Gladiator in the context of Subligaculum

The Roman Forum (Italian: Foro Romano), also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the centre of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

For centuries, the Forum was the centre of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial and legal affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's leaders. The heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million or more sightseers yearly.

Commodus (/ˈkɒmədəs/; Latin: [ˈkɔmmɔdʊs]; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end of the Pax Romana, a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of the Roman Empire.

Commodus accompanied his father during the Marcomannic Wars in 172 and on a tour of the Eastern provinces in 176. The following year, he became the youngest emperor and consul up to that point, at the age of 16. His solo reign saw less military conflict than that of Marcus Aurelius, but internal intrigues and conspiracies abounded, goading Commodus to an increasingly dictatorial style of leadership. This culminated in his creating a deific personality cult, including his performances as a gladiator in the Colosseum. Throughout his reign, Commodus entrusted the management of affairs to his palace chamberlain and praetorian prefects, namely Saoterus, Perennis, and Cleander.

The spatha was a type of straight and long sword, measuring between 0.5 and 1 metre (20 and 40 inches), with a handle length of between 18 and 20 centimetres (7 and 8 inches), in use in the territory of the Roman Empire during the 1st to 6th centuries AD. Later swords, from the 7th to 10th centuries, like the Viking swords, are recognizable derivatives and sometimes subsumed under the term spatha.

The Roman spatha was used in war and in gladiatorial fights. The spatha of literature appears in the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD as a weapon used by presumably Celtic auxiliaries and gradually became a standard heavy infantry weapon by the 3rd century AD, relegating the gladius to use as a light infantry weapon. The spatha apparently replaced the gladius in the front ranks, giving the infantry more reach when thrusting. While the infantry version had a long point, versions carried by the cavalry had a rounded tip that prevented accidental stabbing of the cavalryman's own foot or horse.

The Cimbri (Greek: Κίμβροι, Kímbroi; Latin: Cimbri) were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic-Gaulish, Germanic, or even Cimmerian people. Several ancient sources indicate that they lived in Jutland, which in some classical texts was called the Cimbrian peninsula. There is no direct evidence for the language they spoke, though some scholars argue that it was a Germanic language, while others argue that it was Celtic.

Together with the Teutones and the Ambrones, they fought the Roman Republic between 113 and 101 BC during the Cimbrian War. The Cimbri were initially successful, particularly at the Battle of Arausio, in which a large Roman army was routed. They then raided large areas in Gaul and Hispania. In 101 BC, during an attempted invasion of the Italian peninsula, the Cimbri were decisively defeated at the Battle of Vercellae by Gaius Marius, and their king, Boiorix, was killed. Some of the surviving captives are reported to have been among the rebellious gladiators in the Third Servile War.

In ancient Rome, munera (Latin plural; singular munus) were public works and entertainments provided for the benefit of the Roman people by individuals of high status and wealth. Munera means "duty, obligation" (cf. English "munificence"), expressing the individual's responsibility to provide a service or contribution to his community. The word was often a synonym for gladiatorial combat, which was originally sponsored as a funeral tribute at the tomb of a deceased Roman magnate by his heir. Munera depended on the private largesse of individuals, in contrast to ludi, which were games, athletic contests or spectacles sponsored by the state.

Roman funerary practices include the Ancient Romans' religious rituals concerning funerals, cremations, and burials. They were part of time-hallowed tradition (Latin: mos maiorum), the unwritten code from which Romans derived their social norms. Elite funeral rites, especially processions and public eulogies, gave the family an opportunity to publicly celebrate the life and deeds of the deceased, their ancestors, and the family's standing in the community. Sometimes the political elite gave costly public feasts, games and popular entertainments after family funerals, to honour the departed and to maintain their own public profile and reputation for generosity. The Roman gladiator games began as funeral gifts for the deceased in high-status families.

Funeral displays and expenses were supposedly constrained by sumptuary laws, designed to reduce class envy and consequent social conflict. The less well-off, and those who lacked the support of an extended family could subscribe to guilds or collegia which provided funeral services for members. Until their funeral and disposal, the dead presented a risk of ritual pollution. This was managed through funerary rituals which separated them from the world of the living, and consigned their spirit to the underworld. Professional undertakers were available to organise the funeral, manage the rites and dispose of the body. Even the simplest funerals of Rome's citizen and free majority could be very costly, relative to income. The poorest, and certain categories of criminal, could be dumped in pits or rivers, or left to rot in the open air. During plagues and pandemics, the system might be completely overwhelmed. Those who met an untimely or premature death, or died without benefit of funeral rites were believed to haunt the living as vagrant, restless spirits until they could be exorcised.

The Third Servile War, also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last in a series of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic known as the Servile Wars. This third rebellion was the only one that directly threatened the Roman heartland of Italy. It was particularly alarming to Rome because its military seemed powerless to suppress it.

The revolt began in 73 BC, with the escape of around 70 slave gladiators from a gladiator school in Capua. They easily defeated the small Roman force sent to recapture them, and within two years, they had been joined by some 120,000 men, women, and children. The able-bodied adults of this large group were a surprisingly effective armed force that repeatedly showed they could withstand or defeat the Roman military, from the local Campanian patrols to the Roman militia and even to trained Roman legions under consular command. This army of slaves roamed across Italy, raiding estates and towns with relative impunity, sometimes dividing into separate but connected bands with several leaders, including the famous former gladiator Spartacus.

Roman amphitheatres are theatres — large, circular or oval open-air venues with tiered seating — built by the ancient Romans. They were used for events such as gladiator combats, venationes (animal slayings) and executions. About 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found across the area of the Roman Empire. Early amphitheatres date from the Republican period, though they became more monumental during the Imperial era.

Amphitheatres are distinguished from circuses and hippodromes, which were usually rectangular and built mainly for racing events, and stadia, built for athletics, but several of these terms have at times been used for one and the same venue. The word amphitheatrum means "theatre all around". Thus, an amphitheatre is distinguished from the traditional semicircular Roman theatres by being circular or oval in shape.

The Thraex (pl.: Thraeces), or Thracian, was a type of Roman gladiator armed in Thracian style. His equipment included a parmula, a small shield (about 60 × 65 cm) that might be rectangular, square or circular; and a sica, a short sword with a curved blade like a small version of the Dacian falx, intended to maim an opponent's unarmoured back. His other armour included greaves, a protective belt above a loincloth, and a helmet with a side plume, visor and high crest.

The murmillo (also sometimes spelled "mirmillo", "myrmillo", or "mirmillones" pl. murmillones) was a type of gladiator during the Roman Imperial age. The murmillo-class gladiator developed in the early Imperial period to replace the earlier Gallus-type gladiator, named after the warriors of Gaul (Latin: Gallus, lit. 'a Gaul'). As the Gauls inhabiting Italy had become well integrated with the Romans by the time of the reign (27 BCE to 14 CE) of Augustus, it became undesirable to portray them as enemy outsiders; the Gallus-class gladiator thus fell out of use.

The designation murmillo originated with the Greek word μορμύρος (mormyrus) for a type of fish - murmillo gladiators could wear a Gallic-model helmet incorporating fish-imagery.

A hoplomachus (pl. hoplomachi) (hoplon meaning "equipment" in Greek) was a type of gladiator in ancient Rome, armed to resemble a Greek hoplite (soldier with heavy armor and helmet, a small, round, concave shield, a spear and a sword). The hoplomachus would wear a bronze helmet, a manica on his right arm, loincloth (subligaculum), heavy padding on his legs, and a pair of high greaves reaching to mid-thigh. His weapons were the spear and a short sword. He was often pitted against the murmillo (armed like a Roman soldier), perhaps as a re-enactment of Rome's wars in Greece and the Hellenistic East. The name hoplomachus means 'armored fighter'. The small, round shield was as much a weapon as a sword or spear, not unlike the original hoplites (who carried a larger shield), who used it primarily for defensive purposes, but also employed it in their charges, using it to ram their opponents at the onset of a fight. They wore no shoes so the sand would chafe their feet, presenting them a greater challenge.

His usual opponent was the murmillo, but he might fight the thraex in exceptional cases. Justus Lipsius conjectured that it was one of two designations of Samnite, and that Samnites were called hoplomachi when battling a Thracian, and a secutor when matched against retiarii.

A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities characterized as blood sports, but involving only human participants, include the ancient Roman gladiatorial games.

Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword. The formation of the English word "swordsman" is parallel to the Latin word gladiator, a term for the professional fighters who fought against each other and a variety of other foes for the entertainment of spectators in the Roman Empire. The word gladiator itself comes from the Latin word gladius, which is a type of sword.

Spartacus (/ˈspɑːrtəkəs/; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic.

Historical accounts of his life come primarily from Plutarch and Appian, who wrote more than a century after his death. Plutarch's Life of Crassus and Appian's Civil Wars provide the most detailed accounts of the slave revolt. Although Spartacus is a significant figure in Roman history, no contemporary sources exist, and all accounts are written significantly later, by persons not directly involved, and without perspectives of slaves or eyewitnesses. Little is known about him beyond the events of the war, and the extant accounts are contradictory. All sources agree, however, that he was a former gladiator and accomplished military leader.

Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.

While there is limited surviving documentation of the martial arts of classical antiquity (such as Greek wrestling or gladiatorial combat), most of the surviving dedicated technical treatises or martial arts manuals date to the late medieval period and the early modern period. For this reason, the focus of HEMA is de facto on the period of the half-millennium of ca. 1300 to 1800, with a German, Italian, and Spanish school flowering in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries), followed by French, English, and Scottish schools of fencing in the modern period (17th and 18th centuries).

A galea (Latin: [ˈɡaɫea]; from Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē) 'weasel, marten') was a Roman soldier's metal helmet, most famously worn by the heavy infantry of the legions. Some gladiators, specifically murmillo (myrmillo), also wore bronze galeae with face masks and decorations, often a fish on its crest. While details varied over time, all Roman galeas from the Republic era through the Principate featured the same basic design - a bowl to protect the skull, a neck guard (which grew larger over time), a deflector band to protect the forehead and cheek plates to protect the face. The exact form, type of metal, and design of the helmet varied over time, between differing unit types, and also between individual examples – pre-industrial production was by hand – so it is not certain to what degree there was any standardization even under the Roman Empire.

Originally, Roman helmets were influenced by the neighboring Etruscans, people who utilised the "Nasua" type helmets. The Greeks in the south also influenced Roman design in its early history.