Are Gladiators Heroes or Victims?
By Rachel Thornton, Mallika Dinakar, Evelyn Keefer
Who are Gladiators?
What Did Gladiators Do?
Gladiators were trained by people called lanistas. These people had special schools where gladiators would train. The gladiators were kept on special diets that kept them fit and ready to fight all year long. Training sessions were open to the public and people would often come and watch gladiators training. Because of this, gladiators were accustomed to being viewed by the public.
Gladiators had many different styles of fighting and they were placed in lanistas schools according to their style. They would then train with other gladiators with the same fighting style. Often in the arena gladiators were matched unfairly. A gladiator with only a knife may be paired with a horseman. No matter how unfair the chances were, the gladiators still had to fight for their lives.