Centrum I: Ludi Gladiatorum
Gladiatorial
barracks at Pompeii
Directions:
Read the passage
below and complete
the corresponding
worksheet AS YOU
READ!
Gladiator Schools
In general, gladiators were condemned criminals, prisoners of war, or slaves bought for
the purpose of gladiatorial combat by a lanista, or owner of gladiators. Professional gladiators
were free men who volunteered to participate in the games. Though low on the social scale, free
men often found popularity and patronage of wealthy Roman citizens by becoming gladiators.
The emperor Augustus sought to preserve the pietas (piety) and virtus (virtue) of the knight class
and Roman senate by forbidding them to participate in gladiatorial combat. Later, Caligula and
Nero would order both groups to participate in the games.
Romans citizens legally derogated as infamus sold themselves to lanistae, or gladiator
trainers, and were known as auctorati. Their social status was neither that of volunteers nor
condemned criminals, or slaves. Condemned criminals, the damnati ad mortem who committed a
capital crime, entered the gladiatorial arena weaponless. Those criminals who did not commit a
capital crime were trained in private gladiator schools, ludi. At these private and imperial
schools, gladiators became specialist in combat techniques that disabled and captured their
opponents rather than killed them quickly. Criminals trained in gladiator schools fought with the
weapons and armor of their choice and could earn their freedom if they survived three to five
years of combat. Though a gladiator was only required to fight two or three times a year, few
survived the three to five years.
Gladiators were trained at special schools (ludi) originally owned by private citizens, but
later taken over by the imperial state to prevent the build up of a private army. A very famous
gladiatorial school existed at Capua. Gladiators trained like true athletes, much like professional
athletes do today. They received medical attention and three meals a day. Their training included
learning how to use various weapons, including the war chain, net, trident, dagger, and lasso.
Above is a picture of the Gladiatorial Barracks at Pompeii. Each gladiator was allowed to fight in
the armor and with the weapons that best suited him. They wore armor, though not Roman
military armor as this would send the wrong political signal to the populous.
Source: http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/gladiator2.html
CEntrum I: Ludi Gladiatorum
Directions: Complete AS YOU READ the Ludi Gladiatorum reading.
Gladiator Schools:
1. In general, gladiators were ______________ , ___________________, or
________________.
2. Free men could become professional gladiators to (hopefully) gain the
_____________ and ______________ of wealthy Roman citizens; Roman
citizens condemned as infamus could sell themselves to lanistae, or
__________________. These Roman citizens who sold themselves were
called ______________.
3. Condemned criminals who committed a capital crime entered with arena
with/without weapons. (Circle the correct answer).
4. Most gladiators found themselves trained at _________, or gladiatorial
schools.
5. Trained gladiators could earn their freedom after ____ to ____ years of
combat, but most did not live that long.
6. A very famous gladiator school was at _________. (This is where
Spartacus trained!)
7. Some of the weapons that gladiators learned to use include:
________________, _______, ____________, __________ and ________.
8. Did the gladiators’ armor look like Roman military armor? Yes / No.
Why? ____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
CEntrum II: Gladiator Characters
Directions: At this station, read each of the following descriptions (each one describes ONE
gladiator character), and try to match them to the pictures on your sheet. After you have
matched them, write down the (4) weapons that characterize that gladiator.
Picture
Description
Number
(match) &
name
Number: V
Name:
Murmillo
Number: IV
Name:
Samnite
Number: II
Name:
Secutor
Number: I
Name:
Retarius
Number: III
Name:
Thracian
Four weapons for this character
1. large rectangular shield
2. helmet with a big crest/plume
3. one, left-leg greave
4. sword
1. large, rectangular shield
2. helmet usually topped with a griffin
3. one, left-leg greave
4. sword
1.
2.
3.
4.
large, rectangular shield
big, rounded helment
one, left-leg greave
sword
1.
2.
3.
4.
trident
net
dagger
shoulder-guard
1.
2.
3.
4.
two greaves
sword
small, rounded shield
helmet with wide-brim
CEntrum II: Gladiator Characters
Directions:
Read each description, and then match them to the pictures of gladiators on your
worksheet.
