Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Gladiator graveyard found in Ephesus, Turkey, once part of Roman Empire



Gladiators' graveyard discovered (Hat tip: Doug & Allen)
By Monika Kupper and Huw Jones
BBC Timewatch


Gravestones helped identify the site as a gladiator graveyard
Scientists believe they have for the first time identified an ancient graveyard for gladiators.

Analysis of their bones and injuries has given new insight into how they lived, fought and died.

The remains were found at Ephesus in Turkey, a major city of the Roman world, BBC Timewatch reports.

Gladiators were the sporting heroes of the ancient world. Archaeological records show them celebrated in everything from mosaics to graffiti.

Motifs of gladiators are found on nearly a third of all oil lamps from Roman archaeological digs throughout the Empire.

But how much did they risk every time they stepped into the arena? Did they have much chance of getting out alive?

The discovery of what is claimed to be the first scientifically authenticated gladiator graveyard has given researchers the opportunity to find out.



'Strict rules'

The Ephesus graves containing thousands of bones were found along with three gravestones, clearly depicting gladiators.

Two pathologists at the Medical University of Vienna - Professor Karl Grossschmidt and Professor Fabian Kanz - have spent much of the past five years painstakingly cataloguing and forensically analysing every single bone for age, injury and cause of death.

They found at least 67 individuals, nearly all aged 20 to 30. One striking bit of evidence is that many have healed wounds.

More details

To Kanz and Grossschmidt, this suggests they were prized individuals getting good and expensive medical treatment. One body even shows signs of a surgical amputation.

And the lack of multiple wounds found on the bones, according to the pathologists, suggests that they had not been involved in chaotic mass brawls. Instead, it points to organised duels under strict rules of combat, probably with referees monitoring the bouts.

But there was also evidence of mortal wounds. Written records tell us that if the defeated gladiator had not shown enough skill or even cowardice, the cry of "iugula" (lance him through) would be heard throughout the arena, demanding he be killed.



Final blow

The condemned gladiator would be expected to die "like a man" remaining motionless to receive the mortal blow.

The pathologists discovered various unhealed wounds on bones that showed how these executions could have taken place. And these are consistent with depictions on reliefs from the time showing a kneeling man having a sword rammed through down his throat into the heart. A very quick way to die.

Tell-tale nicks in the vertebrae or other bones suggest at least some of the bodies suffered this fate.

A number of skulls were also found to have sets of up to three holes at odd intervals, consistent with a blow from a three-pronged weapon such as a trident.

"The bone injuries - those on the skulls for example - are not everyday ones, they are very, very unusual, and particularly the injuries inflicted by a trident, are a particular indication that a typical gladiator's weapon was used," says pathologist Professor Karl Grossschmidt.

But not all head injuries found were trident wounds. A number of the skulls showed rectangular holes that could not have been made by any of the known gladiator weapons. Instead, they suggest the use of a heavy hammer.

"One possible explanation, which is supported by a number of archaeologists, is that there must have been an assistant in the arena who basically gave the gladiator the coup de grace," says Professor Kanz.

"I assume that they must have been very severely injured gladiators, ones who had fought outstandingly and so had not been condemned to death by the public or by the organiser of the match, but who had no chance of surviving because of their injuries. It was basically the final blow, in order to release them."

'Comfortable' retirement

The work of the Viennese pathologists has been independently reviewed for the BBC's Timewatch programme by Dr Charlotte Roberts of Durham University, a leading physical anthropologist.

"I've looked at quite a few hundred Roman skeletons. I've seen examples of head injuries, healed and unhealed. I've seen evidence of decapitations," she says.

"But this (new find) is extremely significant; there's nothing been found in the world at all like it. They've really dispelled quite a lot of myths about gladiators and how they fought."


Gladiators were prisoners of war, slaves or condemned offenders

If a gladiator survived three years of fighting in the arena, he would win his freedom. Those who did often became teachers in the gladiator school; and one of the skeletons found at Ephesus appears to be that of a retired fighter.

He was of mature age and the scientists were able to reconstruct nearly his entire body. His head showed apparent signs of healed wounds from previous fights but, clearly, none of them would have proved fatal.

"He lived quite a normal Roman lifespan," says Professor Kanz. "And I think, most probably, he died of natural causes."

Historical records suggest a gladiator's chance of survival was slim, with some estimates as low as a one in three chance of dying each time he fought. But it appears one of the Ephesus gladiators at least survived the odds and had a chance to enjoy his retirement from the arena.


