Welcome
back my fellow learners, today we are going to go more in-depth into
my favourite part in history, yep you guessed it my blood thirsty
Romans.
Back
in the hey day of Rome, gladiators were the superstars of their time.
Their epic battles drew in thousands of people everyday. These men
were originally bought as slaves, and then trained in the arena, a
successful gladiator could gain the support of many, and even be
showered with lavish gifts, and on occasion earning their freedom,
however, this was rare, after all why give the freedom of one earning
you so much money.
Tetraites
This
unknown was discovered purely by accident via graffiti in 1817 in
Pompeii, Tetraites was recorded due to his victory over Prudes.
Depicted using a sword, helmet, arm and shin guards and brandishing a
rectangle shield, this was known as murmillones style fighting.
However, the extent of Tetraites fame was not known until the late
20th century when pottery was unearth in France and
England that showed his true victories
Spiculus
Spiculus,
another infamous gladiator was reported to have a close friendship
with none other than the Emperor Nero. Due to Spiculus endless
victories, Nero was said to have given him palaces, slaves and
riches. However, this friendship was doomed to last, due to the fact
when Nero was finally dethroned in 68AD, he sent his closest aides
out to find Spiculus so he would die at the hands of a friend not the
enemy, however, the search proved fruitless and Nero ended up taking
his own life.
Marcus
Attilius
Even
though he was a Roman citizen through birth, Marcus choose to become
a gladiator because he was heavily in debt. In his very first battle
he defeated a gladiator known to be owned by Nero, this gladiator was
a 13 times champion in the arena, Marcus went on defeating champions
right until the end. His life as a gladiator was recorded in mosaics
and graffiti that was unearthed in 2007.
And
I saved the best for last, my firm favourite Spartacus, many an epic
film was made about this man, (however, my favourite was played by
Kirk Douglas).
Spartacus
everyone
has heard about this legendary gladiator, he began life as a Thracian
soldier, who was captured and then sold as a slave. Lentulus Batiatus
of Capua recognized talent when he saw it, because he bought him for
the sole purpose of using him as a gladiator. However, despite the
odds this warrior’s fierce independence shone through and he would
not give up his bid from freedom. In 73BC he persuaded nearly 100 of
his fellow gladiators these included Crixus. As a result of this
revolt their master was murdered, allowing the gladiators to escape
to freed to Mount Vesuvius.
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