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Where's my copy of the Gladiator Rulebook?
Reuters ^ | 2/23/06 | Reuters

Posted on 02/23/2006 6:31:14 PM PST by wagglebee

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This is an interesting contrast to the way Hollywood has always portrayed gladiators.
1 posted on 02/23/2006 6:31:17 PM PST by wagglebee
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To: SunkenCiv

GGG Ping.


2 posted on 02/23/2006 6:31:31 PM PST by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: wagglebee

So does it seem that they just finished off the wounded ones? Ouch.


3 posted on 02/23/2006 6:43:00 PM PST by Bahbah (An admitted Snow Flake and a member of Sam's Club)
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To: wagglebee
10 of the remains showed the fighters had died of squarish hammer-like blows to the side of the head, possibly the work of a backstage executioner who finished off wounded losers after the fight.

So if youre wounded..youve already lost according to the rules.

Ouch!

4 posted on 02/23/2006 6:44:31 PM PST by Windsong (Jesus Saves, but Buddha makes incremental backups)
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To: wagglebee

I've always wondered if there wasn't a humane method of euthanizing soldiers critically wounded in battle during Roman times. It seems needlessly cruel to keep a valiant warrior alive and in extreme pain in a day when no medicine or anodynes were available and death was inevitable, whether it came quickly and mercifully or with grim delay.


5 posted on 02/23/2006 7:04:08 PM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack

I've read that if you were victorious, your friends would help you, or help you die depending on the situation. If you were on the losing side it could be anything, for instance Native American women would often torture to death those men that were too weak to defend themselves, whereas healthier wounded could be brought home to entertain the whole tribe.


6 posted on 02/23/2006 7:38:09 PM PST by ansel12
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To: IronJack

They did break the legs of crucified criminals so they'd die sooner ... seems like it would fit that they'd also finish off wounded gladiators.

ann


7 posted on 02/23/2006 7:38:16 PM PST by Cloverfarm (Children are a blessing)
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To: wagglebee; blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; StayAt HomeMother; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; asp1; ...
Thanks Waggs.

Lionel Casson mentions that disreputable restaurants sometimes substituted human flesh -- which at times was plentiful -- for pork, which was often scarce and expensive. The flavor is so similar (it says here) as to be indistinguishable (other than the fact that the human flesh would be much fresher).

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

8 posted on 02/23/2006 10:00:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv (My Sunday Feeling is that Nothing is easy. Goes for the rest of the week too.)
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related topics:

Veni Vidi, Veggie...(Roman Gladiators)
The Telegraph (UK) | 2-3-2004 | Tom Leonard
Posted on 03/01/2004 9:03:18 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1088735/posts

Gladiators - More Showbusiness Than Slaughter
Scotsman | 1-20-2005 | James Reynolds
Posted on 01/20/2005 7:46:25 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1325022/posts


9 posted on 02/23/2006 10:01:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv (My Sunday Feeling is that Nothing is easy. Goes for the rest of the week too.)
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To: SunkenCiv

bttt


10 posted on 02/23/2006 10:16:15 PM PST by nopardons
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To: SunkenCiv

Passing this article onto those interested in the topic.


11 posted on 02/24/2006 12:32:57 AM PST by Ciexyz (Let us always remember, the Lord is in control.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Lionel Casson was my prof for Classics back at NYU. Best perfessor I ever had.


12 posted on 02/24/2006 2:30:34 AM PST by Pharmboy (The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
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To: ansel12
I've read that if you were victorious, your friends would help you, or help you die depending on the situation. If you were on the losing side it could be anything, for instance Native American women would often torture to death those men that were too weak to defend themselves, whereas healthier wounded could be brought home to entertain the whole tribe.

Killing the badly wounded was a part of battlefield cleanup at least through the renaisancs.

Christians weren't si wussie about mercy killings in the old days.

So9

13 posted on 02/24/2006 5:23:14 AM PST by Servant of the 9 (" I am just going outside, and may be some time.")
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To: Windsong

I guess it would depend upon the wound. A lot of wounds were fatal, even if not immediately. Wounds that would be survivable probably didn't merit the death because there was a lot of money invested in a gladiator.


14 posted on 02/24/2006 5:36:21 AM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: Cloverfarm
They did break the legs of crucified criminals so they'd die sooner ...

The only account of that is in the Bible and appears to have been a special case to hasten death before the Sabbath. Typically a crucified individual would take days to die, which is why this method of execution was reserved for rebels and those who really pissed off the Romans (odds are, the two "thieves" in the gospels were nothing of the sort because thieves were not crucified).

15 posted on 02/24/2006 5:39:14 AM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: IronJack
I've always wondered if there wasn't a humane method of euthanizing soldiers critically wounded in battle during Roman times. It seems needlessly cruel to keep a valiant warrior alive and in extreme pain in a day when no medicine or anodynes were available and death was inevitable, whether it came quickly and mercifully or with grim delay.

Field doctors were often better than you think in Roman times. Procopius, writing in the 6th century AD, describes a couple of soldiers, both Roman and Gothic, who had horrible injuries and yet survived. The Goth had received a dozen or so stab wounds and had lain under a pile of corpses outside Rome, but lived.

A terrible wound wasn't always a death sentence.
16 posted on 02/24/2006 8:47:11 AM PST by Antoninus (The only reason you're alive today is because your parents were pro-life.)
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To: Junior
odds are, the two "thieves" in the gospels were nothing of the sort because thieves were not crucified

And I'd agree.
After the 6CE revolt of Judas the Galilean, the survivors went across the border. Hiding in the caves and hills of Galilee they would come out and harass the forces of Herod Antipas.

The Jews of Josephus' time called them 'robbers', but they were actually revolutionaries.

17 posted on 02/24/2006 12:25:18 PM PST by dread78645 (Intelligent Design. It causes people to misspeak)
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To: ansel12
If you were on the losing side it could be anything, for instance Native American women would often torture to death those men that were too weak to defend themselves, whereas healthier wounded could be brought home to entertain the whole tribe.

Nowadays, they call it "Divorce Court".
18 posted on 02/25/2006 8:57:02 AM PST by StoneGiant (Power without morality is disaster. Morality without power is useless.)
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To: StoneGiant

"Nowadays, they call it "Divorce Court".

Often a quick death would be preferable to that horror


19 posted on 02/25/2006 9:04:22 AM PST by ansel12
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To: wagglebee

Do you like gladiator movies?


20 posted on 02/25/2006 9:17:10 AM PST by AmishDude
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