Gladiator begins save professional#

In the later stage of the Roman Republic, the number of gladiators who participated in the tournaments increased even more. Consul Publius Licinius in 183 BC organized three days of games involving around 120 gladiators. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 216 BC organized in Rome games involving twenty-two pairs of gladiators. During the time of the first combat games, gladiators were named bustuarius or grave because those fighters were prisoners whose blood was sacrificed for decedent.Ī more massive events of the gladiator games begins at the time of the territorial spreading of the Roman Republic and during the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. It was known according to Titus Livius (Livy) that combats of gladiators in Roman Republic held for the first time in 264 BC, but that does not mean they were not organized before this date.

Gladiator begins save professional#

Gladiators were war prisoners and slaves, convicted criminals, professional fighters and Christians (at the time of their persecution) or free Roman citizens with their own will. Historians believed that tournament of gladiators originated from the ancient Etruscans for the purpose of funeral ceremonies, while the another opinions advocate idea that those games originated from the eastern civilizations. In later stage, gladiators were professional fighters at the time of the public combat tournaments in ancient Rome.

In the beginning, gladiator was an swordsman who participated in combat competitions. The term gladiator came from the Latin word gladius for the Short Sword used by Roman troop soldiers.