Imagine yourself transported to the year

Gladiators were drawn form various sources even freedmen and roman citizens like emperor Commodus did and were trained in gladiator's schools called 'ludi' but, were chiefly slaves and criminals. Discipline was strict, but a successful gladiator not only was famous but, according to the satires of Juvenal, enjoyed the favors of society women. One of the peculiarities of the emperor Domitian was to have unusual gladiators (dwarfs and women), and the half-mad Commodus appeared in person in the arena, of course winning his bouts.

The shows were announced several days before they took place by bills affixed to the walls of houses and public buildings; copies were also sold in the streets. The spectacle began with a procession of the gladiators through the arena, and the proceedings opened with a sham fight (praelusio, prolusio) with wooden swords and javelins. Then the gladiators presented themselves in front of emperor's podium, where they directed the tragic salutation:

That means Hail Caesar, they who will die they salute you. With the emperor's sign a judge let a handkerchief fall to the ground as an opening signal. When a gladiator was wounded, the spectators shouted “Habet” (“he is wounded”); if he was at the mercy of his adversary, he lifted up his forefinger to implore the clemency of the people, to who (in the later times of the Republic) the giver left the decision as to his life or death. If the spectators were in favor of mercy they waved their handkerchiefs; if they desired the death of the conquered gladiator they turned their thumbs downward. (This the popular view; another view is that those who wanted death of the defeated gladiator turned their thumbs toward their breast as a signal to stab him and those who wished him to be spared turned their thumbs downward as a signal to drop the sword.) The final judge was the master of the games -usually the emperor- which gave with his thumb the final decision. The reward of victory consisted of branches of palm, sometimes of money.

AD 80. Titus, Emperor of Rome has just declared today an official holiday, which will be celebrated with glamorous gladiator games here in Rome. Let us hurry to the Colosseum and get a seat, because this is the most popular event of the year. The games will last ten days, and feature animals from all over the Empire There are the gladiators!! First they will warm up with wooden weapons. Then they show their sk

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