Originally gladiatorial combat was an important part of funeral celebrations. But by 1st century they had become a way patrons could look good in front of the mob, and was often used to win elections. Gladiatorial combat had become so popular by the middle of the 1st Century a huge amphitheatre was built in the centre of Rome that could fit 80,000 people. Work on this new arena was started by the Emperor Vespasian presumably to win popularity and avoid being assassinated as had happened to so many previous Emperors.

Popular culture has us believe that gladiators marched into the arena shouted ‘for those of us about to die we salute you’ at the Emperor and then fought to the death. This is a long way from the truth as there is no evidence gladiators ever shouted their famous words to the Emperor and most gladiators survived their fights. Gladiators had months of training and it would have been far too costly for every fight to result in a death. There were fights called sine missione which were fights to the death, but these were more common early on in the Roman republic and had become rare by the 1st century AD. Normally gladiators fought two or three fights a year and with only around 10 to 15% dying in each fight many lived for years. Given the abysmal death rates of slaves working in mines and on farms it was likely many slaves would have been very happy if they were sold to a gladiator school. Amazingly some gladiators were volunteers who would abandon their liberty often for a set number of years. This might have been in desperation due to debts or in the hope of winning fame and fortune.

Romans feelings towards gladiators can be described as confused. Most Romans considered gladiators to be as low or even worse than common slaves and on a par with prostitutes. The term ‘gladiator’ even became a term of abuse but when they fought in the arena they were adored for their skills. There even became a trade in the hair, fingernails and blood of gladiators and some women went as far as paying to sleep with famous gladiators.

Gladiators could win their freedom in the arena but this was rare. More common was gladiators keeping their prize money which they could then use to buy their freedom. Some of those who won their freedom went back to fight in the arena often for huge sums of money.

Even if gladiators had a good chance of surviving fights in the arena, there were plenty of less fortunate people who would die very quickly. These were usually criminals but sometimes prisoners of war and they would be killed in a variety of entertaining ways. Some would be sent out to face beast such as lions and tigers and would be mauled to death. Others would become part of re-enactments of famous battles and would represent hordes of barbarians killed by the Roman army.

Despite being slaves gladiators were well looked after. They had diet experts who would ensure they were fed the best food for building muscle. Interestingly this was usually a mostly vegetarian diet of beans and pulses. They also had some of the best doctors in the Empire who would ensure they were kept in peak physical condition. Some doctors worked at the arenas to practice healing terrible wounds before they went to work in the army.