A Day in the Life of a Gladiator

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A gladiator. A lone warrior standing in the blazing sun of the arena, the roar of fifty thousand spectators echoing around the stone seats of the Coliseum. One fighter raise sword. The other waits for the crowd's verdict. A thumbs up.

Or thumbs down. It's a powerful image, but it's also in many ways A myth. In reality, many gladiators were highly trained professionals. They lived in specialist schools, they followed strict diets, they trained under coaches. And they fought in quite carefully organized matches designed as much for spectacle as for Bloodshed and survival.

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