Gladiators for Kids

[Ioannis]

The Roman Gladiator by the Classics Technology Center.

[url:2z1k0wjq]http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/gladiators.html[/url]

A comprehensive introduction to the theme. Contents:

* History & Origins
* Who were the Gladiators?
* Gladiator Training & Combat
* Public Perception of Gladiators
* The Venatio: Hunting Animals
* Female Gladiators
* Return of the Gladiator
* The Movie "Gladiator" in Historical Perspective

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

Interesting link but by just browsing it I stumbled about some points already:

Under Gladiatorial Training & Combat

Their training included learning how to use various weapons, including the war chain,...

Never heard about a war chain in context with gladiators. What's that supposed to be? :roll:

For instance, a gladiator might dress as a Samnite in Samnite garb that included a large oblong shield (scutum), a metal or boiled leather grieve (ocrea) on the left leg, a visored helmet (galea) with a large crest and plume, and a sword (gladius).

Sounds more like a murmillo to me. :?

A Secutor - took his name from the term for "pursuer" and fought virtually naked and bald, carrying a large oval or rectangular shield and a sword or dagger, wearing an ocrea on the left leg, leather bands at the elbow and wrists (manicae), and a round or high-visored helmet;

This is a specialized type of murmillo so he was heavily armored. Virtually naked was more or less his opponent the retiarius.

[Et tu brute]

The war chain sounds like something similar to a morningstar?

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

And in all that books I read so far about gladiators I never came across that there was a type of gladiator fighting with a morningstar. Wonder where the author of that webpage Ioannis quoted got that from.

[john m roberts]

Obviously he got it from the film "Gladiator," where a gladiator is using one in the first arena battle in North Africa. Ridley Scott in turn got it and several other ideas for the movie from the novel "Arena," by the French novelist Maurice Ghnassia.