and reconstructions, based on theories regarding the evolution of Roman gladiatorial games
and equipment. Mostly based on the research of Konstantin Nossov, Silvano Mattesini,
and displayed here with artwork by Angus Mcbride, Johnny Shumate, Steve Noon, Sandra Delgado,
Peter Dennis, Giorgio Albertini, Vladimir Golubev, Silvano and Marcella Mattesini as well as others.
I hope its useful to both research and modding enjoy...
Campanian and Etruscan Munera - Funeral Games
Greek Fighters at an Olympic stadium, 346 BC
Etruscan Bustuarius, Tomb Fighters - slaves forced duel at the grave of the deceased
Etruscan Bustuarius, Tomb Fighters - slaves forced duel at the grave of the deceased
Republican Period
Gallus (3rd century BC), Samnis (4th century BC) and Thraex (2nd century BC)
Samnis - Samnite prisoners of war captured by Campanians or Romans and forced to duel at banquets
- Armor: Samnite or other Early Italian styles
- Arms: shield, spear, sword
- Pairing: Samnite VS Samnite
Sagittarius - archer armed with a composite bow and
wearing scale or mail armor and a conical helmet
Velites - light skirmishers armed with javelins, swords and possibly shields
Samnis - Samnite prisoners of war captured by Campanians or Romans and forced to duel at banquets
- Armor: Samnite or other Early Italian styles
- Arms: shield, spear, sword
- Pairing: Samnite VS Samnite
Sagittarius - archer armed with a composite bow and
wearing scale or mail armor and a conical helmet
Velites - light skirmishers armed with javelins, swords and possibly shields
Transitional period (Late century BC and Early century AD)
Gladiators at Panticapaeum, Pontic Crimea
Legionnaire Training Demonstrations - 105 BC
Attic-Boeotian cavalry helmets, may have inspired the designs of later gladiator equipment
Late Republican Samnis
Gallus, Eques and Thraex (50 - 10 BC)
Retiarius, Andabati and Sagittarius (25 BC)
Samnis, Provocator and Essedarius (20 - 10 BC)
Eques (20 - 30 AD)
Early Retiarius
Early Venators - hunters fighting wild beasts, armed with spears,
swords, shields and sometimes wearing military armor
Early Provocator, "challenger" - criminals and prisoners sentenced to death as capital punishment,
thou they could appeal to mercy from the public spectators by winning their sympathy (provocatio ad populum)
- Armor: military helmets, greaves and a small breastplate
- Arms: shield, sword
- Pairing: Provocator VS Provocator
Early Gladiatrix - female gladiator
Early Essedarius - an enigmatic class, inspired by Celtic charioteers,
not much is known about either the crews or chariots which were probably quadrigas
NOTE: they are not to be confused with circus chariot racers like these 3rd century examples
It is possible that Esedarii may have used chariots only for entering the arena
then discarded them altogether and fought mostly on foot, often holding an oval shield
Gallus / Early Myrmillo - another enigmatic class including captured Gallic prisoners
- Armor: probably greaves and helmets
- Arms: sword and large shield
- Pairing: probably Gallus VS Gallus
They may have later been renamed mormylos or sea-fish
and fought wearing stylized fish or dolphin shaped helmets
Crupellarii - another class involving Gallus gladiators, heavily encased in armor.
They ultimately proved difficult to deal with during the Aeduian revolt of AD 21,
when legionnaires had to hack their armor with axes in order to subdue them!
Early Standardized Classes, Arms and Armor
Andabatae - any blind class of gladiators. There are many versions,
including blind men fighting with sticks, gladiators with only one eye hole,
or gladiators fighting with a closed helmet lacking any vision apparatus,
therefore relying on hearing the cheers of the crowds for information
NOTE: Spartacus and his comrades most probably wore captured roman armor,
instead of their awkward gladiator equipment
Legionnaire Training Demonstrations - 105 BC
Attic-Boeotian cavalry helmets, may have inspired the designs of later gladiator equipment
Late Republican Samnis
Gallus, Eques and Thraex (50 - 10 BC)
Retiarius, Andabati and Sagittarius (25 BC)
Samnis, Provocator and Essedarius (20 - 10 BC)
Eques (20 - 30 AD)
Early Retiarius
Early Venators - hunters fighting wild beasts, armed with spears,
swords, shields and sometimes wearing military armor
Early Provocator, "challenger" - criminals and prisoners sentenced to death as capital punishment,
thou they could appeal to mercy from the public spectators by winning their sympathy (provocatio ad populum)
- Armor: military helmets, greaves and a small breastplate
- Arms: shield, sword
- Pairing: Provocator VS Provocator
Early Gladiatrix - female gladiator
Early Essedarius - an enigmatic class, inspired by Celtic charioteers,
not much is known about either the crews or chariots which were probably quadrigas
NOTE: they are not to be confused with circus chariot racers like these 3rd century examples
It is possible that Esedarii may have used chariots only for entering the arena
then discarded them altogether and fought mostly on foot, often holding an oval shield
Gallus / Early Myrmillo - another enigmatic class including captured Gallic prisoners
- Armor: probably greaves and helmets
- Arms: sword and large shield
- Pairing: probably Gallus VS Gallus
They may have later been renamed mormylos or sea-fish
and fought wearing stylized fish or dolphin shaped helmets
Crupellarii - another class involving Gallus gladiators, heavily encased in armor.
They ultimately proved difficult to deal with during the Aeduian revolt of AD 21,
when legionnaires had to hack their armor with axes in order to subdue them!
Early Standardized Classes, Arms and Armor
Andabatae - any blind class of gladiators. There are many versions,
including blind men fighting with sticks, gladiators with only one eye hole,
or gladiators fighting with a closed helmet lacking any vision apparatus,
therefore relying on hearing the cheers of the crowds for information
NOTE: Spartacus and his comrades most probably wore captured roman armor,
instead of their awkward gladiator equipment
1st and 2nd Century Imperial Glory and Spectacle
Personnel associated with the games
Editor "producer" - the sponsor financing the games
Lanista - owner-trainer of a troop of gladiators, whom he would trade or rent to a editor
Rudiarius - a gladiator who had earned his freedom and received a wooden sword or rod called a rudis
he could continue to be a gladiator or become a lanista himself. Rudiarii hierarchy included trainers, helpers, referees, and fighters
Rudis - arena referee or his assistants, in charge of directing and separating gladiators (also named after the rudis sword or staff)
summa Rudis - senior referee or trainer
Tirones / Tiro - trainee gladiators
Veteranus / Veterani - a trained gladiator and a veteran of one or more gladiatorial combats
Auctorati - Roman citizens who were in debt and sold themselves to gladiator schools for money
Noxii - criminals sentenced to death fighting as gladiators in the arena
Lorarius - attendants who whipped reluctant combatants or animals into fighting
Familia - includes a gladiator's lanistae, comrades, wives and children
Collegia - a union which ensured proper burial, with compensation for wives and children
Ministri - servant, attendant or aid
NOTE: an official, sometimes dressed as Mercury, tests the bodies for life-signs with a heated "wand",
while another dressed up as Dīs Pater (god of the underworld) or Charon, (ferryman of Hades),
either wearing a helmet, mask or body paint, dealt the finishing blow with a large mallet,
mostly to fallen and wounded survivors, who where already condemned to death!
Gladiator Terminology
Gladiatores Fiscales - were Gladiators maintained by the private treasury of the emperor
Gladiatores Postulatitii - were Gladiators of great skill, maintained by the Roman state treasury
Meridiani - Lightly armed gladiators who fought in the middle of the day, after the wild beast fights
Ordinarii - the regular gladiator classes who fought in pairs in the ordinary way
Scutarii - any gladiator using a large shield and wearing short greaves. Example: murmillo, secutor ...etc
Parmularii - any gladiator using a smaller shield and wearing long greaves. Example: Thraex , Hoplomachus ...etc
Naumachiarii - gladiators fighting in sea battle reenactments, on board ships sailing the flooded coliseum
Catervarii - a battle of involving a large number of gladiators fighting all together at once
Tertiarius - in a match between three gladiators, two face of against each other and the winner then fights,
the third gladiator or Tertiarius. A Tertiarius can also substitute for an advertised gladiator who's unable to fight that day
Public Entertainment
Paegniarius - fighters wearing quilted wrappings on their legs, left arms
and probably the head. They may carry whips, a curved stick and probably small shields
NOTE: many other forms of entertainment where carried out to pass the time
between matches, including stick battles, dwarfs fighting and other harmless displays
The Venatio
Taurarii - Turocatapsia bullfighters
Bestiarii - beast-fighters, carried a whip and torch, as well as bells
and covered their legs and left arms with quilted wrappings.
Venators - hunters wearing no armor, fighting wild beasts,
while armed mostly with spears and rarely any shields
Basic Gladiator Classes and Standard Equipment
Ministri (servant), Thraex and Hoplomachus (70 AD)
Provocator Gladiatrix (1st century AD), Scissor (100 - 150 AD) and Eques (30 - 100 AD)
Cestus - unarmored slave boxers
- Armor: no armor, cestus leather hand wrappings
- Arms: the cestus wrappings can be fitted with iron plates, blades, spikes
- Pairing: Cestus VS Cestus / Cestus VS other gladiators
Equites - mounted gladiators fighting on horseback
- Armor: a broad-brimmed helmet, mancia, tunic
- Arms: small round shield, spear, sword
- Pairing: Equites VS Equites
- Date: 1st century BC to 4th century AD
Gladiatrix - female gladiator, purchased slave or free participant from
high patrician or low plebeian backgrounds, they sometimes fought bare chested
- Armor: mancia, greave on the left leg and probably helmets
- Arms: large rectangular shield and sword
- Pairing: Gladiatrix VS Gladiatrix
Retiarius - plays the role of the fisherman battling the fish-men of the sea
- Armor:headband, mancia arm protection and a shoulder guard on the left arm
- Arms: net, trident, dagger and sometimes stones
- Pairing: Retiarius VS Myrmillo / Retiarius VS Secutor / Retiarius VS 2 Secutors
- Date: 1st century AD till the end of gladiatorial games
Laquearius - dressed like a retiarius, but armed with a lasso,
spear and short blade or dagger and probably paired with a secutor
Myrmillo / Murmillo - a popular class representing the fish-man hunted by the retiarius,
- Armor: fish fins shaped helmet, short grieve on the left leg, mancia on the right arm
- Arms: large rectangular shield and sword
- Pairing: Myrmillo VS Retiarius / Myrmillo VS Thraex / Myrmillo VS Hoplomachus
- Date: mid-1st century BC till the end of gladiatorial games
Thraex - an aggressive fighter based on the Thracians and Dacians
- Armor: crested helmet with a griffin head, long greaves, mancia
- Arms: sica curved blade, square shield
- Pairing: Thraex VS Myrmillo / Thraex VS Hoplomachus
- Date: early 1st century BC till the end of gladiatorial games
Hoplomachus - similar in look to the Threax but more defensive and wielding a spear
- Armor: crested helmet, mancia, long greaves
- Arms: small round shield, spear, sword or dagger
- Pairing: Hoplomachus VS Myrmillo / Hoplomachus VS Thraex
- Date: Late Republican period till the end of gladiatorial games
Essedarius - still an enigmatic class, chariots seem to have been discarded by now
- Armor: Helmet without crest or brims, mancia on the right arm
- Arms: oval shield, sword
- Pairing: Essedarius VS Essedarius
- Date: 1st century AD to 3rd century AD
Secutor - archnemesis or the Retiarius and the most difficult gladiator to trap in a net
- Armor: close fitting helmet with small eye holes and a simple crest, mancia, greave on the left leg
- Arms: large rectangular shield and sword
- Pairing: Secutor VS Retiarius / 2 Secutor VS Retiarius
- Date: 1st century AD till the end of gladiatorial games
Gladiator Classes Popular on the Eastern Parts of the Empire
Scissor / Arbelas - another dual wielder, similar looking to the Secutor but differently armed and armored
- Armor: close fitting helmet with small eye holes and a simple crest, scale or mail armor, mancia and two greaves
- Arms: sword and tubular vembrace with a crescent shaped blade
- Pairing: Arbelas VS Arbelas / Arbelas VS Retiarius
- Date: 1st century BC to 3rd century AD
Provocator - criminals and prisoners sentenced to death as capital punishment
- Armor: round helmet, mancia, chest-guard (cardiophylax), short greave on the left leg
- Arms: large shield and sword
- Pairing: Provocator VS Provocator
- Date: Late Republican period till the Imperial Period
Editor "producer" - the sponsor financing the games
Lanista - owner-trainer of a troop of gladiators, whom he would trade or rent to a editor
Rudiarius - a gladiator who had earned his freedom and received a wooden sword or rod called a rudis
he could continue to be a gladiator or become a lanista himself. Rudiarii hierarchy included trainers, helpers, referees, and fighters
Rudis - arena referee or his assistants, in charge of directing and separating gladiators (also named after the rudis sword or staff)
summa Rudis - senior referee or trainer
Tirones / Tiro - trainee gladiators
Veteranus / Veterani - a trained gladiator and a veteran of one or more gladiatorial combats
Auctorati - Roman citizens who were in debt and sold themselves to gladiator schools for money
Noxii - criminals sentenced to death fighting as gladiators in the arena
Lorarius - attendants who whipped reluctant combatants or animals into fighting
Familia - includes a gladiator's lanistae, comrades, wives and children
Collegia - a union which ensured proper burial, with compensation for wives and children
Ministri - servant, attendant or aid
NOTE: an official, sometimes dressed as Mercury, tests the bodies for life-signs with a heated "wand",
while another dressed up as Dīs Pater (god of the underworld) or Charon, (ferryman of Hades),
either wearing a helmet, mask or body paint, dealt the finishing blow with a large mallet,
mostly to fallen and wounded survivors, who where already condemned to death!
Gladiator Terminology
Gladiatores Fiscales - were Gladiators maintained by the private treasury of the emperor
Gladiatores Postulatitii - were Gladiators of great skill, maintained by the Roman state treasury
Meridiani - Lightly armed gladiators who fought in the middle of the day, after the wild beast fights
Ordinarii - the regular gladiator classes who fought in pairs in the ordinary way
Scutarii - any gladiator using a large shield and wearing short greaves. Example: murmillo, secutor ...etc
Parmularii - any gladiator using a smaller shield and wearing long greaves. Example: Thraex , Hoplomachus ...etc
Naumachiarii - gladiators fighting in sea battle reenactments, on board ships sailing the flooded coliseum
Catervarii - a battle of involving a large number of gladiators fighting all together at once
Tertiarius - in a match between three gladiators, two face of against each other and the winner then fights,
the third gladiator or Tertiarius. A Tertiarius can also substitute for an advertised gladiator who's unable to fight that day
Public Entertainment
Paegniarius - fighters wearing quilted wrappings on their legs, left arms
and probably the head. They may carry whips, a curved stick and probably small shields
NOTE: many other forms of entertainment where carried out to pass the time
between matches, including stick battles, dwarfs fighting and other harmless displays
The Venatio
Taurarii - Turocatapsia bullfighters
Bestiarii - beast-fighters, carried a whip and torch, as well as bells
and covered their legs and left arms with quilted wrappings.
Venators - hunters wearing no armor, fighting wild beasts,
while armed mostly with spears and rarely any shields
Basic Gladiator Classes and Standard Equipment
Ministri (servant), Thraex and Hoplomachus (70 AD)
Provocator Gladiatrix (1st century AD), Scissor (100 - 150 AD) and Eques (30 - 100 AD)
Cestus - unarmored slave boxers
- Armor: no armor, cestus leather hand wrappings
- Arms: the cestus wrappings can be fitted with iron plates, blades, spikes
- Pairing: Cestus VS Cestus / Cestus VS other gladiators
Equites - mounted gladiators fighting on horseback
- Armor: a broad-brimmed helmet, mancia, tunic
- Arms: small round shield, spear, sword
- Pairing: Equites VS Equites
- Date: 1st century BC to 4th century AD
Gladiatrix - female gladiator, purchased slave or free participant from
high patrician or low plebeian backgrounds, they sometimes fought bare chested
- Armor: mancia, greave on the left leg and probably helmets
- Arms: large rectangular shield and sword
- Pairing: Gladiatrix VS Gladiatrix
Retiarius - plays the role of the fisherman battling the fish-men of the sea
- Armor:headband, mancia arm protection and a shoulder guard on the left arm
- Arms: net, trident, dagger and sometimes stones
- Pairing: Retiarius VS Myrmillo / Retiarius VS Secutor / Retiarius VS 2 Secutors
- Date: 1st century AD till the end of gladiatorial games
Laquearius - dressed like a retiarius, but armed with a lasso,
spear and short blade or dagger and probably paired with a secutor
Myrmillo / Murmillo - a popular class representing the fish-man hunted by the retiarius,
- Armor: fish fins shaped helmet, short grieve on the left leg, mancia on the right arm
- Arms: large rectangular shield and sword
- Pairing: Myrmillo VS Retiarius / Myrmillo VS Thraex / Myrmillo VS Hoplomachus
- Date: mid-1st century BC till the end of gladiatorial games
Thraex - an aggressive fighter based on the Thracians and Dacians
- Armor: crested helmet with a griffin head, long greaves, mancia
- Arms: sica curved blade, square shield
- Pairing: Thraex VS Myrmillo / Thraex VS Hoplomachus
- Date: early 1st century BC till the end of gladiatorial games
Hoplomachus - similar in look to the Threax but more defensive and wielding a spear
- Armor: crested helmet, mancia, long greaves
- Arms: small round shield, spear, sword or dagger
- Pairing: Hoplomachus VS Myrmillo / Hoplomachus VS Thraex
