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details. Hello

1:03

everyone,

1:09

Sakuri here. Did you seriously just drop a piece of

1:11

chocolate right as I began this? I

1:14

don't want to say the part. The

1:17

second day. Hello,

1:19

hello everyone Sakuri here. I'm going to say this

1:21

right now from the beginning. Welcome back to the

1:23

History of Everything podcast. And also on that note,

1:26

welcome to perhaps what is going to be one of the

1:28

more chaotic episodes that you've heard in your life. If

1:31

somehow you even managed to get through this

1:33

in the first place, this is an episode

1:35

in which we are literally here in Florence,

1:37

in Italy, in a sweat box of a

1:40

room that I kid you not was literally

1:42

being used by the hotel in order to

1:44

store luggage in. We had to lower

1:46

the AC in it so that it doesn't get

1:48

picked up by the mics, but you're still probably

1:51

going to hear a lot of cackling and giggling

1:53

and other stupid crap that happens because simultaneously there

1:55

is alcohol involved at this point. So

1:58

from any background, any noise. that you hear in

2:00

the first place. I'm sorry, there's literally nothing

2:02

that we can do about it, but my editor is going to

2:04

try and do his best regarding it. And

2:06

simultaneously, thank you to all of you who joined

2:09

me here on this Trova trip. I appreciate each

2:11

and every one of you who isn't here. So

2:13

for everyone that is listening back here, and I

2:15

know that we're probably gonna get a whole bunch

2:17

of feedback, but give it a hooray. Hooray!

2:23

I like your, there's more booze. Yes, and

2:25

there's more. I

2:27

think we need to preface this with, sorry James.

2:29

Yeah, sorry James. I'm so sorry with this here.

2:32

We have, I said from the very beginning when

2:34

we were gonna be recording these episodes that we

2:36

were going to have a whole bunch of people,

2:38

you know, show up, we'll do a live recording

2:40

of the podcast. I didn't

2:42

expect 17 people to join us. But

2:46

you know what? So be it, so be it. For

2:49

today's episode, there's really nothing finer that we

2:51

could possibly do to talk about, think

2:53

gladiators. Because my friends, we are

2:55

in Rome. Well, we're not in Rome right now. We're

2:58

literally here in Italy though. We are in the home

3:00

of the gladiators. We are in the home of what

3:02

probably started, I'm guessing for many of you that are

3:04

probably listening to the podcast and for many who are

3:06

in this room, this is probably one of your first

3:08

loves of history that you ever had, was specifically Rome

3:11

and the Roman Empire. For some it was World War

3:13

II, for others it was Rome, and

3:15

for some, for whatever weird frickin' reason, it

3:17

might have been just like some obscure part

3:20

of like Thai history. I don't know why

3:22

that would be. Civil war. Civil

3:24

war, fair enough, fair enough. That's a fair point for this. But

3:27

my friends, we are going to

3:29

be diving into the history of gladiators. Going

3:31

right back into the beginning of gladiators. We

3:34

need to first point out in history that these

3:36

were the great superstars and their story of how

3:38

they began is honestly a fascinating

3:40

one. While this point is something that

3:42

is heavily disputed and I'm sure that many of you have

3:44

probably already heard this kind of detail in here when talking

3:46

about this, a number of historians

3:48

have traced the origin of gladiators to going

3:51

back to the Etruscans. Or

3:53

perhaps back to 264 BC when Etruscan and

3:57

companion rights of sacrifice were absorbed.

3:59

served and then adopted by the

4:02

Romans. Are you familiar with

4:04

this? Is anyone familiar with like the really

4:06

screwed up origin behind the whole thing with

4:08

gladiators? Yeah, because it's all about

4:10

because obviously human sacrifice was a huge part

4:12

of a lot of the legends in the

4:15

areas like we can either kill

4:17

them just normally execute them or we can have them

4:19

fight to the death. Literally, yes, yes, yes. That's

4:21

the whole point. So you've all seen like in

4:23

gladiator films when it comes to things where it or

4:25

movies or games or whatever where there's a whole like

4:28

classic thumbs up, thumbs down, whatever.

4:30

Does he live? Does he die? Whatever.

4:33

Yeah, they almost always lived. You did not

4:35

want a gladiator to die. You didn't want

4:37

that to happen because go think, yeah,

4:39

there you go. We're getting the money signs here. We're in

4:41

Italy. So the fingers that you're using right that

4:43

that's exactly what we do it except it also would have been like

4:45

this when you make the Italian sound. They were

4:48

freaking expensive to train man. Like

4:50

you got to think you have a person that

4:52

is living in a society that is primarily agricultural

4:54

based. We don't have nearly

4:56

as much productive capability as we do

4:58

nowadays, meaning that every

5:00

person that is not on the farm, they

5:03

damn well better be good at what they are

5:05

doing because otherwise it is basically a waste. So

5:08

if you have a person that is trained

5:10

specifically to be a soldier, to be a

5:12

fighter, to be just that and nothing else,

5:14

that takes a lot of time, effort and money

5:16

that is in a society is that is not

5:18

nearly as productive as we have now. You don't

5:20

want to just throw that away on executing them.

5:22

You use them as entertainers. Gladiators

5:25

for most of history, you could probably

5:27

associate them as being closer to WWE

5:29

stars. Are you dropping things back there?

5:36

You could honestly associate them as being more like

5:38

WWE stars than anything else where there's still kind

5:40

of a script that they're supposed to be following,

5:43

but also shenanigans can still happen in it. Like

5:45

someone could just straight up get stabbed and die,

5:47

even if that wasn't in the script, just like

5:49

you could accidentally get hit in the head with

5:51

a chair and it could break your spine. That

5:54

wasn't part of the script, but it could have

5:56

happened. It's still dangerous. It's still a reality and

5:58

it was a blood sport. So most

6:00

oftentimes it was to first blood. The

6:02

Etruscans though, no, no. They

6:07

had a particularly special right

6:09

where, yeah,

6:14

the idea that they had was that, let's

6:17

say you had a wealthy individual who

6:19

had slaves. And

6:21

the Etruscans being the people that lived in

6:23

Florence before Rome was an empire? Yes, so

6:25

think of like Tuscany, Etruscan, like where it

6:28

came from. So you had Rome and then

6:30

there was a series of, I believe it

6:32

was 12 city-states that were to

6:34

the north that were Etruscan. So it wasn't

6:36

like just a singular

6:38

Etruscan state, it was the Etruscan League. And

6:41

there were Etruscan kings, like the initial kings

6:43

of Rome were Etruscan, essentially.

