rymen, and 20 battle elephants. He topped that with a naval battle with 1,000 sailors and 2,000 oarsman staged on a huge artificial lake dug just for that purpose.4WHO WERE THE GLADIATORSOf the thousands of men who ended up in the arena, the vast majority were prisoners of war, criminals, or slaves. As the Roman Empires grew through constant wars of conquest, soldiers of the defeated armies found themselves on the way to Rome, roped neck and neck with their arms tied behind their backs. Criminals were another major source of gladiators. Originally, those convicted of murder, robbery, arson, or sacrilege were sent to the arena to be killed by an executioner with a sword or thrown to the beasts, in the belief that this would act as a deterrent for would-be criminals.5 As the games grew in popularity and entertainment became more important than deterrence, more criminals were sentenced to train in gladiator schools. Champion gladiators who showed exceptional skill and bravery in the arena were sometimes presented with a wooden baton, the rudius, which awarded the champion honorable retirement from further combat. The emperor Tiberius offered one thousand pieces of gold per performance to entice retired gladiators back to the roar of the crowd and experience the thrill of combat.6 Occasionally a noble man would dare to be a gladiator. An appearance by one of these wealthy thrill-seekers would send the audience into a frenzy. To see an aristocrat fighting among the salves and criminals thrilled the mob of plebeians, or common people, in the stands.THE SCHOOLSIt was no easy task to transform hordes of unwanted men into professional fighting machines. After all, many gladiators didnt volunteer. It took brute force, lots of money, sophisticated training techniques, and an understanding of the human mind to get thousands of men to fight to the death and demonstrate not only power and skill but pride and dignity. Early in the histo...