I.
This gladiator can also be called a “net man”; he represents a fisherman. He has no
helmet. He is less armed than the other characters, although he does have a big net
and sharp trident. He also carries with him a dagger (tucked into his loin cloth). His
shoulder-guard is his only type of shield. He is called a Retiarius.
II.
This gladiator gets his name from the Latin word sequor, sequi, secutus – he is a
“follower.” He is bald and almost completely naked. He carries a large, rectangular
shield and a sword. He wears a greave on his left leg and a rounded helmet on his
head. This gladiator also usually wears leather bands around his wrists, in addition to
the other four pieces of armor. He is called a Secutor.
III.
This gladiator has greaves on both legs. He also carries a small, square (or circular)
shield close to his body. He is armed with a sword and a full visored helmet, which
has a wide brim. His character is based off of a Greek opponent of the Romans, and
is therefore called a Thracian.
IV.
This gladiator wears a helmet with a large crest, usually topped with a griffin. He
carries a sword close at all times. He protects himself with a large rectangular shield.
This gladiator only has one greave. Like the Thracian, this character is also based on
a foreigner; he is called a Samnite.
V.
This gladiator is protected by a large, rectangular shield. He is known as the “fish
man,” because his helmet has a large crest/plume that looks like a fish’s dorsal fin.
He has a single greave on his left leg, and he carries a sword with him in battle. He is
called a Murmillo.
CEntrum III: The games
Directions: Imagine that you are a gladiator! First, read the passage below and fill in the
corresponding worksheet. When you are done, read the following selected pages from You
Wouldn’t Want to be a Roman Gladiator!.
Part I: The Gladiatorial Games
Like chariot racing, contests of gladiators probably originated as funeral games; these
contests were much less ancient than races, however. The first recorded gladiatorial combat in
Rome occurred when three pairs of gladiators fought to the death during the funeral of Junius
Brutus in 264 BCE, though others may have been held earlier. Gladiatorial games (called
munera since they were originally “duties” paid to dead ancestors) gradually lost their exclusive
connection with the funerals of individuals and became an important part of the public spectacles
staged by politicians and emperors. The popularity of gladiatorial games is indicated by the large
number of wall paintings and mosaics depicting gladiators. Many household items were
decorated with gladiatorial motifs as well.
Gladiatorial contests, like chariot races, were originally held in large open spaces with
temporary seating; there is evidence that some munera were held in the Roman Forum, for
example. As the games became more frequent and popular, there was need for a larger and more
permanent structure. Although the Circus Maximus was often pressed into service because of its
huge seating capacity, the Romans eventually designed a building specifically for this type of
spectacle (called an amphitheatrum because the seating extended all the way around the oval or
elliptical performance area, which was covered with sand, harena). The English word ‘arena’
comes from the Latin word harena, or sand. Sand was used to cover the floor of the Colosseum
to soak up blood from the fighting. Like Roman theaters, amphitheaters were freestanding;
because they did not require natural hills, as Greek theaters did, they could be built anywhere.
Gladiatorial games began with an elaborate procession that included the combatants and
was led by the sponsor of the games, the editor; in Rome during the imperial period, this usually
was the emperor, and in the provinces it was a high-ranking magistrate. The parade and
subsequent events were often accompanied by music; the mosaic at right depicts a water organ
and the curved horn (cornu). The morning's events might begin with mock fights. These would
be followed by animal displays, sometimes featuring trained animals that performed tricks, but
more often staged as hunts (venationes) in which increasingly exotic animals were pitted against
each other or hunted and killed by bestiarii, a special type of gladiator who only fought animals.
The lunch break was devoted to executions of criminals who had committed particularly
heinous crimes—murder, arson, sacrilege (the Christians, for example, were considered to be
guilty of sacrilege and treason, because they refused to participate in rites of the state religion or
to acknowledge the divinity of the emperor). The public nature of the execution made it
degrading as well as painful and was intended to serve as a deterrent to others. One form of
execution in the arena was damnatio ad bestias, in which the condemned were cast into the
arena with violent animals or were made to participate in “dramatic” reenactments of
mythological tales in which the “stars” really died (as for example the myth of Dirce, killed by
being tied to a bull). In extraordinary circumstances, criminals might be forced to stage an
elaborate naval battle (naumachia). Although these were usually fought on lakes, some scholars
think they might also have been staged in the Colosseum.
