“Unveiling the Blood and Glory: The Untold Realities of Life as a Gladiator in Ancient Rome”
To begin with, the first known gladiator game was held in 264 BCE in honor of a deceased Roman aristocrat, put on by the aristocrat’s sons. The gladiators in this one were slaves that seemed to be captured from outside of Rome. As to the outcome, well, unfortunately, we don’t know if the first gladiators in this event lived or died, simply that it was a three-way match between three gladiators.
While gladiator games would be held throughout Roman history for various reasons, this particular occasion of honoring someone who’d just died persisted. In fact, upon the death of a Roman aristocrat in a given region, the masses even began expecting games, and would sometimes revolt if they weren’t held after such a death. For example, Suetonius noted upon the death of one aristocrat, the people of his city refused to let the body be buried unless his family held gladiatorial games. This eventually led to a revolt that had to be put down by emperor Tiberius.
That said, it should be noted that funerary gladiator games were not held for everyone. Equestrians and plebeians, even very rich ones, did not get funerary gladiator games held in their honor, just the patricians like the senatorial class. They also did not happen frequently, and you were lucky if you had two a year in a given town. Even a city as big as Rome did not usually see that many per year.
In any event, the gladiator games’ form would start to cement as Romans spread out into the world and took the games with them. Slaves captured in wars were sometimes sold to a gladiator school, or a ludus. As Rome expanded, there was a growing pool of slaves, and new territories in which gladiatorial combat became popular as a part of the spreading Roman culture. It was a machine that fed itself and could only grow as Rome was growing. Gladiatorial schools owned a familia gladiatoria or a gladiator troupe of slaves and free men and women. On this note, there were also free volunteers, usually thrill seekers or people down on their luck. These individuals typically paid to join the school, negotiated terms with the school owner, and were treated better than their slave colleagues. They could also leave whenever they wanted if they bought out their contract. Each troupe was run by a manager or owner, called a lanista, usually a freed gladiator himself.