6:46

Before the whole actual origin of things with,

6:48

you know, Romulus and Remus and whatever you

6:50

wanna trace back to the origin of Rome

6:52

and how they got their independence, that whole

6:54

thing is still up to debate. But

6:58

their right was like, let's say you had a master

7:01

who was quite wealthy and then he died and he

7:03

had slaves. It

7:06

was a common right as a form of

7:08

human sacrifice to have those two slaves at

7:10

the funeral of the master be

7:13

given knives or some other sharp objects

7:15

and be told to fight to the

7:17

death. This

7:19

was done for both entertainment and

7:21

as a blood sacrifice. And upon

7:23

the completion of that fight, the

7:25

winner was congratulated and then

7:27

also sacrificed. Because it was seen

7:30

as an honor to follow your master

7:32

into the afterlife. Yep, it was a

7:34

total dick move, but that is the

7:36

very dark bloody origin of, or

7:39

one of the theories behind it for

7:41

gladiators and blood sports. It's

7:44

really messy to say the least here from the

7:46

very beginning, but it is,

7:49

like I don't even know how else I can

7:51

really begin to describe it. It's one of those things that

7:53

these are, these are characters that were seen

7:55

as a multitude of

7:57

things. True heroes. They

8:00

were seen as wastes of space.

8:04

They were seen as superstars. They

8:06

were seen as objects of desire, which

8:08

we're going to get into when talking about blood and sweat and how

8:11

that was used as an aphrodisiac. So that's a whole other thing that's

8:13

going to be going into this here. But

8:15

either way, this is something that is very

8:19

complex. Anyway, upon

8:21

adoption of these practices by Roman

8:23

high society, this would change their

8:25

preceding menera, as the Etruscans would

8:27

refer to this whole concept,

8:30

and would lead to the games becoming more

8:32

of a celebratory event to

8:34

honor the death of a member of

8:36

Roman elite society. This is something

8:38

that they would use in order to specifically be able

8:40

to celebrate, entertain, and give back

8:43

to the public. The way that you put

8:45

yourself forward in Roman society was not just

8:47

by having a lot of money. You

8:51

needed to use that money, and you

8:54

used that money by giving things

8:56

to people from the form of the

8:58

patronage system, and also even better, throwing

9:01

mega-fucking-awesome parties. And

9:04

that's how you showed the public that

9:06

you were awesome. Other

9:09

than the concept was known as bread and circuses.

9:11

Literally, bread and circuses, that is the entire

9:14

point. These are individuals

9:16

that were warriors who were sought out

9:18

at very high expense. They were very

9:20

high paid, if you want to even

9:22

use the term pay. Some were actual

9:24

slaves. Others specifically sold themselves

9:26

into the system in order to specifically

9:29

be able to earn money and fame

9:31

from it. And the early

9:33

stadiums of these celebrated and sacred combatants

9:35

were typically akin to a hollowed-out bathhouse

9:37

in size with very crude arenas. It

9:39

wasn't like what we saw when we

9:41

all actually went to the Colosseum, which

9:44

awesome. Most of these were essentially

9:47

simple dugouts. And then as the

9:49

Roman state would expand, then

9:51

over time they would become bigger and bigger

9:53

with sands sitting beyond tall fencing or walls

9:56

near the town or city center. Later

9:59

arenas, of course. when we talk about

10:01

this, were significantly larger. Much,

10:03

much larger. With one of the largest

10:05

gladiator arenas found in Switzerland, having a

10:07

grand area that measured 500 by 600

10:09

feet with

10:11

a seating capacity of 70,000. Which

10:15

is pretty substantial. Sorry, it also

10:17

gives a different mean to have going on a Swiss holiday. Yes,

10:20

it also gives the whole meaning to Swiss

10:22

holes in your cheese, when your body

10:24

is the cheese. Did

10:26

this arena have a name? Actually, I

10:28

don't have one for this. In fact, a

10:31

lot of the stuff for Switzerland didn't survive,

10:33

unfortunately. Like it just straight up didn't. They

10:35

were still, I'm trying to remember at the

10:37

top of my head, I still

10:39

remember a documentary that I had seen years ago

10:41

that was finding techniques

10:43

on Roman storage that they found all

10:45

these pits in Switzerland that dated back

10:48

specifically to the Roman era that they

10:50

tried to figure out for years what

10:52

it is that they did. Only

10:55

to discover that they were basically like sellers

10:58

for the Romans to be able to, they

11:01

were keep pits where you would throw

11:03

agricultural produce and stuff into and then

11:05

essentially bury over in order to keep

11:07

them cool and actually last a decent

11:09

amount of time. And

11:11

that took years to figure out in the first place. A

11:14

lot of the stuff has unfortunately just disappeared.

11:17

The warriors that would initially fight

11:19

in these kinds of arenas were

11:21

initially captured soldiers of foreign wars.

11:23

Most notably from regions like Gaul,

11:26

Germania, Thrace, Greece, Scythia,

11:29

Samnites, Carthage, et cetera.

11:32

And initially they lacked the presence

11:35

of true Roman citizens. So

11:37

while they were used for entertainment, they weren't necessarily

11:40

respected very much. Now,

11:43

while oftentimes a modern myth serving as

11:45

a gladiator was much like the modern

11:47

belief to be used as blood on

11:49

the sands of the arena for entertainment

11:51

of Roman socialites and as a tool

11:53

of appeasement for politicians that were seeking

11:55

to gain political favor among its citizens.

11:59

Now, This... When. We're.

12:01

Talking about it, this is

12:03

something that would progress for

12:05

two hundred and twenty years,

12:07

with generations gladiators becoming exceedingly

12:09

more victimized by fruit treatments.

12:11

For. Living conditions and exceptionally underappreciated

12:14

valuation by Roman citizens unless

12:16

they manage to perform at

12:18

the highest possible levels. It

12:20

just it really did very

12:22

upon where you exactly work.

12:25

Those with extremely

12:27

dominant, courageous performances.

12:31

These. Are a lot It. And if you're

12:33

one of those individuals, Or

12:35

you could Jets famous. And

12:38

that was something that would really, really change

12:40

what could possibly happen to you. These were

12:42

given better living quarters. They were given access

12:45

to women. Which. Guess not know anything.

12:47

This I know it's gonna make the the thought of

12:49

it very uncomfortable but we're living at a time and

12:51

which. Yes, Sexual slavery and

12:53

everything was a think so if you if

12:55

you performed well. You. Would

12:57

literally be given a woman. Kind

13:00

of the whole point of it. Yet

13:02

my wife says was over on the side

13:04

of the for justice for for his pretty

13:06

what I was wondering why Gabby is not

13:08

appear in the first place right now he

13:10

you probably heard from or podcast episodes here

13:13

on the Mystery of Everything and also from

13:15

are random times which he talked about on

13:17

this one but she has social anxiety and

13:19

we are sitting in a up. Italian

13:21

sauna block right now. So

13:25

I was nineteen in the room Know?

13:27

So. Oh yeah, now

13:29

we we from seventeen to nineteen hours more

13:31

people who still persists And this is out

13:34

of a group of what were we? twenty?

13:36

Every co marco, twenty four, twenty four

13:38

people in nineteen of it was written

13:41

disorder. It's a very cold sauna. It's

13:43

a very gold sauna relatively speaking as

13:46

a D. So. Yes,

13:48

they were given. Women

13:50

essentially whether those were Roman born women

13:52

or those that were simply from like

13:54

brothels and slaves and from there they

13:56

have the ability to rome within their

13:59

host city realm. Doubly are affected by

14:01

their bonds of service because they knew

14:03

hae. By. Try to run away. I

14:06

will be crucified. On the

14:08

other hand, I. Get the

14:11

boink. Pretty much whatever I want as well. It's get

14:13

free food. So. For them. But

14:16

was it's pretty sweet deal, especially since they

14:18

were not nearly as likely to die. Even.

14:21

If it was extremely dangerous, then again, you know

14:23

you compare that to working conditions for what would

14:25

be like in a. Eighteenth century

14:27

Victorian factory and. Audible

14:29

years as is a gladiator don't have so

14:32

pass. So my both lose

14:34

a finger though in that circumstance. That's.

14:36

That's definitely a. Very. Real possibility

14:38

Any questions that we haven't here so

14:40

far. So. With

14:43

the Romans being yeah, Everyone's

14:45

agree here and Borgia. Back to the show. I

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really? it's. I've

16:02

heard that there used to be two kinds

16:04

of Romans. You had the extravagant kind and

16:07

you had the people who always bailed out

16:09

their friends who spent too much money doing

16:12

these parties and throwing events. Yes, that's 100% true.

16:14

It goes back

16:16

to the whole idea of the patron system. So

16:20

in order to be anyone in Rome, it

16:22

wasn't just a matter that you had money.

16:24

It wasn't so much that you had power,

16:27

but that you specifically used that power for

16:29

or on behalf of other people. So

16:32

the way that patronage worked is

16:34

that the more people that you

16:36

supported, the higher your place in

16:38

society, the more dependents, the

16:40

more patrons that you – or

16:43

that you would patron, that would be the

16:45

better for you. Like,

16:48

think of it this. Here, you had the like

16:50

the plebes and you had the patricians.

16:53

Patron, patrician. It's

16:56

the highest level of society. So

16:58

the more that you support and give

17:00

back, even if it's almost a parasitic

17:02

relationship at times, that is still

17:04

something that would elevate you. So if you had

17:07

other wealthy friends, like it's enough that you can

17:09

bail out someone who's like, oh, a farmer who

17:11

broke their leg and now they need support because

17:13

they can't feed their

17:15

family here for the duration of while

17:17

they're healing. That's something. But if one

17:19

of the big families in Rome suddenly

17:21

can't pay for something because some guy

17:23

went on a drunken bender and then

17:26

ran over someone with a cart and

17:28

now has to pay the death fee,

17:30

which yes, that's a whole other thing

17:32

because they could be legally sued in

17:34

that circumstance. And then we have records of

17:36

people running over other people's slaves with carts

17:39

and then having to pay for that because

17:41

of it happening. If they

17:43

couldn't pay the amount and you interceded

17:46

on their behalf and gave

17:48

the money, that elevated your position

17:50

even higher because now they owed you. It

17:53

was a big thing. Yeah,

17:55

wasn't a member of the triumvirate crisis? He

17:58

had like the fire department where he'd... You

18:00

put out the fire at your house? Oh

18:02

yeah, he was the godfather patron. Crassus

18:04

was the godfather patron and everything. I believe that when going

18:06

back into it, I could have the number completely wrong off

18:08

the top of my head because I'm just quoting this in

18:10

there. He owned like 25% of

18:13

the entire city pretty much. He's

18:17

like one guy. He

18:20

was by far the wealthiest man in the

18:22

entirety of the Roman Empire at the time,

18:24

and much of it was done through essentially

18:27

loan shark practices. So

18:29

since he owned – there was no

18:31

public fire department service. It

18:33

was essentially teams of slaves, just

18:35

like there was technically speaking at

18:37

the military, and there

18:39

would be the Vigilés. So you had their

18:42

own kind of – that's

18:44

where we get the term vigilante from.

18:46

It's like the police forces that you

18:48

would almost have, the firefighters, the volunteers,

18:50

the individuals within the city. What

18:53

would end up happening in the circumstances is

18:55

that he would have teams of slaves that

18:57

would run a private firefighting

18:59

force. And it

19:02

wasn't so much that in

19:04

a dry season that potentially

19:07

someone could have their house catch on

19:09

fire. He was commonly

19:11

associated with having fire

19:13

spontaneously occur wherever his slaves

19:15

happened to be. And

19:18

so what would end up happening then is

19:20

he would move

19:22

in quickly afterwards to offer

19:24

to save their house, but only if

19:26

they would agree to sell it to him for

19:28

a price that was way under market value. He

19:31

would then, if they agreed, turn

19:33

it around, flip it, and then rent it

19:36

back out to other people for a much

19:38

higher cost. What

19:41

are you doing over there? Go

19:46

right over here. He's taking a massive

19:48

swatch. There's now 20 of us in

19:50

this room. Just sit down. Come on.

19:55

Also, why is, mate? Listen.

20:00

I said we're getting hot and heavy.

20:02

I meant that we're all hot and

20:04

it's fair and heavy people. Okay. After

20:07

the meal, we all feel pretty heavy. For

20:12

anyone that just heard that, a rack just got

20:14

knocked over. Alright.

20:17

Wait, wait, wait. Okay, so where was

20:20

it? I was talking about Roman women in

20:22

brothels and then we went on to this whole bender

20:24

about this. Okay. And then

20:26

you went on to Roman Doncagliani. Yes.

20:29

So they were able to

20:31

do pretty much whatever they wanted at least

20:33

the higher paid, the more successful ones, as

20:35

long as they still maintain their service to

20:37

their Linesta. Which, speaking

20:39

of which, the concept of a Linesta,

20:42

right? This is something that

20:44

did not even exist in the first

20:46

50 years of gladiatorial existence. Like that,

20:49

the initial trainers and cultivators of

20:51

gladiators were captains. Most notably equites,

20:53

which for anyone, are you familiar

20:56

with the divisions here in Roman

20:58

society and status and how it

21:00

essentially worked? Yeah, because

21:02

obviously the equites, like in terms of Roman military,

21:04

were the wealthy ones who could afford a

21:06

horse. So they were the cavalry. Correct. Yes,

21:09

exactly. And so this is a very important

21:11

detail. They actually had the money to be

21:13

able to do stuff. So the trainers of

21:15

these were equites. They were generals, members of

21:17

nobility that required or desired their services. It

21:21

wasn't until around 200 BC or so,

21:23

as Rome itself is now expanding more

21:25

rapidly at this point, that

21:27

the first Linistas, the actual

21:29

private owners and trainers of

21:32

academies or gladiators, would

21:34

exist. Like, God,

21:36

imagine getting isekai to a world and now

21:39

in that situation you're just turned a fucking

21:41

gladiator school, not a regular school. You

21:43

end up signing up for Vince McMahon's Roman

21:46

gladiator school. And

21:49

so this is where that starts to

21:51

appear. Now, the Linices themselves were named

21:54

as such due to their perception as

21:56

purveyors of butchery. Lanius,

21:58

like that, that's the whole point. and their tendency

22:00

to pimp out those that were held in bondage,

22:04

which yes, that's another thing. This

22:06

is not something that we're talking about necessarily

22:08

for female gladiators, those those did exist, and

22:10

that was a term called a glatatrix. That

22:12

was a thing. They were rare, but they

22:14

did exist. But oftentimes

22:17

there would be a number of wealthy

22:20

Roman noble women who would take,

22:24

take a liking to a particular fighter getting

22:26

down and dirty and sweaty in the arena,

22:28

and would request through

22:31

an intermediary the private services

22:33

of said gladiator. Gabby, why are you looking at me

22:36

like that? What

22:38

do I mean by private services? What

22:41

do you think I mean? Their

22:43

book. Oh, a hand may have

22:45

been involved and some shaking was involved as well. So

22:50

it's kind of like, yeah, here's the thing. When we talk about

22:52

this with entertainers, and this is a thing for anyone who's not

22:54

aware of this, entertainers, actors,

22:58

actresses, for the longest

23:00

time in history, they were

23:02

horse. And

23:04

I'm using that in the most blunt

23:06

term that I can, because that is

23:08

the truth. Say what you want about modern

23:11

celebrities or anything here, whenever you see any kind

23:13

of really crappy tabloid article

23:15

about, you know, people being scandalous

23:18

or immoral or whatever. No,

23:20

throughout the longest period of history, if you were

23:22

a actor or an actress or anything like that,

23:27

you were a whore because you more than

23:29

likely because you didn't get paid enough on

23:31

your services as a bass entertainer. So

23:34

oftentimes, whether it was ballerinas, whether

23:36

it was theater, like stage performers

23:38

of any kind, you made

23:40

your extra money to live when some wealthy

23:42

patron would go to your one of your

23:44

shows, see you and then pay

23:46

for your services under the table. As

23:50

you got onto the bed. And it went for

23:52

men and women. No, it didn't get. I did.

