Gladiators

(glad'e-a-turz.) [L. gladiator es, combatants with the sword. (Rom. Antiq.) A name given to those combatants who contested at the public games for the entertainment of the Roman spectators. They were primarily slaves, prisoners, or convicts; but, later on, freemen fought in the arena, either for hire or from choice, and sometimes patricians and persons who had received the highest honors. The games opened with a prælusio, in which the G. fought with wooden weapons, Fig. 354. GLADIATORS. till, upon a signal, they resumed their arms, and began in earnest to fight in couples. When the vanquished was not killed in the combat, his fate was decided by the people; who, if they wished to save his life, signified the same by pre ing down their thumbs, but if they wished him to be slain, by turning them up. The victors were honored with a palm-branch, a sum of money, or other marks of the public favor; and they were not un frequently exempted from further service, and received, as a badge of freedom, the rud is, or wooden glaive. The Munus Gladiator i us (gladiatorial games) were first instituted B. c. 265; were abolished by Const an tine, A. D. 326; revived by Constant i us and his two Glasgow, succe ors; and were finally put an end to under Honor i us, A. D. 402. [s. 409]