18 comments:

  1. Wish we had Stonewall today
    Today in history

    1863 : Jackson flanks Hooker at Chancellorsville

    Stonewall Jackson administers a devastating defeat to the Army of the Potomac. In one of the most stunning upsets of the war, a vastly outnumbered Army of Northern Virginia sent the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Joseph Hooker, back to Washington in defeat.

    Hooker, who headed for Lee's army confident and numerically superior, had sent part of his force to encounter Lee's troops at Fredericksburg the day before, while the rest swung west to approach Lee from the rear. Meanwhile, Lee had left part of his army at Fredericksburg and had taken the rest of his troops to confront Hooker near Chancellorsville. When the armies collided on May 1, Hooker withdrew into a defensive posture.

    Sensing Hooker's trepidation, Lee sent Jackson along with 28,000 troops on a swift, 14-mile march around the Union right flank. Splitting his army into three parts in the face of the mighty Army of the Potomac was a bold move, but it paid huge dividends for the Confederates. Although Union scouts detected the movement as Jackson swung southward, Hooker misinterpreted the maneuver as a retreat. When Jackson's troops swung back north and into the thick woods west of Hooker's army, Union pickets reported a possible buildup; but their warnings fell on deaf ears.

    In the evening of May 2, Union soldiers from General Oliver Otis Howard's 11th Corps were casually cooking their supper and playing cards when waves of forest animals charged from the woods. Behind them were Jackson's attacking troops. The Federal flank crumbled as Howard's men were driven back some two miles before stopping the Rebel advance.

    Despite the Confederate victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Union forces soon gained the upper hand in the war in the eastern theater. Scouting in front of the lines as they returned in the dark, Jackson and his aides were fired upon by their own troops. Jackson's arm was amputated the next morning, and he never recovered. He died from complications a week later, leaving Lee without his most able lieutenant.

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  2. The Army's next brilliant idea will be to ban troop videos.

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  3. Well I guess Ill be firing off a letter to Russel Crowe and Kirk Douglas that they'd better get their asses in gear.
    Authentication of the type presented makes it a sure bet that there were no car chases or Tommy gun shot-outs.

    I always favored the sword and shield , but the trident had such a longer reach that it must have been a tough weeapon to go against.

    Were there any fishnet injuries recorded? I mean I've seen Sparticus a gazillion times and I know how awesome a fishnet can be in the arena. Coupled with the trident and you have a free trip to the Red Lobster.

    All in all I think I'd rather have been trimmed in the purple of a Roman Senator, Gaseous Victorius Possumus Tatorus, great debaucher of Caligulas entourage.

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  4. "The Army's next brilliant idea will be to ban troop videos."

    Hate to break it to you Doug, but according to Strategy Page, they already did this. Officially, units are not allowed to create compilation videos over their tour of duty.

    Too scandalous for virgin, offense-minded Muslims.

    I'll see if I can find the link, Strategy Page is hard to pick apart, however.

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  5. I've signed up for a bible study on the book of Romans by St. Paul. the reading is a tougher nut to crack than Wittgenstein. However, the rewards for doing so are many orders of magnitude greater. Last I did this was ten years ago. By the end of chapter three you are deep inside the dark mind of the roman empire.

    For the next six chapters St Paul works his way upward to light and air.

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  6. Romans leaves me confused, a not unusual state. I don't see why a man who has been vouchsafed an experience of the third heaven should be talking the language of faith, rather than trying to explain his experience, unless he feels his readers wouldn't get the meat of a transcending experience and thus settles for feeding them the soup of faith. One would think he would be taking of his experience rather than an involved theological discourse on faith, predestination, etc. But then he had said in the heaven he had experienced things not to be spoken of.

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  7. Romans leaves me confused, a not unusual state.
    ///////////////
    Romans has to be read slowly. And while you might be able to do it by yourself--its best done as a group study and then very slowly over the course of a year.

    Why?

    Paul has whole chapters that begin with "therefor". You have to figure out the logical line of reasoning from the previous chapters what the line of reasoning is... ie as the seminarians say what is the "therefor" there for.

    Paul's logic is rigorous as that of any java programmer.

    I did my first in depth reading of Romans in my early 40's; my comment then was that I wished that I'd read and understood the book in my early 20's...(I did read Romans sometime in my highschool/college years but understood it as little as you.) Had I read & understood Roman in my early 20s I would have saved myself decades of confusion.

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  10. I didn't even know the Turks had their own gladiators. Pretty amazing stuff. That would be an interesting movie rather than watching the Romans portray the only gladiators over and over again.

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