Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: Female Gladiator  (Read 4748 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

EmpressCollector

  • Guest
Female Gladiator
« on: October 07, 2002, 03:09:57 pm »
Did you guys hear about the grave of a female gladiator found in England: [BROKEN LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN]  Very interesting article there.

Offline LordBest

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 2045
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2002, 08:49:53 pm »
"Emperors issued coins stamped with the faces of popular gladiators, and wealthy families decorated homes with scenes of their death agonies."
Thats not true. >:( Im inclined to agree that it isnt a gladiatrix buried there, i read another article on the subject a few weeks ago. Also, therewas some contradictory evidence to the idea that fmeale students of collegia ivenvm went on to be gladiatrix'es. It seems it was consdered sort of a fitness club, send your daughter or wife along so they lose a bit of eight and get fit. ;) And possible learn how to use a swrod, those patricians must have been crazy. :-X
                    LordBest. 8)

Offline LordBest

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 2045
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2002, 08:11:37 am »
There were some gladiatrixii (;)) in Gladiator, the archers on the chariots in the chariot scene. ;) One got chopped in half by a scythe.:( Poor girl. ::) If you want gladiatrixii (;)), get your sister and her best friend, point at both of them and scream "SHE ATE YOUR CHOCOLATE!" and watch with amusement. ;) 8) ::)
                      LordBest. 8)

Offline aragon6

  • Comitia Curiata
  • Praetorian
  • **
  • Posts: 67
  • Violent times..yet the beauty they created is here
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2002, 09:36:24 am »
It really is no surprise that there were female gladiators.  There was always pressure to find new and exciting ways to entertain the masses.  Many of those ways of causing death for the delight of the viewers were a lot more grotesque and cruel than two women fighting.  It was certainly a good way to distract the people from their own lives.  

Offline LordBest

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 2045
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2002, 09:53:30 am »
what annoys me is the amount of sensationalism around gladiators. >:( The majority of Gladiators/Gladiatrixii (;)) were volunteers. Why? Why not. people volunteer to join the army, people want to become footballers, or racing car drivers. Gladiators were sort of a combination of the two. If you won, you became wealthy, famous and could have as many girls/boys as you could cope with. If you lost, well, you died. but if you didnt become a gladiator you had just as much chance of being murdered, being hit by a chariot, catching some hideous disease etc. At 15 you might be able to join a gladiator group, most likely older. training was around 5-8 years, depending on the class of gladiator and quality the group tried to produce. The chances of dying were quite small during training, you were isolated form most of the public so had a decreased chance of catching a disease. for a women, whos avetage life expectancy was 18-18 (after first child born it jumped to 50 or thereabouts), just by doing the training youve already increased your lifespan.
this is for the actual Gladiators/Gladiatrixii(;)), not for the criminals who get sent to kill themselves. When msot countries still have the death penalty (38 states in the US isnt it?) we can hardly call the Romans brutal for doing that.
You also hve to remember that after 5-8 years of traiing, Gladiators were avery expensive invetment! They wre not just sent to their deaths in their thousands like popularly believed. Think WWF. If those guys did to each what they pretend to, they wouldnt be able to fight more than a couple of times year. Gladiators were the same, they did not often die, if they did it was by accident and probably pissed the hell out of his/her owner. Before 68AD things were a bit more strict, but before Neros reign Gladiators wre not used in large numbers anyway.:)
                       LordBest. 8)

Offline aragon6

  • Comitia Curiata
  • Praetorian
  • **
  • Posts: 67
  • Violent times..yet the beauty they created is here
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2002, 10:20:30 am »
The fighting amongst the real and actual gladiators was just a part of a larger show covering various 'entertainments'.  Variety was very important it seems.

saturn8000

  • Guest
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2002, 11:46:21 am »
When I was in London, I saw a carved stone that had been in Turkey, depicting two female Gladiators. That story of the female gladiators grave found in London has been around for quite a while now. A documentry was on a while ago about it.

Offline LordBest

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 2045
Re: Female Gladiator
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2002, 11:09:23 pm »
I know there were republican reverses with gladiators,and i know sestertii with the colloseum minted by Gordian III had gladiators fighting, but no portraits. >:(
                       LordBest. 8)

Offline curtislclay

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 11155
Re:Female Gladiator
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2004, 12:31:21 am »
    The only Republican type I can think of, Crawford 494/30, RSC Livineia 12 (p. 58), shows a special type of gladiator, namely beast-fighters, fighting a lion, a tiger, and a boar.
    Similarly Roman contorniates, struck c. 356-425 AD, have a couple of types of beast-fighters battling animals, but none, I think, of gladiators fighting each other.
    I think gladiators are depicted quite often on lamps and in mosaics, however.
Curtis Clay

Offline *Alex

  • Tribunus Plebis 2022
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 2139
  • Etiam Iovis omnibus placere non possunt.
Re:Female Gladiator
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2004, 07:58:56 am »
There is this too.............

Gladiator cup, ca. 50–80 A.D.; Neronian–Early Flavianic
Roman; Found at Montagnole, southern France
Glass; H. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm), Diam. 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm)

Alex.



 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity