Combats of gladiators formed part of the funeral rites of the Etruscans, and in Campania they were offered as entertainment to guests at feasts. The Romans adopted the custom from their neighbors, the first public show of gladiators taking place in 264 B.C. For six centuries they continued to be a favorite amusement in Italy and the provinces, until Honorius made them illegal in 404 A.D. The great popularity of the sport is proved by the frequency with which it was represented on articles of common use, such as vases, dishes, lamps, seal-rings, and in sculpture, mosaic, and painting for the decoration of walls.
In early times the combatants were prisoners of war who fought with their own arms and equipment for the entertainment of their conquerors, and later, when men were recruited in other ways, the arms of the early enemies of Rome were in a great measure retained as belonging especially to this sport. Gladiators received a careful training in schools kept for the purpose. They were divided into several classes, according to their weapons and manner of fighting, and were called by the name of the peoples whose arms they had adopted. They usually fought in pairs, each from a different class, though occasionally a number engaged in a mêlée. The most important class was the Samnites, who wore a helmet, one greave, a guard on the right arm, and fought with sword and shield. The lamps from Cyprus in Case 5, Nos. 2639, 2642, 2643, are decorated with figures of Samnites in relief ([fig. 128]). The Thracian was distinguished by a dagger which was curved or bent at right angles. He wore two greaves with leather coverings for the thighs, and an arm-guard, and carried a little shield (lamp No. 2636, [fig. 129]). The hoplomachus seems to have been a variety of Samnite who had a large shield, and was generally paired with the Thracian (lamp No. 2637, see [tail-piece, p. 108]). Another class not illustrated was the retiarius (net-thrower), equipped with a dagger, a trident, and a large net in which he tried to envelop his adversary, the secutor (follower), who was armed like a Samnite.
FIG. 128. SAMNITE GLADIATOR
FIG. 129. THRACIAN GLADIATOR
A combat between a Samnite and a Thracian decorates one of the lamps (No. 2641). Another (No. 2647) shows a wounded Samnite on one knee. On a third (No. 2644) a Thracian has brought his opponent to the ground, and by holding up his thumb, seems to signify that he will spare him, or perhaps asks permission of the spectators to do so. A fourth lamp (No. 2651) is decorated with two swords and two pairs of greaves. Four gladiatorial combats appear in relief upon a glass cup, made in Gaul in the second century A.D., which is on the top shelf of Case 3 (see [head-band, p. 106]). The names of the combatants are placed over their heads, so we may suppose that they represent actual gladiators who were famous in their day. Gamus, a Samnite, stands over Merops, who is lying on the ground and holding up his thumb to ask mercy from the spectators. Next come Calamus, a Samnite, paired with Hermes, a Thracian, then another pair of Samnite and Thracian, Tetraites and Prudes. The latter has lost his little shield. In the fourth combat Spiculus is victorious over Columbus.
