Ninth Blog

In this blog there will some more reasearch I have done on my topic for this assignment, gladiators. During gladiator battles, when one of the gladiators in a contest was wounded, the crowd went wild. If one of the gladiators felt he was defeated, he would raise his left hand with one finger extended. This was to ask for mercy. It is believed that the crowd voted for death or to spare him by signalling with their thumbs: thumbs up and the gladiator lived, thumbs down and his opponent was to kill him. The defeated gladiator knelt at the feet of the winner and was killed. The winner would receive a prize, such as a golden bowl, crown, or gold coin, along with a palm leaf that symbolised victory. Successful gladiators, or those who fought in a spectacular way, were regarded as heroes, rather like exceptional athletes are today. Women gladiators, known as gladiatrix were once allowed to battle in the arena but this practice was banned in 200AD.