Successful gladiators ... famous that free men queued to take their chances in the arena. Bloody, brutal but popular, gladiatorial contests are often seen as the dark side of Roman civilization.

A couple of decades later, when the Roman republic had placed unprecedented political power in the hands of three men, Cicero ...

Back then rich Romans ... start with men, called venatores, fighting wild animals such as bears and lions. Then there would be public executions of criminals at noon, with the gladiator battles ...

“I see a gladiator ... Roman treasury. According to Frank McLynn, Commodus performed “to enhance his claim to be able to conquer death, already implicit in his self-deification as the god ...

In ancient Rome, gladiators took ... 3rd century BC, the Romans had adopted a religious healing system called the cult of Aesculapius, which took its name from a Greek god of healing.

Even though it’s at least 1,500 years since the last Roman ... about gladiators are undoubtedly Spartacus and Gladiator, and in both films the leading characters were enslaved men.