Posted on 04/17/2012 7:25:53 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Rare Ancient Statue Depicts Topless Female Gladiator
A small bronze statue dating back nearly 2,000 years may be that of a female gladiator, a victorious one at that, suggests a new study.
If confirmed the statue would represent only the second depiction of a woman gladiator known to exist.
The gladiator statue shows a topless woman, wearing only a loincloth and a bandage around her left knee. Her hair is long, although neat, and in the air she raises what the researcher, Alfonso Manas of the University of Granada, believes is a sica, a short curved sword used by gladiators. The gesture she gives is a "salute to the people, to the crowd," Manas said, an action done by victorious gladiators at the end of a fight.
The female fighter is looking down at the ground, presumably at her fallen opponent.
The "precise real-life" details of the statue suggest the depiction was inspired by an actual person, a real woman who fought, Manas told LiveScience in an interview.
It’s not known where the statue was originally found, though it is currently in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbein Hamburg, Germany.
The rarity of such statues likely reflects the idea that female gladiators in ancient Rome were scarce. They were banned by Emperor Septimius Severus in A.D. 200 with only about a dozen references to them in ancient writing surviving to present day. The only other known depiction of them is a carved relieffrom the site of Halicarnassus (now in the British Museum) that shows two female gladiators fighting. There have been claims made in the past of burials of female gladiators being uncovered, but none has attracted widespread support among scholars.
Identifying the gladiator
Scholars had initially suggested the statue represented a female athlete scraping herself with a strigil ...
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The greatest tabloid headline ever written.
LOL
Gladiatrix would be the correct term, I guess.
Some years ago, there was a novel about a tabloid editor obsessed with topping a headline he had seen on a rival paper. He was on a long descent into madness over it. The headline, and the novel’s title, was
“Dwarf Rapes Nun, Escapes in Flying Saucer.”
Definitely a contender, but I would have to read the article. Some connection with reality is needed.
Mark Steyn came up with a great variant of "Headless Body in Topless Bar" but now I can't find it, though I commented on it in an FR post.
More likely she's trying to figure out where her right leg is........
My research indicates she is performing the ritual fish-slapping dance.
Only a flesh wound...
gynomastia
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Hard to tell. If I had to guess I’d say NOT GUILTY.
Why can’t this simply be ancient porno? If you’ve ever taken an Art History course you know a lot of what passes for art is some creepy rich guy’s porn collection.
Bad ass woman, for sure.
I was thinking that knife was actually the guy’s “thing”.
Yep, that's no sica she's holding up so victoriously!
it looks like she shaved her pits.
LOL
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