History What it was
Gladiators were trained fighters who performed in the amphitheater. Most were enslaved people or prisoners of war, though some free men signed up for the money and fame. They lived and trained in schools called ludi.
In Rome, the emperor Domitian built four gladiator schools near the Colosseum. The largest and best preserved is the Ludus Magnus ("Great School"), whose remains can still be seen beside the Colosseum.
History How it worked
The Ludus Magnus was built around a courtyard holding a small oval training arena, a reduced version of the Colosseum's arena. Around it were rows of seats for up to about 3,000 spectators, who could watch training sessions. Small rooms around the courtyard housed the gladiators, and a tunnel connected the school to the Colosseum.
Gladiators practiced with wooden swords and heavy training weapons under expert trainers. They specialized in different fighting styles, each with its own armor and weapons, and were matched against opponents with a different style.
History A hard life
Gladiators were expensive to train and feed, so their owners did not want them killed carelessly, but the life was dangerous and most gladiators had no choice about it. A gladiator who survived many fights might be awarded a wooden sword, the rudis, as a sign of release from fighting.
History Found by radar
In 2011, archaeologists in Austria found a gladiator school without digging at all. Using ground-penetrating radar at Carnuntum, a Roman town near Vienna, they mapped its training arena, the gladiators' small rooms and a bath house. It was the first gladiator school found outside Italy.
Art In this artwork
This building is an artistic illustration of a training school with its own small arena, inspired by the Ludus Magnus.
Look closer
- Find the small sandy arena in the middle.
- Notice the seats around it. Who might have watched?
Think about it
- Most gladiators had no choice about fighting. How does that change how you see the games?
- Why might an emperor build training schools right next to the Colosseum?
- Why would audiences watch practice sessions?
Key words
- Ludus
- A gladiator training school (also the Latin word for game).
- Rudis
- A wooden practice sword.
- Lanista
- The owner or manager of a troupe of gladiators.
Sources
The history on this page is a short summary based on these sources:
- Parco archeologico del Colosseo, "Gladiators in the Arena: between Colosseum and Ludus Magnus"
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Colosseum"
- Smarthistory, "The Colosseum"
- Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, the gladiator school of Carnuntum, Austria (2011)