23:55

Now, later on, of course, you're going to associate it

23:57

more with specific paying of like for females like in

23:59

the case. of the courtesans in

24:02

the case of like ballerinas exactly as you said

24:04

but in the Roman days in here this is

24:06

also something that was done on behalf of gladiators

24:08

because you know they were they were their own

24:10

form of entertainment when it came to blood sports

24:13

that would happen just keep the blood

24:15

sports out of the bedroom exactly so

24:19

now the existence of lenistas

24:21

is something that would endanger

24:23

or would become endangered greatly as

24:25

the years of games the poor treatment and

24:27

lack of true freedoms even by roman standards

24:29

which you know you had rights as a

24:31

roman citizen but slave not so much this

24:34

began to erode the passive nature that was

24:36

entrenched in the training of gladiators and it

24:38

all came to a head in 73 BC

24:41

when the gladiators that were housed

24:43

within the lutus of quintus lentilus

24:45

ataius or the tais at fascias

24:48

fascias i think that was his

24:50

name here colloquially referred to

24:52

as fascias finally succumbed to the

24:54

building reputation of a great gladiator

24:56

by the name of bardicus

25:00

and that is when everything then went to

25:02

shit in rome you had a question he

25:05

mentioned people would often um sell themselves into

25:07

the gladiator to pay off debt yeah

25:10

what at what point would they become a free man um

25:13

when they had paid off their debt but

25:15

that could vary because they could sell it

25:17

for a certain their services for a certain

25:19

number of years or until a certain amount

25:21

had been paid the problem is is that

25:23

also the process of training to become a

25:26

gladiator is expensive which

25:28

meant that much in the same way as for anyone

25:30

who is members of the military either listening or who

25:32

are sitting in here now um you

25:34

know how they make you oftentimes pay for

25:37

extra stuff within the military like dress uh

25:39

outfits or anything else or if something gets broken you

25:42

gotta you gotta pay to fix it yourself they

25:44

would do that same thing of oh

25:47

well we also paid for your food for

25:49

your training for your lodging for all this

25:51

other stuff and so that debt that you

25:54

had grew bigger and now you

25:56

have a larger amount that has to be paid

25:58

off some even if

26:00

that's the complete that that would stay on because like

26:02

that life then why that side yes literally that is

26:04

exactly what would happen for some of them once they

26:07

got a taste of the life here they literally couldn't

26:09

leave it's like the equivalent of someone who once they

26:11

go into the military once they get that bonus pay

26:14

that if they didn't have

26:16

any skills or anything to go out of it and

26:18

once they get back into civilian life many of them couldn't

26:20

handle it the only thing that they really knew how to

26:22

do and what actually made them money was fighting

26:27

also they bought a Hellcat in the case of any

26:29

what's within the modern build the amount

26:32

of people that could be listening to

26:34

this podcast right now they're driving their

26:36

Hellcat right now with its 18% interest

26:39

rate I was going how

26:41

did you know about one

26:44

question about the equities obviously that

26:46

is a pre-reformation

26:51

well the merian reforms yes but

26:53

the equities class also existed all

26:55

the way up until the end

26:57

of Rome itself so they

26:59

still had these divisions even if they

27:01

were no longer codified within society as

27:03

something that was done for the purpose

27:06

of the recruitment system so for

27:08

anyone who's familiar with the system that the

27:10

Romans had for military you had the military

27:12

divided into three base classes of infantry the

27:15

histati the print capes and

27:17

the triarii and you

27:19

had it from the youngest men in society who

27:21

were the poorest with the lightest equipment who served

27:23

on the front line with the more

27:25

experienced veterans who had been there maybe they're

27:27

like five six years older if they've had

27:29

more time in the military more time to

27:32

get better equipment because they supply their own

27:34

stuff the entire time they

27:36

are behind them and then the triarii

27:38

are the oldest and wealthiest men of

27:40

Rome who would be the heaviest

27:43

infantry behind them which gives

27:45

the phrase of something in Roman times

27:47

going to the triarii was like a

27:49

final stand it was to the last

27:51

straw they held out until the very

27:53

end it was the make-or-break moment

27:55

that was why that was a phrase the

27:58

equities Didn't count

28:00

for any of that because they were the

28:02

only Romans in the society who are wealthy enough

28:04

to be able to own and Feed

28:07

and supply a horse Which

28:10

is very expensive especially back in the day And

28:12

if you were too poor to be any of those

28:14

you would generate the velites and the arches the

28:17

skirmishes and etc Correct though The Romans

28:19

did not necessarily utilize many archers unless

28:21

it was done in the form of

28:23

mercenaries or auxiliary forces the velites However,

28:25

would have been lightly armed troops who

28:27

oftentimes would have had No

28:29

armor whatsoever as a pointy stick Yeah

28:31

Literally would have had a short pointy stick like

28:33

a little javelin and then maybe a tiny shield

28:36

a little buckler that would have Been on their

28:38

arm that they could have tried to use to

28:40

avoid or block things But mostly they just have

28:42

to use the ability to what's the

28:44

term? Get the fuck out of the

28:46

way Dodge

28:49

yeah, literally most of them would charge

28:52

throw the tiny spin go. I'm over

28:55

Yeah, which is all neither really could do

28:57

in that circumstance So yes

28:59

when going back and talking about things with

29:01

with Spartacus as told by the Roman philosopher

29:03

and historian Pliny in his retelling of the

29:05

events quote The then

29:08

savages held within the bondage of

29:10

vadia plotted a scheme to assassinate

29:12

both Batatius and the gallery of

29:14

socialites and military leaders while

29:17

attending a gala prior to the major summer games

29:19

Scheduled to take place in Kapwa in the coming

29:21

weeks prior to his escape Spartacus

29:23

and his contemporary crick-chase that

29:25

had established themselves as elite

29:27

gladiators and While the

29:30

true reason for their plot and desire

29:32

to escape is unknown and is something

29:34

to the state that is disputed It

29:36

is acknowledged that the former Spartacus began

29:38

to rise as a champion and an

29:40

image of freedom and justice through his

29:42

gladiatorial Performances and in doing so he

29:45

slowly radicalized his beliefs to those of

29:47

breaking free from bondage from Roman slavery

29:50

But they wanted freedom from Now

29:52

after breaking free from the lutus and terrorizing

29:54

Kapwa and the surrounding farming and trade villages

29:56

for a few months He and

29:58

Chris just then later progressed to forming

30:01

a full-bore slave army and then

30:03

advancing their cause throughout Rome for

30:05

roughly three years Like

30:07

for three years These guys are just running

30:10

across Rome burning looting pillaging and freeing any

30:12

slave that they can find to join their

30:14

army Until they eventually

30:16

are halted and massacred by the

30:18

first Roman triumvirate of Crassus Caesar

30:21

and Pompey Which I'm saying this

30:23

right now here in the first place This is a little

30:25

side note because I know that I'm definitely gonna have to

30:27

do a future episode on specifically the servile wars like the

30:29

wars of these slaves how

30:32

stupid this was because

30:35

Spartacus had his chance. He had his chance to

30:37

run. He had his chance for freedom He was

30:39

right there in the north and he wanted to

30:41

go and the rest of

30:44

his military his officers everyone who served under

30:46

him With this year. They were like No

30:50

We're getting rich. We're we're we can do this

30:52

Okay, if we just stay in Rome instead

30:55

of fleeing north and then going over east

30:57

into Illyria We can stay here and continue

30:59

to loot and burn and we can get

31:01

a whole bunch of wealth and we're gonna

31:03

do that So they

31:05

moved south instead of escaping

31:07

to freedom which in turn gave

31:09

the Romans time to do what they do best and

31:11

that is push

31:13

away all the dead bodies of all their soldiers that they

31:15

sacrificed before and raise a whole new army and Then

31:18

slaughter them which they did and

31:21

that's exactly how that happened So

31:24

following the halt of the third and final

31:26

servile war the Romans and spent an extended

31:28

period of time with no games or Gladiators

31:30

as the Roman Senate would establish strict limitations

31:32

upon the number of gladiators allowed in the

31:34

borders of the Empire. Gee, I wonder

31:38

why Any questions

31:40

on this so far from anything or comments? Theoretically

31:43

if we turned up the AC would they be

31:45

pissed? It's just gonna be a little Please

31:47

not the AC. I'm boiling in here and I can

31:49

see This

31:53

is truly this is not as bad as the

31:55

garage believe it or not for anyone who remembers

31:57

this in here Gabby This is not as bad

32:00

as the garage. Garage in Kentucky somehow.

32:03

But it's still pretty bad. Once

32:05

again, sorry James. So,

32:12

okay, alright. The lack of games and

32:14

the subsequent, you know, civil wars and

32:16

everything that would follow would help too.

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things even more unstable and shortly after

33:22

the establishment of Julius Caesar as a

33:25

delay of Rome, he would order games

33:27

to honor his father who had passed

33:29

20 years prior, gifting

33:31

320 pairs of silver armor

33:33

clad gladiators to serve in the

33:35

events. Which is a big amount. It's a

33:37

lot to be able to do here in the first place. But

33:40

yes, he gave these specifically to

33:42

the people of Rome. Later

33:45

in 46 BC, Caesar would again honor

33:47

his family by hosting games in honor

33:49

of his daughter Yulia who had passed

33:52

eight years prior. These games

33:54

were highlighted by the presence of giraffes in

33:56

the bestiary portion of the game, Which

33:58

was a first. Laboratory games in

34:00

there. then at two hundred and twenty

34:03

year history of existence. And. Or had

34:05

any before. And. This would become

34:07

a really big point for Roman

34:09

gladiators over time. The I

34:11

know we're going to get into different types

34:13

gladiators and about all the stuff as time

34:15

goes on, but they had different classifications of

34:17

things so generally speaking your others that whole

34:20

thing about gladiators de force despite animals to

34:22

the death. Generally. Speaking

34:24

that wasn't done as much, you had

34:26

animals that were specifically slaughtered. Yes, and

34:28

this was done for the sake of

34:30

entertainment. much in the same ways the

34:32

Spanish would do with holes. But.

34:34

Oftentimes things like lions and other

34:37

creatures. Were. Used to execute

34:39

prisoners. So.

34:41

Imagine it like a really fucked up version

34:43

of a game of cat and mouse where

34:45

the human is the mouse. And is

34:47

getting toyed with. And. So they

34:50

would release political prisoners and

34:52

ah ah convicts. and sometimes

34:54

for and like. Captured

34:57

military personnel? Are others? Be given no

34:59

weapons or maybe a dagger and go,

35:01

Hey! Go. Fight the bear.

35:04

Good. Luck? Yes And as you can.

35:07

Probably. Imagine. A.

35:09

Died. A. Lot.

35:12

And then we would end up happening over time

35:14

for this Here is that as the animals would

35:17

kill more and more more more arm eventually reach

35:19

a point where now oh no it looks like

35:21

ah crap this this. This gladiators going

35:23

to win. Ah well. What?

35:26

Is kill them both. And then they

35:28

would you sell. Than. They would you sell

35:30

it's I'm. Totals really

35:32

messy think they would also get whole cases where

35:34

animals refused to go out to fight, you know

35:36

they don't wanna. And the words the

35:38

it's not like they would have the lions that would

35:40

go in there and they would gay a great job

35:42

fighting. We're going to use you on the next round.

35:46

Know the line has to die. So.

35:48

They would just kill it. Exists like

35:50

after we want a certain number of dollars and

35:52

they didn't have anything else they would just kill

35:54

it instead of conserving it is. you know everyone

35:57

wanted see the line. those kind of the whole point

36:00

Gabby looks horrified over on the side

36:02

right now because anytime I mentioned anything

36:04

with animals, for anyone, you'll remember the

36:07

early episodes that we did. I

36:09

don't know how long any of you have

36:11

been listening to the show, but from the

36:14

very beginning when we did the horrible like

36:16

military animal history or just horrible animal stories

36:18

and the elephant that got hung from a

36:20

crane. Yeah. Yeah.

36:23

That was one. She was very scarred

36:25

on that day. Did you ever do

36:28

one about the zoo in Paris during

36:30

the Franco-Prussian wars? See you

36:32

in Paris, everyone had all the animals in the zoo.

36:35

Yes. Yes. Also the

36:37

same thing happened in Austria in World War II

36:40

where they had to do that. And over the course of

36:42

World War I actually, yeah, a lot of those animals got

36:45

eaten because of the food shortages in Germany and Austria. And

36:48

then in the first bombing raid of Berlin, didn't

36:50

it? Wasn't the only victim an elephant? I

36:53

don't remember if it was the only victim. I

36:56

say that off the top of my head actually, so I'm not quite sure.

36:59

As a result of the Third Servile

37:01

War, the state of games or the

37:03

state of Rome itself would play a

37:05

greater role in the establishment, the maintenance

37:08

and distribution of games in an effort

37:10

to avoid further revolutions. You

37:12

don't really want that to be happening. This

37:14

change of guard would lead to an

37:16

establishment of Imperial training grounds and a

37:18

shift away from privately funded games that

37:20

ran on Linice's contribution to gladiators. Because

37:24

if too many of these will upstart private

37:26

citizens end up pushing

37:28

their gladiators too far, the state doesn't have

37:30

enough control over it. And

37:33

as the shift came front and center

37:35

to more Roman controlled games, so

37:37

too did the competitors in the

37:39

games themselves also gain even more

37:41

prominence as members of the gladiatorial

37:44

ranks. These would be the Arugia.

37:48

And the Aruga were Roman citizens

37:50

that voluntarily went and joined the

37:52

Lutus for a variety of purposes. We

37:55

talked about before about people that had to do

37:57

so because of Debt, which.

38:00

For. Your kind of forced into it in the first

38:02

place. Others would just go.

