10-19-2011, 12:31 PM
Hi. I've been watching a certain testosterone-charged, sex-obsessed, CGI blood splattered and somewhat New Zealand-accented TV drama series about Spartacus :wink:
Which has me asking a niggling - remotely historical - question: who were the guards at a gladiator school? The series and I'm sure Kirk Douglas's film put legionaries as the guards - which I would disregard as unlikely if I hadn't flicked through the Osprey book illustrated by Angus McBride and seen a legionary-kitted guard in that too.
So who were the guards? Do we know anything about them? And if not actual milites how were they armed? Did Roman law make an exception in their case?
Which has me asking a niggling - remotely historical - question: who were the guards at a gladiator school? The series and I'm sure Kirk Douglas's film put legionaries as the guards - which I would disregard as unlikely if I hadn't flicked through the Osprey book illustrated by Angus McBride and seen a legionary-kitted guard in that too.
So who were the guards? Do we know anything about them? And if not actual milites how were they armed? Did Roman law make an exception in their case?