chariot race in Greece and, although he fails to finish, falling from the car during the event, he later claims to have won.

AD 70 
Construction of the Flavian amphitheatre – now known as the Colosseum – is begun by Emperor Vespasian.

_{The Colosseum in Rome. © Thinkstock}

AD 80 
The inaugural games of the Colosseum are held by Emperor Titus. Over 100 days of celebratory combat ensue, during which time thousands of wild animals – and quite a few slave warriors – are killed.

AD 112 
Emperor Trajan hosts three months of games with the participation of over 10,000 gladiators.

c146 AD
The most successful charioteer, Gaius Appuleius Diocles, winner of over 1,000 races, retires at the age of 42, being hailed the ‘champion of charioteers’.

AD 180-192 
Throughout his reign, Emperor Commodus takes part in gladiatorial combat, allegedly ensuring victory by making sure his opponents have extra-heavy weapons made of lead.

AD 380 
After Christianity becomes the state faith, the Church attempts to limit the popularity of the games, declaring that those who participate in them are ineligible for baptism.

_{Christian icons, such as halos, start to appear on Roman artworks. © Superstock}

AD 681 

After centuries of waning popularity, and with the decline of the Roman Empire, gladiatorial combat is officially banned as a sport.
Dr Miles Russell is a senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology at Bournemouth University.

Gladiator Colosseum Found in Tuscany

Discovery News

Italian archaeologists have unearthed remains of an oval structure that might represent the most important Roman amphitheater finding over the last century.

The foundations of the colosseum, which is oval-shaped like the much larger arena in the heart of Rome, were found in the town of Volterra and might date back to the 1st century A.D.  Amphitheaters like these were used during Roman times to feature events including gladiator combats and wild animal fights.

The archaeologists estimate this structure measured some 262 by 196 feet, although only a small part of it has been unearthed.

“This amphitheater was quite large. Our survey dig revealed three orders of seats that could accommodate about 10,000 people. They were entertained by gladiators fights and wild beast baiting,” Elena Sorge, the archaeologist of the Tuscan Superintendency in charge of the excavation, told Discovery News.
By comparison, the Colosseum in Rome could seat more than 50,000 spectators during public games.
“The finding sheds a new light on the history of Volterra, which is most famous for its Etruscan legacy. It shows that during the emperor Augustus’s rule, it was an important Roman center,” she added.
Photos: Bronze-Age Battle Frozen in Time
One of the most powerful Etruscan cities, Volterra fell under Roman rule in the 1st century B.C.
The most striking monument dating to the Roman period is a theater built in the Augustan age, which is one of the finest and best preserved Roman theaters in Italy. It stands about a mile from the newly discovered arena.
With the help of ground penetrating radar and a digital survey by Carlo Battini, of the University of Genoa, Dicca Department, the archaeologists were able to estimate that much of the amphitheater lies at a depth of 20 to 32 feet. So far the survey dig has been funded by the Cassa di Risparmio bank of Volterra.
“We are hoping to find more sponsors and funding to excavate this wonder. We believe that within three years it could be fully brought to light,” Sorge said.
Roman Gladiators Drank Ash Energy Drink
The amphiteater was made from stone and decorated in “panchino,” a typical Volterra stone used since Etruscan time to build the town’s walls. It features the same construction technique used to raise the nearby theater.
The archaeologists have so far brought to light a large sculpted stone and the vaulted entrance to a cryptoporticus, or covered passageway. Such corridor would have possibly housed the gladiators just before they entered the arena
“It’s puzzling that no historical account records the existence of such an imposing amphitheater. Possibly, it was abandoned at a certain time and gradually covered by vegetation,” Sorge said.
by Rossella Lorenzi 

Ancient Origins

Dig uncovers gladiatorial ring in an ancient Cilician city of Turkey

The long reach of the Roman Empire was felt in southern Turkey, where in the town of Anazarbus the Romans erected a triumphal arch after defeating a Parthian force in the first century BC and where gladiators fought wild beasts in a well-preserved stadium.
Excavations at the ancient city have been under way since mid-2014. The most recent discovery is the arena or gladiators’ ring. The archaeologists, with a $335,000 grant from Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, also intend to excavate a nearby amphitheater in the 4-million-square-meter (988-acre) city.
Underneath the amphitheater are arches and chambers where wild animals, including lions and tigers, waited to be brought into the stadium to fight the gladiators, according to Çukurova University archaeologist Fatih Gülşen, who is in charge of the project.  The stadium had tall granite watchtowers where referees oversaw the combats.

A mosaic of fish in the ancient city (Photo by Klaus-Peter Simon/Wikimedia Commons)

“We’ll be able to see how such structures operated beyond Rome, in distant states like Anatolia. We’ll see how they were planned, which wild animals were used, which tools and equipment were required,” Gülşen said, according to an article in BGN News.

The area was inhabited long before the Romans took over, but the ruins being excavated now were built on the order of Emperor Augustus beginning in 19 BC. Gülşen said the name Anazarbus means “unvanquished” in Persian.
Anazarbus or Anavarza was one of the most important Roman military outposts in the East. There is evidence that the city was at various times home to Sassanian, Greek, Ottoman, Byzantine and Armenian peoples. The foundation of a fortress at the site may date back to the seventh century BC and the Assyrians. The Romans took it over from the Cilicians. It declined during the later Byzantine period but became the capital of the Armenian kingdom in the 12th century AD. The Armenians abandoned the city in 1375 after the Marmalukes defeated them. The city was never reoccupied.
Anazarbus is on the outskirts of present-day Dilekkaya in the Kozan district of Adana Province. The ruins are becoming a tourist attraction.

The ancient fortress at Anazarbus or Anavarza, which may date back to Assyrians building in the seventh century BC. (Photo by Sarah Murray/Wikimedia Commons)

Earlier this year, the triumphal arch of Anazarbus, which is 22.5 meters (74 feet) wide, 10.5 meters (34.5 feet) high and 5.6 meters (18.4 feet) thick, was under renovations to restore it as a tourist attraction.
Gülşen said in May 2015 that the gate had three arches, but only two are still standing, according to Archaeology News Network. However, restoration experts used laser scanners to determine which blocks go where in order to replace them. The arch was made with granite, marble and smooth lime. Gülşen called it an artistic wonder.

“It is a huge and unique structure decorated with Corinthian heads, columns, pilasters [rectangular columns] and niches,” he said. “Because of these features, it is the only one in the region that we call Çukurova today, and one of the few monumental city gates within the borders of Turkey.”

Daily Sabah reports the city had the only known two-lane road in the ancient world. The road was 2,700 meters (8,858 feet) long and was lined with monumental columns, which archaeologists are restoring.
The city was home to some famous ancients, including the poet Opanius and Pedanius Dioscorides, who has been called the founder of pharmacology – he concocted medicines from 50 local plants.
Featured image: The triumphal arch and city gates of the ancient Cilician city of Anazarbus in southern Turkey; archaeologists are excavating and restoring the city. (Photo by Mustafa Tor/Wikimedia Commons)
By Mark Miller