In the afternoon came the high point of the games—individual gladiatorial combats.
These were usually matches between gladiators with different types of armor and fighting styles,
refereed by a lanista. Before battle, the gladiators may or may not turn to the emperor to give
their greetings, “Ave, imperator, morituri te salutant!/ Hail, emperor, those about to die salute
you!” When a gladiator had been wounded and wished to concede defeat, he would hold up an
index finger. At this point the crowd would indicate with gestures whether they wished the
defeated gladiator to be killed or spared. It is unclear whether an upright thumb meant death and
a turned thumb meant life, or vice-versa. In any case, the sponsor of the games decided whether
or not to give the defeated gladiator a reprieve. If the gladiator was to be killed, he was expected
to accept the final blow in a ritualized fashion, without crying out or flinching. Some scholars
believe there was also a ritual for removing the bodies of dead gladiators, with a man dressed as
Charon (ferryman of Hades) testing the body to make sure he was really dead and then a slave
dragging the body with a hook through a gate called the Porta Libitinensis (Libitina was a death
goddess). However, it was a rare occasion that trained gladiators were killed; most of the time
they were spared death, because training and raising gladiators was very expensive.
Source: http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/arena.html
Part II:
The games are about to begin. Your moment of glory is upon you – you hope. But first, you must
entertain the crowd.
WARM-UP
FIGHT
First you'll fight
with wooden swords
in a practice duel.
GAMBLING
Spectators will
gamble on
whether you
will win your
fight …or not.
OPPONENT
You will be
drawn to fight
against another
gladiator.
REAL
WEAPON
You will be
given your real
weapon – no
more wooden
swords from
now on.
MUSIC
Musicians will play
war-trumpets, pipes
and flutes.
ADVICE FROM THE BENCH
Your trainer will encourage you, shouting
words of advice — and threats. His reputation
will be damaged if you don't put up a good
fight.
ACTION!
NOISY CROWD
The contest begins – it's The crowd will cheer
a fight to the death.
and shout all the time
you are fighting.
You are about to fight for your life, but it is not just your opponent you have to worry about.
Your trainer will be watching every move and, if he thinks you are not trying hard enough, he
has a painful way of prodding you back into action.
HANDY HINT
Try to stay alive until midday. Then you'll have a
chance for a rest when you'll be able to watch pairs
of criminals fight to the death.
Bad luck! In your contest you were drawn to fight a retarius, a gladiator who catches opponents
in his net before moving in for the final kill.
There’s only one thing you can do: appeal to the emperor.
The crowd are on their feet, shouting "Habet, hoc habet!", which means "Got him! Let him have
it!". There's only one thing you can do. As you raise your left hand to appeal to the emperor he
will turn to the crowd and let them decide your fate. All you can hope for is that they call out
"Mitte!"– "Let him go!".
EMPEROR APPEAL
A fallen gladiator
can appeal to the
emperor by raising
one finger on his
left hand. The
emperor will ask the
crowd what they
want.
THUMBS UP
If the crowd hold their
thumbs up and wave
their handkerchiefs, the
fallen gladiator will be
allowed to live.
THUMBS DOWN
If the crowd turn their
thumbs to the ground, as
if swiping a sword
through the air, then the
defeated man must die.
A DRAW
If both gladiators are still
on their feet and have
fought their best, then a
draw may be declared
and neither man will die.
It seems the crowd showed you no mercy and the retarius was the winner of the contest. While
your body is dragged from the arena, the victorious gladiator is presented with his prizes.
FINISHED
OFF
Dying
gladiators are
killed by a
man dressed as
the mythical
character
Charon.
DRAGGED AWAY
Men drag away the
bodies of the dead and
dump them in a pit.
