Most young people today will think of Russell Crowe as the disgraced military leader Maximus when they say "gladiator". Older people, perhaps, will also remember Kirk Douglas in the famous movie "Spartacus". This, perhaps, limits the list of "sources" on which our contemporary builds his ideas about the customs of Ancient Rome.
If you ask the average Russian what he knows about gladiatorial fights, then the answer would probably be: "This is a ruthless massacre without rules, a bloody" small pile "in which disenfranchised slaves fought for life and death." But is it really so?
Myth 1: gladiators are cheap cannon fodder
Gladiators were not cheap cannon fodder at all, but real professionals, something akin to today's football and hockey legionnaires. They were carefully looked after, treated and cared for, not skimping on medicines and health promotion products.
On the bones of gladiators found by archaeologists, there are traces of surgical intervention, including such complex operations as amputation of limbs, and cranial surgery.
Gladiators received extensive training in special schools. Skeletons found in a cemetery in Ephesus show bone changes caused by rigorous training. For example, one gladiator had the hand that held the sword was almost five centimeters longer than the other. The same phenomenon is observed in modern tennis stars, although they hold a much lighter racket.
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The workouts, which lasted from morning to evening, were very intense. Under the guidance of a teacher, a former gladiator, the novices were trained in swordsmanship. Each of them was given a wooden sword and a shield woven from willow.
The blows were practiced on a wooden log dug into the ground. When a beginner mastered the basic basics of fencing, he was no longer given a wooden, but an iron sword. To strengthen the muscles, this weapon was specially made twice as heavy as a combat one.
Throughout the entire period of study at school, the health of all students was closely monitored by a staff doctor. In order to understand how "anxious" they treated the health of future gladiators, suffice it to say that the greatest ancient Roman doctor Galen worked for a long time not just anywhere, but in the Great Imperial School of Gladiators.
In fairness, it should be noted that such concern for the students was not caused by humanism at all, but by considerations of banal economy: it would be extremely costly for the school owner to lose a soldier from illness and poor nutrition, in whose training so much time and money was invested.
In terms of training, gladiators were similar to modern athletes. Their muscles were enormously developed by strenuous exercise and diet. The bones of gladiators contain a lot of strontium and little zinc. This means that the gladiators did not eat meat at all, but ate high-calorie foods - cereals and beans, almost like modern athletes.
It seems incredible, but these ferocious fighters were vegetarians. Naturally, this was all done on the basis of the medical knowledge that Roman civilization already possessed by that time.
Bones with a high strontium content could withstand strong blows in the arena, and gladiator wounds healed faster. The only exception to this tough sports diet was dinner on the eve of the battle: then the gladiator could eat whatever his heart desires.
Myth 2: all gladiators were disenfranchised slaves
Many prisoners, slaves, criminals were indeed sent into the arena by force, but the further, the more volunteers went to gladiators. By the end of the Roman Empire, it was they who constituted the overwhelming majority among the participants in mortal battles.
With slaves and criminals, everything is clear - their opinions were not asked, but what made free citizens choose such a deadly profession? The reasons are prosaic: the gladiatorial school relieved the poor man from constant concern for a piece of bread. A dashing guy, in whom an excess of strength was boiling, she seduced with the brilliance of future victories, wealth, fame.
And if the gladiator was lucky, if luck smiled at him, if he emerged victorious in fights, then he became, in modern terms, "the star of the gossip column." They talked about him with admiration in the modest workshops of artisans and the rich mansions of the senators.
The patricians took such fighters as their bodyguards. Young men from noble families learned fencing from them. Emperors descended into the arena to congratulate the winner. Why aren't today's great athletes?
The attitude towards gladiators was colored even with a certain note of mysticism. Thus, the blood of slain gladiators was considered sacred. It was given to drink to patients with epilepsy. Rich brides soaked the hairpins and combs of their wedding hairstyle in it, as it was believed that this accompanied a happy family life.
Myth 3: gladiatorial combat is a wild meat grinder
Gladiator fights were not just a wall-to-wall fight. The gladiators were strictly organized in pairs. Moreover, the pair were matched with approximately equal strength and training. Hollywood films give a completely distorted picture of these competitions.
Gladiator fights are not wild massacres, but competitions according to certain rules and with the obligatory participation of judges. This is a kind of combat sport. And as in every sport, there were mistakes and bias of the judges.
The gladiators had their own code of honor: they fought to the last and preferred death to flight. To chicken out in front of the enemy, to run away from him means to cover oneself with indelible shame. Gladiators had to accept death with honor. The ability of gladiators to meet death with dignity was considered an indicator of courage and courage, which a real Roman should possess.
"Die like a gladiator" was the highest praise for any soldier. Therefore, gladiatorial battles were more examples of military art, rather than ordinary fights.
In addition, it was very costly for the organizer of the games if many experienced gladiators died in battle. Preparing the replenishment was time consuming and expensive. But the audience wanted a professional show. Therefore, often one gladiator did not kill another, but fought to a convincing advantage, for example, to a broken limb.
Most often, fighters did not die from a direct blow in battle, but from subsequent infections brought in by weapons. During the Roman era, four out of five gladiators left the arena alive. Since one gladiator usually fought no more than three or four times a year, many of them did not end their lives as sadly as people think.
Myth 4: the audience determined the fate of the gladiator
If the gladiator was mortally wounded and lost consciousness, then he was finished off already outside the arena, with the help of a special hammer, which, by the way, was not used in battle. If the fighter was still conscious, then his fate was decided by the audience.
It is worth mentioning here the signals that the Romans used to decide the fate of the defeated gladiator. It is generally accepted that a thumb raised up meant that a person was being left alive, while a thumb lowered down meant that a person should die.
It is not known who was the first to express such a point of view, but not a single confirmation of this fact has come down to us either in written or in pictorial monuments of the Roman era. Roman writers mention the signs with which the crowd expressed their opinion, but they do not explain what these signs were.
So, the lowered or raised fingers of the audience is another myth that most likely came from old gymnasium textbooks.
Denis Orlov