38:05

Hey. I. Can make

38:07

a bunch of money doing that and people really

38:09

like this and a cheer for me. I'm.

38:11

Going to do it. Say. My friends were

38:14

the first attention horse. Bought.

38:16

The first ones but they they definitely did

38:18

go into it for a many of them

38:20

specifically for attention. And. That is what they

38:22

would end up doing. They. Were individuals

38:24

as I said who would voluntarily join

38:26

a lewdness weather was to escape their

38:29

debts for brother criminal or personal purposes

38:31

at in later years many of them

38:33

would join for if you know establish

38:35

your reputation and to him to the

38:37

competition much like a modern day athlete

38:39

because again. Most. Of the

38:41

time it was safe. Might.

38:44

As a little blood but it would say it's. relatively.

38:46

Speaking. So. With the

38:48

shift in membership among the ranks, the fighters

38:50

decent com a new focus in the way

38:53

the gladiators were housed, said and supported on

38:55

health and physical free and levels. While.

38:57

The early years were predominantly done by

38:59

slaves and spoils of war fighting in

39:01

the name of their masters and or

39:03

bondage a leader. Years of the Roman

39:05

games were highlighted be by shift to

39:07

the citizens and they would eventually become

39:09

the dominant competitors. That. We see all

39:11

this time and here where would be like i'm

39:13

you think of the classic Roman Empire. The.

39:16

The point of capturing legions upon legions

39:18

of slaves and and throwing them into

39:20

the gladiatorial arenas. Know.

39:23

Know. Yet What? Yes, you still had ones

39:25

that work sacrifice. But don't really

39:28

like be entertaining ones. The

39:30

gladiators. Those. Were

39:32

trained professional athletes specifically for

39:34

that purpose. He. Wasn't the mindless

39:36

slaughter that you would see and games,

39:38

movies and other things. Overseas

39:41

and bro mostly been richer. They could

39:43

maybe lose a couple a gladiator so

39:45

busy they probably had enough money. Bogus

39:48

li. Feather. At the

39:50

Empire. Ovens train at

39:52

gladiators was even rarer says like yang

39:54

risk in these guys. Know. You're

39:56

right. And not only with that happened but the

39:58

gladiators as they grew. More more famous, a

40:01

number of them. Even. If they had

40:03

lower status still would end up getting families who

40:05

is still under becoming ridiculous the wealthy. For some

40:07

of them they would adopt more of a rock

40:10

star lifestyle than a the else. I. Talked

40:12

about before that some of them, especially the slaves,

40:14

would just be given women. For. A

40:16

number of them would quite literally. Get.

40:18

Families and you have gladiatorial houses were

40:21

even their families their house like their

40:23

their wives quote unquote. If he were

40:25

and to get married or their children

40:27

would even be allowed to live with

40:29

them. And that was a

40:31

circumstance that you did not see in a previous

40:33

hundred years because that just wasn't something that you

40:35

could. So. Nearly as long

40:38

as the Romans would hold blood for

40:40

oil games, they would also simultaneously revere

40:42

the Beast the world. And. With

40:44

them, they would include them in just about

40:46

every game there were held with you know,

40:48

very free pauses in our participation from Twenty

40:50

Seven Bc all the way through Seventy Six,

40:52

because you can. I would do anything at

40:55

that time when. Things. Were

40:57

kind of plunging the middle civil war lot. The.

40:59

Games that were hosted at this

41:01

time within have a myriad of

41:03

different beasts, some of which are.

41:06

Now. Sadly extinct. You.

41:09

I guess why. Over

41:11

hunting. For. A lot of them. The.

41:14

Amount of money that someone in

41:16

North Africa could make. By.

41:18

Capturing a leopard or some

41:20

other creature. And. Transporting it

41:22

rome. Was. Enough to set

41:25

them up for life. basically. if they could get

41:27

it, Or maybe not life. But

41:29

the bigger, the crazier, the fancier. the

41:31

creature. The more so, what's. Even

41:34

elephants would end up getting transported to

41:36

spite in arenas and that was a

41:39

very hard job to do. Because.

41:41

You either had to go. Wanted to wish. You.

41:43

Had to go all the way around North

41:45

Africa through Spain up into Southern France and

41:48

then are rounds from the Alps which he

41:50

would have to do so only at certain

41:52

times. Where was. Actually viable to

41:54

do so or he had to go over

41:56

the water. And then over half the

41:59

dolphins would die. I

42:01

imagine with the elephants after the Punicwalls

42:03

the Romans really enjoyed seeing elephants die.

42:06

Yeah, yeah, that was one of the

42:08

things. If you could get an elephant into the arena,

42:10

it was a huge thing. Hi,

42:13

are there any instances of giraffes winning?

42:15

Because it's like Coors's with long necks.