CLEANERS
Boys rake the sand over
to remove all signs of
blood.
CEntrum III: The games
Directions: Fill in the following notes as you read Part I of this centrum.
1. In Latin, the gladiatorial games are called ______________, because they were
originally tied to ancestor worship.
2. The first gladiatorial game on record occurred in ________ BCE.
3. We know that gladiator games were very popular, because archaeologists have found
some of these things (list!): ________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. The Romans called the Colosseum an _________________, because it means “both
theatres” in Greek (the traditional Greek theater was semi-circular, and an oval is
formed is two are put together).
5. The Latin word for sand is __________, which is where we get the English word
________.
6. Gladiatorial games began with a _______________, which included the combatants
and the sponsor of the games. Music was prevalent.
7. Staged hunts, or _______________, were often fought before the gladiators came
out. Animals were killed by a special kind of gladiator, called _________________.
8. During the lunch break, there were often executions of _______________. One
horrible type of execution was called ________________________, in which the
people were killed by animals.
9. Mock-naval battles were also fought in the Colosseum, called _________________.
10. Individual fights between gladiators occurred in the _________________ (what time
of day?).
11. Gladiators sometimes greeted the emperor with, “Ave, imperator, mortituri te
salutant!” which means, “_________________________________________________”.
12. Who helped the emperor decide if a gladiator should be killed? __________________
13. How did a gladiator “surrender”? ___________________________________________
14. Were gladiators killed very often? _________ Why/Why not? ____________________
_______________________________________________________________________.
CEntrum IV: The Colosseum
Directions: Looking at the website on your computer screen
(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/warriorchallenge/gladiators/interactive.arena5.swf), roll
your cursor over the blinking red sections to help you label the inside and outside of
the Colosseum (Ampitheatrum Flavianum). Read the passages for each part of the
Colosseum to determine its function (be brief!). If you can’t figure out the function
from the reading, make an educated guess!
A.
What are they? _____________________
What is their function? ______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
B.
What are they? _____________________
What is their function? ______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
C.
What are they? _____________________
What is their function? ______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
D.
What are they (look at the bricks, not the columns)? _____________________
What is their function? ______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
A.
Who uses these doorways? __________________________________
B.
Who sits here? ____________________________________________
C.
Who sits here? ____________________________________________
D.
Who sits here? ____________________________________________
E.
Who sits here? ____________________________________________
F.
Who sits here? ____________________________________________
CEntrum V: The latin
Directions: The following poem, written by the Roman poet Martial, praises a gladiator
named Hermes, who excelled in three different fighting roles: a veles (lightly armed with a
spear), a retiarius (with a net and trident), and a Samnis (heavily armed with a visored
helmet). Break into partners/ a group of three and orally translate this poem, using the
footnotes on the next page. After you have translated, answer the content questions on your
worksheet.
Hermes Martia saeculi voluptas,
Hermes omnibus eruditus armis,
Hermes et gladiator et magister,
Hermes turba sui tremorque ludi,
Hermes quem timet Helius, sed unam,
Hermes cui cadit Advolans, sed uni,
Hermes vincere nec ferire doctus,
Hermes suppositicius sibi ipse,
Hermes divitiae locariorum,
Hermes cura laborque ludiarum,
Hermes belligera superbus hastā,
Hermes aequoreo minax tridente,
Hermes casside languida timendus,
Hermes gloria Martis universi,
Hermes omni solus, et ter unus.
