Where's my copy of the Gladiator Rulebook?

Reuters ^ | 2/23/06 | Reuters

[wagglebee]

This is an interesting contrast to the way Hollywood has always portrayed gladiators.

[wagglebee]

GGG Ping.

[Bahbah]

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

[Windsong]

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!

[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.

[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.

[Cloverfarm]

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

[SunkenCiv]

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.

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[SunkenCiv]

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

[nopardons]

bttt

[Ciexyz]

Passing this article onto those interested in the topic.

[Pharmboy]

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

[Servant of the 9]

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

[Junior]

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.

[Junior]

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).

[Antoninus]

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.

[dread78645]

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.

[StoneGiant]

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".

[ansel12]

"Nowadays, they call it "Divorce Court".

Often a quick death would be preferable to that horror

[AmishDude]

Do you like gladiator movies?