Gladiator Facts

Among the other tidbits offered in this review of a new book about gladiators is the curious fact that Emperor Domitian once organized nighttime games in which female gladiators (gladiatrices?) fought dwarfs by torchlight.

The book, entitled The Gladiators: History’s Most Deadly Sport is by a professor of ancient history at the University of Amsterdam (named, rather curiously, Fik Meijer, a name that might be translated as "Fuck Better")

Other curious facts: Gladiators attended schools and belonged to unions, were fed a diet mostly of barley gruel (which earned them the nickname "barley-porridge-eaters"). Many committed suicide, few won freedom, and the Colosseum had no toilets. There was a taxonomy of gladiatorial types based on weapon and armor; a thraex (small shield, sword like a dagger), for example, was to be distinguished from a retiarius (shielded left arm, trident, net) .