08-06-2014, 05:28 PM
As for all the sources we used to have a thread here were I already had them all listed based on an article by Stephen Brunet. Just check out this thread:
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/12-ancient-...=15#126824
Women gladiatorial bouts definitely were much rarer than male bouts of course but with the same seriousness. They were a kind of novelty, e.g. the inscription from Ostia points this out. But at what point among a gladiatorial show they took place nothing is known. If they are a novelty I wouldn't put them right at the beginning of the show, usually tirones had their fights with wooden weapons at the beginning, followed by the less known or less experienced gladiators and the best ones at the end. Depending on the women, if they already have fought before and also have become a bit popular I would put them somewhere in the middle of the show.
What we have to keep in mind in this thread is what we are talking about: gladiators or mythical enactments during the noontime program which were executions. At the mythical enactments it was from the beginning clear who had to die whereas at a gladiatorial bout the outcome was open. It could have even been a draw like shown on the relief of Amazon and Achillia.
BTW talking about this relief, the name Amazon doesn't mean that she fought in the gear of what Romans believed Amazons had but same as Achillia it was just an arena name after a mythological figure. Male gladiators also picked arena names after mythological figures (or had them picked by their trainer or lanista).
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/12-ancient-...=15#126824
Women gladiatorial bouts definitely were much rarer than male bouts of course but with the same seriousness. They were a kind of novelty, e.g. the inscription from Ostia points this out. But at what point among a gladiatorial show they took place nothing is known. If they are a novelty I wouldn't put them right at the beginning of the show, usually tirones had their fights with wooden weapons at the beginning, followed by the less known or less experienced gladiators and the best ones at the end. Depending on the women, if they already have fought before and also have become a bit popular I would put them somewhere in the middle of the show.
What we have to keep in mind in this thread is what we are talking about: gladiators or mythical enactments during the noontime program which were executions. At the mythical enactments it was from the beginning clear who had to die whereas at a gladiatorial bout the outcome was open. It could have even been a draw like shown on the relief of Amazon and Achillia.
BTW talking about this relief, the name Amazon doesn't mean that she fought in the gear of what Romans believed Amazons had but same as Achillia it was just an arena name after a mythological figure. Male gladiators also picked arena names after mythological figures (or had them picked by their trainer or lanista).
