Bibliography

Bibliography

The Victor’s Crown- David Potter

                -In this book there is a chapter entitled “Gladiators.” In this chapter the author talks about a multitude of gladiatorial facts. The chapter starts with Potter talking about gladiator tomb stones; he uses this to showcase an approximation of how many freemen participated in the games relative to slaves. Another point Potter brings up is that a large sum of money could be earned by competing in the games. A free gladiator could charge 12,000 sesterces to appear as a gladiator. At these matches prize money was also awarded, the winner could receive anywhere from 6,000 to 20,000 sesterces. By comparison a junior officer centurion made 36,000 sesterces and a senior officer made 144,000, while the minimum income needed to support a family was 1,000 sesterces. A gladiator could make a large sum of money by competing in multiple matches.

The Sorrow’s of the Ancient Romans- Carlin A. Barton

In this book Barton talks about the "Inverse Exaltation" of the Roman gladiator. "The gladiator: crude, loathsome, doomed, lost was, throughout the Roman tradition, a man utterly debased by fortune, a man altogether without worth and dignity almost without humanity." This quote sums up the beginning of Barton's arguement that gladiators were basically the scum of the earth in Roman society.  The oath he took helped to "affirm" his low status within society.

Gladiatorial Oath (sacramentum gladiatorium)

• Swore to endure being burned, bound, beaten, and slain by the sword (uni, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari patior)

• He forswore all that might ameliorate his condition and finally, he forswore life itself.

But despite this repulsive nature of the gladiator within society, a gladiator could gain huge respect, even admiration from the crowd. Barton talks about how a gladiator who was fearless in the arena became the fascination of the crowd. He was idolized by the people who watched him compete without fear and defeated his enemy with extreme force.

 The Roman Games- Alison Futrell

 ·         Seneca- De providentia

o   -“Valor is avid for danger…since even what it must suffer is a part of glory. Warriors glory in their wounds and jubilantly display their flowing blood…The raw recruit turns pale at the thought of a wound, but the veteran looks undaunted upon his own gore”

·         Suetonius- Claudius

o   -“Hail, Emperor; we who are about to die salute you” (have imperator, morituri te salutant!) famous greeting offered to Claudius by the “sailors” who were going to slaughter each other in his mock sea battle.

·         Seneca- Letters, 7

o   -I happened to go to one of these shows at the time of the lunch-hour interlude, expecting there to be some light and witty entertainment then, some respite for the purpose of affording people’s eyes a rest from human blood. Far from it. All the earlier contests were charity in comparison. The nonsense is dispensed with now: what we have now is murder pure and simple. The combatants have nothing to protect them; their whole bodies were exposed to the blows; every thrust they launch gets home…There are no helmets and no shields repelling the weapons. What is the point of armor? Or of skill? All that sort of thing just makes the death slower in coming…The spectators insist that each on killing his man shall be thrown against another to be killed in his turn; and eventual victor is reserved by them for some other form of butchery; the only exit for the contestants is death. Fire and steel keep the slaughter going. And all this happens while the area is virtually empty.

·         Seneca- On Providence

o   -The gladiator judges it ignominious to be set against an inferior, as he knows it is without glory to defeat one who can be defeated without danger

Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome- Donald G. Kyle

                -In this book Dr. Kyle starts out the book by wondering what happens to the massive amounts of dead bodies that were accumulated as a result of the Roman games. This is the reason he states as why he wrote the book in the first place. He talks about the great violence that occured in the games and how many people were murdered. But after reading David Potter's book, "The Victor's Crown," it helped to explain through new research that many gladiators competed in nonleathal competitions in order to preserve the trainers investment in a fighter.

Seneca- On Tranquillity (De tranuillitate)

               -Models his wise man after the gladiator. Like the gladiator entering the arena, the wise man enters life having already signed a contract acknowledging that his body is occupied by him only on the sufferance of the master/deity and can be properly demanded of him on a moment’s notice. Like the brave gladiator, the wise man, bound by the terms of his contract, must surrender life and limb directly to his divine master, without murmur or hesitation.

-“I seek not to evade or hang back; you see me prepared to render willingly to you what you gave to me before I was conscious. Away with my life!” (De tranquillitate 11.3)

Cicero- Tusculanae Disputationes

               -while dismissing the gladiator as worthless and contemptible, “either abandoned men or barbarians,” Cicero allows the gladiator to be a model and paradigm of “the good man,” the soldier/philosopher who through his consistent and unflinching fierceness in the face of death and his complete collusion (and even pressure) in his own powerlessness couples his slavery with honor.

The Jewish Wars- Josephus

Spartacus: Film and History- Martin M. Winkler