Gladiators: Life in the Arena
Gladiators were Rome’s premier athletes, and their real lives were much more varied and complex than Hollywood often depicts. Most gladiators were enslaved individuals, but free men and women could and did choose to participate, with some historians estimating that only three out of every five gladiators were enslaved. For free individuals, the lure of big rewards was strong. A successful gladiator could earn a year’s worth of wages from a single fight. In addition, the odds of survival were high. Gladiators were highly sought after and rigorously trained so that only a portion of these battles—even the blockbuster fights in the city of Rome—ended in death.
