Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Swords clanging, tourists learn gladiator skills in Rome
AFP via Google ^ | Thursday, August 26, 2010 | Francoise Kadri

Posted on 08/27/2010 8:09:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Two American tourists, kitted out in glinting helmets and handsome tunics, grapple with each other, swords clanging, as if their very lives depend on it... Just a stone's throw from the Colosseum, on the ancient Appian Way leading from the Eternal City to Brindisi, they boarded the time machine of the Rome Historical Group (GSR) and whiled away an entire afternoon in the Rome of 2,000 years ago... Like the 140 other members of the association of history buffs, Hermes -- who sells real estate during the week -- became a gladiator trainer because of his "passion for Rome. Being Roman doesn't just mean living in Rome but making 'Rome' live," he said. The course can cost up to 100 euros (120 dollars) per person for two hours, but slides down to 25 euros for groups of at least 10. The 2000 Hollywood film "Gladiator" starring Russell Crowe led to a surge in interest in the course.

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: gladiator; gladiators; godsgravesglyphs; romanempire
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 last
To: Joe 6-pack

Joe...All aspects should be preserved...good and bad.

Because I was commenting on one area does not mean that I was discounting what the Empire has contributed to mankind. It’s the same with our own country; unagruably the greatest nation founded in the history of mankind...however, there is evil that has permeated every facet of our society, but that does not erase what contributions this Nation has made to the world.

Regarding learning how to fight like gladiators...well...each person has to examine why they feel that that is ‘fun’. It was a hellish, brutal sport that ended in a gruesome death for one of the participants. And although thousands of years have passed since that time, the deaths of those men are no less gruesome. Should there also be a school on how to gas people/jews...because, well that’s fun? Sounds ridiculous maybe but when we attribute fun to something so brutal as this is, it is diminishing what really happened. Perhaps the participants don’t even recognize what the gladiators represented...I don’t know.

Anyway, that is what struck me as apalling. I’m sorry...I wasn’t advocating rewriting history or trying to be ‘above’ anyone. I just can’t understand how anyone would think learning about something that was so gruesome and brutal, could be fun.


41 posted on 08/28/2010 5:18:49 PM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Extremism in defense of Liberty is sometimes necessary...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Outlaw Woman
Many olympic sports, boxing, wrestling, fencing, archery, javelin, biathlon, pentathlon, etc. all derive from martial skills perfected to inflict death on one’s enemies. Regardless of how much they've been sanitized for modern consumption, that makes it no less so. Some people are fascinated by different aspects of history. Medieval battles were, if possible, even more horrific in some aspects, than those of ancient Rome...and yet a chivalric code grew out of it that is still idealized by many, and rightfully so.

I'm not denying that gladitorial combat was gruesome...and where the competitors were unwilling participants it was no less vile than any form of slavery...yet, like today's NFL, MMA or pro-Wrestling, there were also willing participants who gained great acclaim and celebrity through it...which I suppose is as much a commentary on the society as it is the voluntary participants. What I was responding to was your outright dismisal (if not ridicule) of the gladiator lessons and the participants. I personally would think it a fascinating way of learning and participating in history, and would look at much like when I was given the opportunity to fire a Union 12 lb. cannon at Chickamauga, or when a fencing student studies the techniques of Hans Talhoffer. That does not mean I have any desire to fire canister shot into a line of confederate soldiers, or yearn to flay an opponent with an epee, but to gain a conscious and real feel of how horrific such things would have been.

It's my belief that much of the very same moral decay our society is going through now is precisely because we have lost contact with our past, and keeping it alive and maintaining a conscious contact with our cultural forebears is critical in not repeating their mistakes, and improving upon their advancements.

42 posted on 08/28/2010 5:44:03 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Outlaw Woman

Gladiatorial combat didn’t start out to the death, and in the higher ranks of the sport, even towards the end, rarely was.

If you think about it, it’d be stupid if most matches ended in death. They would rapidly run out of combatants.


43 posted on 08/28/2010 5:50:37 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Outlaw Woman

Yeah, you have failed in your history.

The Roman emperors immediately post-Diocletian seem to have been either those who viewed Christianity favorably or who were actual Christians holding a ‘true belief in the Lord Jesus’. See the Nicene Creed and everything through Theodosius’ reign for proof.

In addition, the empire spent the next *thousand* years (off and on) defending Christianity, and in fact the last remnant of the empire (the Eastern part, aka the Byzantines) fell to the swords and cannon of Islamic Turks in the Siege and Fall of Constantinople in 1453 (in part) because the emperor refused to leave the church of Hagia Sofia for the Islamics to torch.


44 posted on 08/28/2010 8:06:09 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Outlaw Woman

I would also suggest that you re-read the works of the Apostle Paul, a Roman who prior to conversion violently and cruelly persecuted the Christians. Specifically, Galatians 1:13-14, Philippians 3:6, and Acts 8:1-3.

Do you not consider him holy or Christian? Because his conversion was a parallel to what would eventually happen to the Roman Empire as a whole.


45 posted on 08/28/2010 8:58:43 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

You’re about 5 hours too late to the party ... give it a rest.


46 posted on 08/28/2010 9:09:05 PM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Extremism in defense of Liberty is sometimes necessary...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Outlaw Woman

Why, because you don’t know history? It’s never to late to pound it into someone else’s head.


47 posted on 08/28/2010 9:15:27 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

The Holy Roman Empire was a medieval German creation, founded long after the Western Empire fell. The old saying was that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.


48 posted on 08/30/2010 1:13:54 PM PDT by colorado tanker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson