Editing Gladiator (section)

==History==
===Origins===
[[File:Fronton marmol anfiteatro romano de Merida.JPG|thumb|Relief of gladiators from [[Amphitheatre of Mérida]], Spain]]
Early literary sources seldom agree on the origins of gladiators and the gladiator games.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=17}}; {{harvnb|Kyle|1998|p=82}}.</ref> In the late 1st century BC, [[Nicolaus of Damascus]] believed they were [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]].<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|pp=16–17}}. Nicolaus cites [[Posidonius]]'s support for a [[Celt]]ic origin and Hermippus' for a [[Mantinea]]n (therefore [[Ancient Greece|Greek]]) origin.</ref> A generation later, [[Livy]] wrote that they were first held in 310 BC by the [[Campanians]] in celebration of their victory over the [[Samnium|Samnites]].<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|pp=4–7}}. Futrell is citing Livy, 9.40.17.</ref> Long after the games had ceased, the 7th century AD writer [[Isidore of Seville]] derived Latin ''[[wikt:lanista#Latin|lanista]]'' (manager of gladiators) from the Etruscan word for "executioner", and the title of "[[Charon (mythology)|Charon]]" (an official who accompanied the dead from the Roman gladiatorial arena) from [[Charun]], [[psychopomp]] of the Etruscan underworld.<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|pp=14–15}}.</ref> This was accepted and repeated in most early modern, standard histories of the games.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=11}}.</ref>

For some modern scholars, reappraisal of pictorial evidence supports a Campanian origin, or at least a borrowing, for the games and gladiators.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=18}}; {{harvnb|Futrell|2006|pp=3–5}}.</ref> [[Ancient Campania|Campania]] hosted the earliest known gladiator schools (''[[Ludus (ancient Rome)|ludi]]'').<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=4}}; {{harvnb|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=226}}.</ref> Tomb [[fresco]]es from the Campanian city of [[Paestum]] (4th century BC) show paired fighters, with helmets, spears and shields, in a propitiatory funeral blood-rite that anticipates early Roman gladiator games.<ref>{{harvnb|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=226}}. Paestum was colonized by Rome in 273 BC.</ref> Compared to these images, supporting evidence from Etruscan tomb-paintings is tentative and late. The Paestum frescoes may represent the continuation of a much older tradition, acquired or inherited from Greek colonists of the 8th century BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|pp=15, 18}}.</ref>

Livy places the first Roman gladiator games (264 BC) in the early stage of Rome's [[First Punic War]], against [[Carthage]], when [[Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva]] had three gladiator pairs fight to the death in Rome's "cattle market" forum (''[[Forum Boarium]]'') to honor his dead father, Brutus Pera. Livy describes this as a "''munus''" (plural: ''[[Munera (ancient Rome)|munera]]''), a gift, in this case a commemorative duty owed the [[manes]] (spirit, or shade) of a dead ancestor by his descendants.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|pp=18–19}}. Livy's account (summary 16) places beast-hunts and gladiatorial ''munera'' within this single ''munus''.</ref><ref>A single, later source describes the gladiator type involved as [[Thraex|Thracian]]. See {{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=19}}. Welch is citing Ausanius: Seneca simply says they were "war captives".</ref> The development of the gladiator ''munus'' and its [[List of Roman gladiator types|gladiator types]] was most strongly influenced by Samnium's support for [[Hannibal]] and the subsequent punitive expeditions against the Samnites by Rome and its Campanian allies; the earliest, most frequently mentioned and probably most popular type was the [[Samnite (gladiator type)|Samnite]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wiedemann|1992|p=33}}; {{harvnb|Kyle|1998|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Kyle|2007|p=273}}. Evidence of "Samnite" as an insult in earlier writings fades as Samnium is absorbed into the republic.</ref>

To quote Livy:

<blockquote>
The war in Samnium, immediately afterwards, was attended with equal danger and an equally glorious conclusion. The enemy, besides their other warlike preparation, had made their battle-line to glitter with new and splendid arms. There were two corps: the shields of the one were inlaid with gold, of the other with silver&nbsp;... The Romans had already heard of these splendid accoutrements, but their generals had taught them that a soldier should be rough to look on, not adorned with gold and silver but putting his trust in iron and in courage&nbsp;... The Dictator, as decreed by the senate, celebrated a triumph, in which by far the finest show was afforded by the captured armour. So the Romans made use of the splendid armour of their enemies to do honour to their gods; while the Campanians, in consequence of their pride and in hatred of the Samnites, equipped after this fashion the gladiators who furnished them entertainment at their feasts, and bestowed on them the name Samnites.<ref>Livy 9.40. Quoted in {{harvnb|Futrell|2006|pp=4–5}}.</ref>
</blockquote>

Livy's account skirts the funereal, sacrificial function of early Roman gladiator combats and reflects the later theatrical ethos of the Roman gladiator show: splendidly, exotically armed and armoured [[barbarians]], treacherous and degenerate, are dominated by Roman iron and native courage.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|1998|p=67 (Note #84)}}. Livy's published works are often embellished with illustrative rhetorical detail.</ref> His plain Romans virtuously dedicate the magnificent spoils of war to the gods. Their Campanian allies stage a dinner entertainment using gladiators who may not be Samnites, but play the Samnite role. Other groups and tribes would join the cast list as Roman territories expanded. Most gladiators were armed and armoured in the manner of the enemies of Rome.<ref>The ''velutes'' and later, the ''provocatores'' were exceptions, but as "historicised" rather than contemporary Roman types.</ref> The gladiator ''munus'' became a morally instructive form of historic enactment in which the only honourable option for the gladiator was to fight well, or else die well.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|1998|pp=80–81}}.</ref>

===Development===
In 216 BC, [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 232 BC)|Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]], late [[Roman consul|consul]] and [[augur]], was honoured by his sons with three days of ''munera gladiatoria'' in the [[Forum Romanum]], using twenty-two pairs of gladiators.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=21}}. Welch is citing Livy, 23.30.15. The Aemilii Lepidii were one of the most important families in Rome at the time, and probably owned a gladiator school (''ludus'').</ref> Ten years later, [[Scipio Africanus]] gave a commemorative ''munus'' in Iberia for his father and uncle, casualties in the Punic Wars. High status non-Romans, and possibly Romans too, volunteered as his gladiators.<ref name="Futrell, 8-9">{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|pp=8–9}}.</ref> The context of the [[Punic Wars]] and Rome's near-disastrous defeat at the [[Battle of Cannae]] (216 BC) link these early games to munificence, the celebration of military victory and the religious expiation of military disaster; these ''munera'' appear to serve a morale-raising agenda in an era of military threat and expansion.<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=30}}.</ref> The next recorded ''munus'', held for the funeral of [[Publius Licinius Crassus Dives (consul 205 BC)|Publius Licinius]] in 183 BC, was more extravagant. It involved three days of funeral games, 120 gladiators, and public distribution of meat (''visceratio data'')<ref>Livy, 39.46.2.</ref>—a practice that reflected the gladiatorial fights at Campanian banquets described by Livy and later deplored by Silius Italicus.<ref>Silius Italicus quoted in {{harvnb|Futrell|2006|pp=4–5}}.</ref>

The enthusiastic adoption of ''munera gladiatoria'' by Rome's Iberian allies shows how easily, and how early, the culture of the gladiator ''munus'' permeated places far from Rome itself. By 174 BC, "small" Roman ''munera'' (private or public), provided by an ''[[wikt:editor#Latin|editor]]'' of relatively low importance, may have been so commonplace and unremarkable they were not considered worth recording:<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=21}}.</ref>

