Gladiators as Slaves

Gladiators did not necessarily have to be slaves to fight in the arena; many were criminals, freemen and prisoners of war. Though they may not have originally been labeled as slaves before joining the fighting men, once an individual became a gladiator he relinquished an rights he had as a citizen of Rome. They took an oath that they swore to endure being burned, bound, beaten, and slain by the sword (“uni, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari patior.”) They were at the service of their master, just as a slave would be to his master. By becoming a gladiator these men became the highest level of social disgrace in the Roman society known as infamia.

As I talked in my midterm blog post I mentioned how despite the fact that gladiators had the rights of slaves and were socially the same, there is a major difference between a slaves and gladiators. Gladiators, though infamia, were idolized by the Roman people including certain Emperors (Caligula and Commodus both fought in the arena). Gladiators had the capacity to become heroes to the people. Cicero used the gladiator to represent his “good man” in Tusculanae Disputationes. He described the gladiator as a soldier soldier/philosopher who through his consistent and unflinching fierceness in the face of death and his complete collusion (and even pressure) in his own powerlessness couples his slavery with honor.

Lukas Varney