- Date: Late Republican period till the end of gladiatorial games
Essedarius - still an enigmatic class, chariots seem to have been discarded by now
- Armor: Helmet without crest or brims, mancia on the right arm
- Arms: oval shield, sword
- Pairing: Essedarius VS Essedarius
- Date: 1st century AD to 3rd century AD
Secutor - archnemesis or the Retiarius and the most difficult gladiator to trap in a net
- Armor: close fitting helmet with small eye holes and a simple crest, mancia, greave on the left leg
- Arms: large rectangular shield and sword
- Pairing: Secutor VS Retiarius / 2 Secutor VS Retiarius
- Date: 1st century AD till the end of gladiatorial games
Gladiator Classes Popular on the Eastern Parts of the Empire
Scissor / Arbelas - another dual wielder, similar looking to the Secutor but differently armed and armored
- Armor: close fitting helmet with small eye holes and a simple crest, scale or mail armor, mancia and two greaves
- Arms: sword and tubular vembrace with a crescent shaped blade
- Pairing: Arbelas VS Arbelas / Arbelas VS Retiarius
- Date: 1st century BC to 3rd century AD
Provocator - criminals and prisoners sentenced to death as capital punishment
- Armor: round helmet, mancia, chest-guard (cardiophylax), short greave on the left leg
- Arms: large shield and sword
- Pairing: Provocator VS Provocator
- Date: Late Republican period till the Imperial Period
2nd and 3rd Century Developments
Retiarius (1st - 2nd centuries AD), Secutor (2nd century AD) and Myrmillo (2nd - 3rd centuries AD)
Provocator, Velite and Paegniarius (3rd century AD)
Catafratti - heavy cataphract cavalry, may have sometimes charged as blind Andabati
Dimachaerus - could either a distinct class or any gladiator capable of fighting with two blades
they were more popular east of the empire
- Armor: probably a round, brimmed helmet and scale or mail armor
- Arms: two swords or daggers
- Pairing: probably Dimachaerus VS Dimachaerus / Dimachaerus VS Hoplomachus
NOTE: standard gladiator equipment, carried on to the 3rd century,
alongside newer variant items and styles
Retiarius with scale mancia
and an absence of the shoulder plate
Secutor large crests
Secutor small crests
Secutor variant equipment
Provocator variant equipment
Myrmillo variant equipment
Myrmillo and Thraex variant helmets
Arbelas variant equipment
Details from the Gladiator mosaic floor, 3rd century,
Römerhalle, Bad Kreuznach, Germany
Secutor VS Retiarius
Thraex VS Myrmillo
Thraex VS Hoplomachus
Eques VS Eques
Provocator, Velite and Paegniarius (3rd century AD)
Catafratti - heavy cataphract cavalry, may have sometimes charged as blind Andabati
Dimachaerus - could either a distinct class or any gladiator capable of fighting with two blades
they were more popular east of the empire
- Armor: probably a round, brimmed helmet and scale or mail armor
- Arms: two swords or daggers
- Pairing: probably Dimachaerus VS Dimachaerus / Dimachaerus VS Hoplomachus
NOTE: standard gladiator equipment, carried on to the 3rd century,
alongside newer variant items and styles
Retiarius with scale mancia
and an absence of the shoulder plate
Secutor large crests
Secutor small crests
Secutor variant equipment
Provocator variant equipment
Myrmillo variant equipment
Myrmillo and Thraex variant helmets
Arbelas variant equipment
Details from the Gladiator mosaic floor, 3rd century,
Römerhalle, Bad Kreuznach, Germany
Secutor VS Retiarius
Thraex VS Myrmillo
Thraex VS Hoplomachus
Eques VS Eques
The Last Gladiators
Scissor, Secutor and Dimachaerus (4th century AD)
4th Century Costumes, Arms and Armor
6th and 7th Century Bestiarii and Venatio
Varangian circus fighters and hunters, 11th to 12th centuries
4th Century Costumes, Arms and Armor
6th and 7th Century Bestiarii and Venatio
Varangian circus fighters and hunters, 11th to 12th centuries
Appendixes
Classes
Pairings
Equipment
Venatio
Pairings
Equipment
Venatio
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