1 Hermes: the gladiator has adopted the named of the Greek god Hermes (= Mercury)
Martius, -a, -um: connected with Mars (the god of war and combat)
saeculum, -i, n.: age, era
voluptas, voluptatis, f.: pleasure, delight
4 turba, -ae, f.: crowd; cause of confusion/turmoil
sui…ludi, of his school (of gladiators)
tremor, tremoris, m.: cause of fright, terror
5 Helius, Greek word for Sun, and Advolans, literally, Flying to (the Attack)—two
distinguished gladiators
sed unum: but the only one
7 ferio, -ire, -ivi, -itus: to strike, kill
8 suppositicius sibi ipse, himself his only substitute
9 divitiae, -arum, f. pl: wealth, riches
locarius, -I, m.: scalper (a person who buys up seats in the amphitheater and then
sells them for as high a price as he can get)
10 cura, -ae, f.,: care; here, the favorite
labor, laboris, m.: work, toil; here, a cause of suffering/distress, “heart-throb”
ludia, -ae, f.: female slave attached to a gladiatorial school
11 belliger, belligera, belligerum (cf. the phrase bellum gerere, to wage war), warlike
superbus, -a, -um: proud, arrogant
hasta, -ae, f., spear
12 aequoreo…tridente (cf. aequor, aequoris, n., the sea), with his sea trident
minax, minacis, menacing
13 cassis, cassidis, f., plumed metal helmet
languidus, -a, -um, drooping (describing the crest of the helmet drooping down over
the eyes)
timendus, -a, -um: to be feared
14 Martis universi: of every kind of combat
15 ter, adv., three times
CEntrum V: The latin
1. Who is Hermes? _____________________________________
2. What does the phrase “ter unus” mean (contextually)? ______________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Who is Hermes’ opponent? _____________________
4. How would you describe Hermes? List some of the LATIN adjectives used to describe
Hermes, and give their English meanings:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. What does the phrase laborque ludiarum mean in this poem? ___________________
________________________________________________________________________
Who might be an example of a MODERN laborque ludiarum? ____________________
________________________________________________________________________
6. What two weapons does Hermes use (what are their Latin names)?
________________________________________________________________________
Gladiator Centra: Teacher Instructions & Objectives
Objectives:
 The student will be able to identify and apply Latin terminology associated with
gladiatorial games.
 The student will be able to label the parts of the Colosseum.
 The student will be able to recognize specific gladiator characters.
 The student will be able to explain where gladiators came from and how they were
trained.
 The student will be able to describe what a typical day at the Colosseum would be
like.
Procedure:
1. (5 min): The teacher will explain to the students that they will be breaking into groups
of 4-5 and rotating between centers (centra) in the classroom to learn about
gladiators and the Colosseum in Roma. Each student will be given a packet of
worksheets, in order to match specific centra, I-V. The student will either pre-select
group members, or count students off to form groups, and each group will be
assigned initially to one centrum. The teacher explains to the students that they will
have 1 min. to read the instructions at each station, and then 7 min. to complete the
assignment, or get through as much of it as they can; students are encouraged to
help their peers, especially with the reading assignments, but the teacher will be
circulating the room to make sure that no one is copying another’s work.
2. Students are given 1 min. to read directions/change stations, and 7 min. to work at
each centrum. At each centrum, the appropriate reading materials will be set up (two
or three copies of each reading document at each station). Directions should be
simple and easy for students to access and follow at each station. At Centrum IV, the
teacher will have already started up 4 computers and gone to the appropriate
webpage on each. Students are not allowed to visit any other web page than the one
shown, and the teacher will closely monitor this computer use.
3. The teacher is encourage to use a stopwatch to keep track of time and to signal to
the students when it is time to switch to another station; even if students have not
finished a station, they must gone on to the next one, leaving behind all the materials
at that station (except for their worksheet packets) for the next group to use. Total
time at the stations, including transition time: 40 min.
4. Students are asked to get back to their seats and/or help the teacher gather the
centrum materials. 5 min.
5. Closing: The teacher will have already brought up on his/her computer the “Dressed
to Kill” internet game, which will at this time be projected onto the whiteboard. The
teacher will follow the game prompts to start the game. The teacher will take
volunteers to suggest which arms are appropriate for each given character, and then
“send the gladiator into battle.” Three gladiators are dressed in this game. 5 min.
Total time required: 55 minutes
Evaluation: Students will hand in their packets of worksheets for a participation grade. The
closing activity serves to test how well the students learned the information from Centrum II.
This activity should be completed on Day 2 of a 5-day mini-unit, and the teacher will, at a
later time, inform students as to what information they will be responsible for on the end-ofunit test. The worksheet packets will be handed back to students on another day for peerediting during class.