Bloody, brutal but popular, gladiatorial contests are often seen as the dark side of Roman ... gladiators became more specialized. There were five types of gladiator, each with their own unique ...

While gladiators may have used unique weapons, they also used implements of war that were more familiar throughout the Roman ...

Such a spectacle has always been considered quintessentially Roman by ... given simple weapons and zero training. But as the tradition evolved, gladiators were provided with armor and had skills ...

Gladiators came ... from the lower echelons of Roman society. Some of the earliest were prisoners of war, who fought wearing their own culture's traditional armour. Later, criminals were sometimes ...