<blockquote>
Many gladiatorial games were given in that year, some unimportant, one noteworthy beyond the rest—that of [[Titus Quinctius Flamininus|Titus Flamininus]] which he gave to commemorate the death of his father, which lasted four days, and was accompanied by a public distribution of meats, a banquet, and scenic performances. The climax of the show which was big for the time was that in three days seventy four gladiators fought.<ref>Livy, ''Annal for the Year 174 BC'' (cited in {{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=21}}).</ref>
</blockquote>

In 105 BC, the ruling consuls offered Rome its first taste of state-sponsored "[[barbarian]] combat" demonstrated by gladiators from Capua, as part of a training program for the military. It proved immensely popular.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Wiedemann|1992|pp=6–7}}. Wiedemann is citing Valerius Maximus, 2.3.2.</ref> Thereafter, the gladiator contests formerly restricted to private ''munera'' were often included in the state games (''[[ludi]]'')<ref>The games were always referred to in the plural, as ''ludi''. Gladiator schools were also known as ''ludi'' when plural; a single school was ''ludus''</ref> that accompanied the major religious festivals. Where traditional ''ludi'' had been dedicated to a deity, such as [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], the ''munera'' could be dedicated to an aristocratic sponsor's divine or heroic ancestor.<ref name="Lintott 2004 183">{{harvnb|Lintott|2004|p=183}}.</ref>

===Peak===
[[File:Nennig Roman Villa and Mosaics - 51134391753.jpg|thumb|A ''[[retiarius]]'' stabs at a ''[[secutor]]'' with his [[trident]] in this mosaic from the villa at [[Nennig]], Germany, c. 2nd–3rd century AD.]]
[[File:Gladiateur Begram Guimet 18117.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Roman glass]]ware decorated with a gladiator, dated 52–125 AD and found at [[Begram]], Afghanistan, a royal city of the [[Kushan Empire]] where, according to [[Warwick Ball]], it was likely on its way to [[Han dynasty]] [[Sino-Roman relations|China]] via the [[Silk Road]] along with other glass items.<ref>{{harvnb|Ball|2016|pp=153-154}}</ref>]]

Gladiatorial games offered their sponsors extravagantly expensive but effective opportunities for self-promotion, and gave their clients and potential voters exciting entertainment at little or no cost to themselves.<ref>{{harvnb|Mouritsen|2001|p=97}}; {{harvnb|Coleman|1990|p=50}}.</ref> Gladiators became big business for trainers and owners, for politicians on the make and those who had reached the top and wished to stay there. A politically ambitious ''[[privatus]]'' (private citizen) might postpone his deceased father's ''munus'' to the election season, when a generous show might drum up votes; those in power and those seeking it needed the support of the [[plebeian]]s and their [[tribune]]s, whose votes might be won with the mere promise of an exceptionally good show.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|2007|p=287}}; {{harvnb|Mouritsen|2001|pp=32, 109–111}}. Approximately 12% of Rome's adult male population could actually vote; but these were the wealthiest and most influential among ordinary citizens, well worth cultivation by any politician.</ref> [[Sulla]], during his term as ''[[praetor]]'', showed his usual acumen in breaking his own [[sumptuary]] laws to give the most lavish ''munus'' yet seen in Rome, for the funeral of his wife, Metella.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|2007|p=285}}.</ref>

In the closing years of the politically and socially unstable Late Republic, any aristocratic owner of gladiators had political muscle at his disposal.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|2007|p=287}}; such as Caesar's Capua-based gladiators, brought to Rome as a private army to impress and overawe.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=24}}. Gladiator gangs were used by Caesar and others to overawe and "persuade".</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mouritsen|2001|p=61}}. Gladiators could be enrolled to serve noble households; some household slaves may have been raised and trained for this.</ref> In 65 BC, newly elected ''[[curule aedile]]'' [[Julius Caesar]] held games that he justified as ''munus'' to his father, who had been dead for 20 years. Despite an already enormous personal debt, he used 320 gladiator pairs in silvered armour.<ref>{{harvnb|Mouritsen|2001|p=97}}. For more details see Plutarch's ''Julius Caesar'', 5.9.</ref> He had more available in Capua but the senate, mindful of the recent [[Spartacus]] revolt and fearful of Caesar's burgeoning private armies and rising popularity, imposed a limit of 320 pairs as the maximum number of gladiators any citizen could keep in Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|2007|pp=285–287}}. See also Pliny's ''Historia Naturalis'', 33.16.53.</ref> Caesar's showmanship was unprecedented in scale and expense;<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|2007|pp=280, 287}}</ref> he had staged a ''munus'' as memorial rather than funeral rite, eroding any practical or meaningful distinction between ''munus'' and ''ludi''.<ref>{{harvnb|Wiedemann|1992|pp=8–10}}.</ref>

