Roman Gladiators Modern Stereotypes Thumbs Down JeanLon Grme

Roman Gladiators

Modern Stereotypes

Thumbs Down! Jean-Léon Gérôme. “Police Verso” (“Thumbs Down”), 1872

Types of Evidence • Literary (Mahoney) • Material Artistic Representations Artifacts (Equipment) Tombstones Inscriptions Terracotta Figurine of a Gladiator in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Roman, 1 st-2 nd century AD Accession # 10. 210. 78

Literary Evidence: Thumbs Up! Juvenal. Satire 3. 34 -37 The one-time horn players, traveling to municipal arenas, their puffed-out cheeks known in all the little towns, are now putting on their on munera, and when the crowd gives the order with upturned thumb, they kill just as the people want.

Material Evidence

Types of Gladiators

Thraex

Retiarius

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Some gladiatorial vocabulary: • • • tiro: veteranus: lanista: armatura: myrmillo: Samnite: secutor: Thraex: retiarius: • • essedarius: familia: ludus: ludia: • munus: a gladiatorial recruit those gladiators who had fought at least once a gladiatorial trainer gladiatorial equipment heavily-armed footman with a fish on his helmets heavily-armed footman light-armed footman bearing a shield and reversed sickle unhelmeted footman armed with only tunic, net, trident and dagger chariot fighter a troop of gladiators a place of residence and training of gladiators female gladiator; women associated with gladiators; "a female slave attached to a gladiatorial ludus" (OLD) gladiatorial show

Gladiatorial Scenes in Art

Zliten Mosaic Originally in a Roman seaside villa Now in Archaeological Musuem Tripoli, Tunisia

Fragment of a Relief Showing Gladiators in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Roman, 1 st-3 rd century AD Recorded ca. 1880 in the Vigna Aquari in Rome. Accession # 57. 11.

Gladiator cup, ca. 50– 80 A. D. ; Neronian–Early Flavianic Roman; Found at Montagnole, southern France Now in New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Glass; H. 2 7/8 in. (7. 3 cm), Diam. 3 1/8 in. (7. 9 cm) Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881 (81. 10. 245)

Ancient Mosaic now in Bourghese Gallery, Rome

Gladiator Mosaic Bad Kreuznach (Germany) http: //romanhistorybooksandmore. freeservers. com/p_kreuzn_g. htm

Gladitorial Tombstones