A Closer Look at the Gear, Weapons, and World of Gladiators

François Gilbert’s ‘Gladiators 1st–5th Centuries AD’ provides insightful and rather colorful insights into the world of the Roman gladiators.

This book from Osprey Publishing presents a close-up and in-depth look at the world of the Roman gladiators.

Did you know that the gladiators who competed in Rome had a 90 percent survival rate? In François Gilbert’s new work, “Gladiators 1st-5th Centuries AD,” we are presented an up close and evolving view of the ancient and violent sportsmen during the Roman Empire.

Gilbert’s book is not necessarily about interesting facts regarding the gladiators, their arenas, the spectators, and the outcome of competition. His focus is primarily on what the gladiators wore, how they protected themselves, the weapons they used and why, and how over time, especially during and after the reign of Commodus (A.D. 180–192), who became a gladiator himself, that survival rate among gladiators plummeted to 50 percent.

Gladiator as Idol

Part of the Zliten mosaic from Libya (Leptis Magna), about 2nd century. It shows (L to R) a few types of gladiators: a "thraex" fighting a "murmillo," a "hoplomachus" standing with another "murmillo," who is signaling his defeat to the referee. Public Domain

The author makes a parallel between this decline in survival rate and the decline in the popularity of the gladiator games, suggesting that, perhaps, the Romans who ventured into the Colosseum weren’t as bloodthirsty as popular fiction infers. Before that decline, though, Gilbert notes how “the ablest among them were also considered true idols by the crowd. Approaching them and touching them had almost magical properties. … The gladiator became a popular figure, and even a model of strength and courage.”

This idyllic era of the gladiator was not always the case. Before the Principate (the Roman Empire’s form of government) began in the late 1st century B.C., gladiators were typically “enslaved or condemned people,” whose purpose of entering the arenas was to die (the Roman Colosseum wasn’t built until A.D. 80). Gilbert, however, discusses what modern readers are most likely familiar with from movies like “Gladiator.” Competitors were no longer just enslaved or condemned people, but included “free men” and even women who chose “gladiatura” as a career for its possible fame and fortune.

Form and Function

But what exactly did the gladiators wear, and, more importantly, what weapons did they wield? Gilbert, combined with illustrations by Giuseppe Rava, describes the helmets, shields, greaves, loincloths, shoulder covers, and arm protectors worn by the gladiators. As the author notes, these outfits were not randomly selected, but were worn by classes of gladiators, which include “eque,” “thraex,” “mirmillo,” “hoplomachus,” and “retiarius.”

Of course, these Latin names hold no significance to us today, but millennia ago, and depending upon which gladiator training school one attended, these meant everything. Even for spectators, the names were of significance. It enabled spectators to know what type of combat would be conducted and would therefore possibly entice them to attend.

The author utilizes archeological discoveries to describe the “gladiatura,” noting precisely where these discoveries were made or in which museum they are currently held. Along with the illustrations, which are drawn according to discovered ancient reliefs and mosaics, there are numerous photographs to help readers see precisely what these gladiators would have looked like. In some instances, these reliefs and mosaics describe how the fighters competed.

From presenting tridents and tipless swords to elaborately adorned helmets and circular shields, which doubled as an additional weapon, “Gladiators 1st–5th Centuries AD” proves to be an insightful work on an aspect of the ancient world that, on its face, seems to have really no rhyme or reason. Gilbert’s thorough presentation of the science (and, considering some of the designs on the gear and weapons, the art) behind the violent sport proves that the gladiators, their instructors, and their financial backers, did not see their investments of time, money, effort, sweat, and blood as trivial. As barbaric and mindless as these competitions may appear today, it seems there was far more consideration given to the competition itself and its competitors than what first meets the eye.

For anyone interested in garnering a closer look and an informed understanding of a sensationalized, yet typically skimmed over ancient subject, Gilbert and Rava’s work should be considered.

’Gladiators 1st–5th Centuries AD’ By François Gilbert and Giuseppe Rava Osprey Publishing, Nov. 26, 2024 Paperback: 64 pages

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