Gladiatorial games, usually linked with beast shows, spread throughout the republic and beyond.<ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=21}}. Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Greece was keen to upstage his Roman allies, but gladiators were becoming increasingly expensive, and to save costs, all of his were local volunteers.</ref> Anti-corruption laws of 65 and 63 BC attempted but failed to curb the political usefulness of the games to their sponsors.<ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|2007|p=280}}. Kyle is citing Cicero's ''Lex Tullia Ambitu''.</ref> Following Caesar's assassination and the [[Roman Civil War]], [[Augustus]] assumed imperial authority over the games, including ''munera'', and formalised their provision as a civic and religious duty.<ref>{{harvnb|Richlin|1992|loc=Shelby Brown, "Death as Decoration: Scenes of the Arena on Roman Domestic Mosaics", p. 184}}.</ref> His revision of sumptuary law capped private and public expenditure on ''munera'', claiming to save the Roman elite from the bankruptcies they would otherwise suffer, and restricting gladiator ''munera'' to the festivals of [[Saturnalia]] and [[Quinquatria]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wiedemann|1992|p=45}}. Wiedemann is citing Cassius Dio, 54.2.3–4.</ref> Henceforth, an imperial [[praetor]]'s official ''munus'' was allowed a maximum of 120 gladiators at a ceiling cost of 25,000 denarii; an imperial ''ludi'' might cost no less than 180,000 denarii.<ref>Prices in denarii cited in "Venationes," [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/venationes.html ''Encyclopaedia Romana''].</ref> Throughout the empire, the greatest and most celebrated games would now be identified with the state-sponsored [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|imperial cult]], which furthered public recognition, respect and approval for the emperor's divine ''[[numen]]'', his laws, and his agents.<ref>{{harvnb|Auguet|1994|p=30}}. Each of Augustus's games involved an average of 625 gladiator pairs.</ref><ref name="Lintott 2004 183"/> Between 108 and 109 AD, [[Trajan]] celebrated his [[Dacia]]n victories using a reported 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals over 123 days.<ref>{{harvnb|Richlin|1992|loc=Shelby Brown, "Death as Decoration: Scenes of the Arena on Roman Domestic Mosaics", p. 181}}. Brown is citing Dio Cassius, 68.15.</ref> The cost of gladiators and ''munera'' continued to spiral out of control. Legislation of 177 AD by [[Marcus Aurelius]] did little to stop it, and was completely ignored by his son, [[Commodus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=48}}.</ref>

===Decline===
The decline of the gladiatorial ''munus'' was a far from straightforward process.<ref>{{harvnb|Mattern|2002|pp=130–131}}.</ref> The [[crisis of the 3rd century]] imposed increasing military demands on the imperial purse, from which the Roman Empire never quite recovered, and lesser magistrates found their provision of various obligatory ''munera'' an increasingly unrewarding tax on the doubtful privileges of office. Still, emperors continued to subsidize the games as a matter of undiminished public interest.<ref>{{harvnb|Auguet|1994|pp=30, 32}}.</ref> In the early 3rd century AD, the Christian writer [[Tertullian]] condemned the attendance of Christians: the combats, he said, were murder, their witnessing spiritually and morally harmful and the gladiator an instrument of [[pagan]] human sacrifice.<ref>Tertullian. ''De Spectaculis'', 22.</ref> Carolyn Osiek comments:
<blockquote>
The reason, we would suppose, would be primarily the bloodthirsty violence, but his is different: the extent of religious ritual and meaning in them, which constitutes idolatry. Although Tertullian states that these events are forbidden to believers, the fact that he writes a whole treatise to convince Christians that they should not attend (''De Spectaculis'') shows that apparently not everyone agreed to stay away from them.{{sfn|Osiek|2006|p=287}}
</blockquote>

