Tell about Gladiator ?

Crowe suffered multiple injuries on set including an aggravated Achilles tendon, a broken foot, a cracked hip bone, popped bicep tendons, and losing all feeling in his right forefinger for two years following a sword fight.

. In fact, in 174 BC, one of these munera (a ritualistic service dedicated to the dead) involved 74 men pitted against each other in a gruesome event that took place over three days. And as time went by, the munera expanded in scopes to include spectacles like the venatio – which entailed the hunting of over hundreds of exotic animals across the Roman lands by the trained venatores.

3. Jews and Christians were likewise seemingly unconcerned about the victims of arena violence.

Their arguments in opposition to the games focused on what they viewed as inherent idolatry, as gladiatorial show often occurred during pagan religious festivals, which featured idols and images of pagan gods.

Crowe reportedly didn’t love the now-famous line, “And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

The popularity of such funeral contests among the Romans increased exponentially – so much so that the patrons had to accommodate a variety of spectacles at specialized purpose-built venues, thus culminating in the final ‘evolution’ of gladiatorial games.

Gladiators were regarded as infames (people of bad reputation).

He tried to come up with something better on set, but in the end, decided to stick with it.

While the gladiatorial combats had their precursors in funerary contests fought among ill-equipped slaves, the spectacles at their gory zenith were ‘fueled’ by the professional warriors called hoplomachi (or armored fighting men) and their prowess inside the bloody arena

Most gladiators were slaves, ex-slaves, or freeborn individuals who fought under contract to a manager. They were often ranked below prostitutes, actors, and pimps, and generally regarded as both moral and social outcasts.

Maximus’ vengeance speech became a fan favorite and one of the most quoted scenes in the entire film.

Despite this, gladiators were the sex symbols of their day.

The question naturally arises – where did such professional gladiators come from? Well, in majority of the cases, the men (and few women) were bought from thriving slave markets.

Joaquin Phoenix improvised the line where he screamed, “Am I not merciful?!” which scared the bejeesus out of Connie Nielsen, who was not expecting it at all.

Till now, we had talked about the ‘professional’ side of gladiators, and how gladiatorial contests formed an integral part of a thriving business model that was intertwined with the political system of Rome.

Gladiators enjoyed quite a bit of popularity, especially from women – so much so that a name was coined for these ancient fan-girls (ludiae, or “training-school girls,” a term coined by Juvenal (Sat. 6.104).

Maximus’ pet wolf is the same dog that played Wellard for seven years on “Eastenders.”

Some gladiators were honored with monuments.

Now while the noxii class belonged to the lowest strata of the gladiatorial scope, the actual gladiators also had to endure hardships and adversity, as is exemplified by their sacramentum gladiatorium (oath of gladiators) – ‘Uri, vinciri,verberari, ferroque necari.‘ Roughly translating to – ‘I will endure, to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword’, the phrase had to be repeated by the men before their induction into the gladiatorial ambit.

Not all gladiators were simply killed and cast off.

This likely means very little to anyone outside of the UK. Or inside the UK, for that matter.

The more popular gladiators had gravestones and inscriptions that revealed their origins, careers, and views of their profession.

Suffice it to say, the balefully dangerous nature of frequent arena fighting (and the subsequent harsh lives inside the guarded barracks) took its toll on many a gladiator, not only on the physical level but also on the psychological level.

Much like today’s celebrity athletes, Roman gladiators also did product endorsements

Gravestones were quite expensive, and even more so if they were engraved. While the question remains if the sentiments left behind were their own, these epitaphs were often the only window into the personality of these warriors.