In the next century, [[Augustine of Hippo]] deplored the youthful fascination of his friend (and later fellow-convert and [[bishop]]) [[Alypius of Thagaste]], with the ''munera'' spectacle as inimical to a Christian life and [[Salvation#Christianity|salvation]].<ref>Saint Augustine, ''Confessions'', 6.8.</ref> Amphitheatres continued to host the spectacular administration of Imperial justice: in 315 [[Constantine the Great]] condemned child-snatchers ''[[ad bestias]]'' in the arena. Ten years later, he forbade criminals being forced to fight to the death as gladiators:

<blockquote>
Bloody spectacles do not please us in civil ease and domestic quiet. For that reason we forbid those people to be gladiators who by reason of some criminal act were accustomed to deserve this condition and sentence. You shall rather sentence them to serve in the mines so that they may acknowledge the penalties of their crimes with blood.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40984834 Rescript of Constantine quoted by David Potter, "Constantine and the Gladiators"], ''The Classical Quarterly'', Vol. 60, No. 2 (December 2010), p. 597</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Mosaic museum Istanbul 2007 011.jpg|thumb|A 5th-century mosaic in the [[Great Palace of Constantinople]] depicts two ''venatores'' fighting a tiger]]
This has been interpreted as a ban on gladiatorial combat. Yet, in the last year of his life, Constantine wrote a letter to the citizens of Hispellum, granting its people the right to celebrate his rule with gladiatorial games.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/564626/Constantine_and_the_Gladiators David Potter, "Constantine and the Gladiators"], ''The Classical Quarterly'', Vol. 60, No. 2 (December 2010), p. 602</ref>

In 365, [[Valentinian I]] (r. 364–375) threatened to fine a judge who sentenced Christians to the arena and in 384 attempted, like most of his predecessors, to limit the expenses of ''gladiatora munera''.<ref>See Tertullian's ''Apologetics'', 49.4 for Tertullian's condemnation of officials who sought their own "glory" by sponsoring the martyrdom of Christians.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kyle|1998|p=78}}. Compared to "pagan" ''noxii'', Christian deaths in the arena would have been few.</ref><ref>''Codex Theodosianus'', [http://ancientrome.ru/ius/library/codex/theod/liber09.htm 9.40.8 and 15.9.1]; Symmachus. ''Relatio'', 8.3.</ref>

In 393, [[Theodosius I]] (r. 379–395) adopted [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicene]] Christianity as the [[state church of the Roman Empire|state religion of the Roman Empire]] and banned pagan festivals.<ref>''Codex Theodosianus'', 2.8.19 and 2.8.22.</ref> The ''ludi'' continued, very gradually shorn of their stubbornly pagan elements. [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] (r. 395–423) legally ended gladiator games in 399, and again in 404, at least in the [[Western Roman Empire]]. According to [[Theodoret]], the ban was in consequence of [[Saint Telemachus]]' martyrdom by spectators at a gladiator ''munus.''<ref>Telemachus had personally stepped in to prevent the ''munus''. See Theoderet's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', 5.26.</ref> [[Valentinian III]] (r. 425–455) repeated the ban in 438, perhaps effectively, though ''venationes'' continued beyond 536.<ref>''Codex Justinianus'', 3.12.9.</ref> By this time, interest in gladiator contests had waned throughout the Roman world. In the [[Byzantine]] Empire, [[Theatre of ancient Rome|theatrical shows]] and [[chariot race]]s continued to attract the crowds, and drew a generous imperial subsidy.