42:18

Giraffes typically didn't actually... Okay, so here's

42:20

the thing. I don't know

42:22

about specific records in which they are

42:24

recorded as winning, but giraffes could be

42:26

territorial. The only thing is if you

42:28

get near them, they kick. Giraffes

42:30

will fucking kick, and one of

42:32

their kicks is capable of easily

42:35

taking off someone's head. So

42:37

yes, but also the reason that many

42:39

of these animals were put into play

42:41

was not to just see animals slaughtering

42:43

people. That was done so in

42:45

the case of lions, tigers, or other things that

42:47

would be used in order to slaughter prisoners of

42:50

war or criminals or that kind of thing. But

42:53

in the case of gladiators, it was

42:55

way more entertaining for the public to

42:58

see a small team of gladiators try

43:00

to take down some massive beast by

43:02

themselves. And this is where

43:04

you would see the Mamiloh and

43:06

the Retarii type, with the Retarii

43:09

being the... That should have been

43:11

the individual that has the net,

43:13

if I recall correctly. But

43:16

they would have these gladiators work as team

43:18

to take down a giant beast, and that

43:20

was a big thing for the public to

43:22

see. They loved it. Retarii

43:25

is a net fighter. Yeah, see, there

43:27

we go. And Retarii would be the

43:29

plural form, so that's what it would

43:31

be. So yes,

43:34

this would go on for a while. The crazy

43:36

thing about this with the animals, though, is that

43:38

for anyone who's listened to the episode that we did on

43:41

the history of zoos and beastie areas and all those

43:43

kinds of things... Weirdly enough,

43:45

when a Roman beastmaster, and yes, that's

43:48

actually the term of what it would

43:50

be here, is a beastmaster would come

43:52

into town in a place, they would

43:54

set up their shop, so to speak,

43:56

which would be the animals in

43:59

their cages. Just kind of out in the

44:01

public for the public to see and they would kind

44:03

of set up their own zoo Where they could charge

44:05

people to come and see the animals maybe for some

44:08

of the more docile ones as a kind of petting

44:10

zoo This own kind of thing. Where was a form

44:12

of entertainment? Of course, this

44:14

is not like nowadays where

44:18

they have significantly better care If

44:21

for anyone who knows the history of zoos who listen

44:23

to that episode if they didn't get slaughtered in the

44:25

arena They don't last long in those cages. They die very

44:28

quickly anyway Yes

44:31

on the subject of animals and

44:33

gladiators were there any gladiators who

44:35

are also charioteers? Actually,

44:38

that's a great question. Usually I Don't

44:40

think so there may there may have been examples

44:42

that ones that we are lost to history But

44:45

charioteers were their own other kind of superstar and

44:47

generally speaking in Chariot

44:50

races They were

44:53

even bigger individuals. In fact the

44:56

wealthiest athlete in history Was

44:59

a charioteer and I

45:02

cannot for the life me remember how much

45:05

Gabby right now wealthiest athlete in history It's

45:07

gonna be a chariot guy and I believe

45:09

that he was based out of Constantinople in

45:11

the hippodrome. I Cannot

45:14

remember what his worth was though But

45:17

they estimated this based on a number

45:20

of different documents or things that they found and

45:22

it's insane Here

45:24

can you can you give her the mic? Gaius

45:26

Apollius Diocles Diocles

45:29

Second century 80 he participated in over 4,000

45:31

races and won 1460

45:35

of them and he had print he earned approximately

45:37

35 million sister see as

45:40

Engraved on his monument throughout his career. So

45:43

that was from medium. Okay. Okay,

45:45

but 35,000 sister sees What

45:48

was that equivalent of on this is where

45:50

it gets really weird because they have to

45:52

do Comparisons for what something is approximately worth

45:54

and prices for different things fluctuate over time.

45:56

So quick. Oh Oh,

45:59

you got it in here, even pass

46:01

behind. Yeah, the

46:03

number I found was $15 billion. Okay,

46:08

so yes, there you have it. Using

46:11

the kind of rough equivalent what they have

46:13

that is worth more than literally any athlete

46:16

in history. Did

46:19

you just say she just mumbled in the back, I'm

46:21

gonna beat him. I don't play a sport

46:23

but I will Gabby, Gabby. So

46:26

yes, they would. So

46:29

they would use these beasts, as I said,

46:31

to specifically have their own kind of little

46:33

petting zoos and everything else in here, as

46:35

well as bleeding zoos, so to speak. And

46:39

the thing that we should note about

46:41

this is that the death matches and

46:43

the bestiary games still result in the

46:45

fatalities for fighters on occasions. And these

46:47

fighters were often contested using slave gladiators

46:49

or reliefs as they came to be

46:51

known, not the actual gladiators themselves that

46:54

were properly trained. Now,

46:56

the shift in perception

46:58

and performance of the games meant

47:01

that gladiators both foreign Roman and

47:03

everything else would enjoy a tremendous

47:05

boost their quality of life. It

47:08

was a really big deal. It

47:11

was something that was massively successful for

47:13

them. But here's the problem.

47:17

The empire doesn't last

47:20

forever. It doesn't. And

47:23

so even as bestiary trainers, and

47:26

gladiator ludus masters, and

47:28

state senators who could donate massive

47:30

numbers of gladiators to their respective,

47:32

you know, training grounds in order to

47:35

be able to boost their own reputation,

47:37

wasn't going to last. Really,

47:39

I will say this aside, because this was a question that

47:41

was asked about whether or not it kept up even after

47:44

the fall of the Roman Empire did, in

47:46

many cases, those specifically dealing

47:48

with beasts, imported for their own

47:50

kind of menagerie and public slaughter, that continued all

47:52

the way going into like the sixth century, even

47:55

after the Western Roman Empire fell, still

47:57

it would happen under the Lombard Kings initially.

48:00

or not Lombard. Dis-a-gothic.

48:02

Yeah, Dis-a-gothic. That's the term for what we would have

48:05

here. What would you say? All

48:08

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History wherever you get your podcasts. That's

48:33

This Day in History wherever you

48:35

get your podcasts. Everybody,

48:39

shush! William Shatner has something

48:42

to say. Cat and Jethro, box of

48:44

oddities. What do you do when the

48:46

woman you love dies? Well, of

48:48

course, you dig her up and you live with her. Aww!

48:50

The show is salmon. Weird thing.

48:52

There are plenty of old photographs

48:55

from this time period of children

48:57

out in the streets playing in

48:59

and among the dead horse carcasses.

49:01

Oh, I miss those days. Things

49:03

used to be so much simpler. Cat

49:05

and Jethro. Then there's the urine

49:07

wheel, which sounds like a really

49:09

bad game show. They've done weird

49:11

things. Cat

49:17

and Jethro, box of

49:19

oddities. That is really

49:21

mysterious. Join Cat and

49:23

Jethro Gilligan-Taun for the

49:25

strange, the bizarre, the

49:27

unexpected as they loot

49:30

the lid and cautiously peer

49:32

inside the box

49:34

of oddities. Yeah,

49:40

I'm not going to be able to answer that here

49:42

because I don't know if treatment was better off the

49:44

top of my head. I mean, even like 150 years

49:46

ago, we had bear baiting and cock

49:49

rings and things were basically like

49:51

chickens would fight each other. Yeah, still

49:54

happens, especially in places like Hong Kong and others.

49:56

Like it's still a very common thing. And

49:59

so while the games would carry on from 264 BC all

50:01

the way through roughly 404 CE, it was the Roman

50:03

Emperor Honorius that

50:07

marked the end to this iconic aspect of

50:09

the Roman society. By 398

50:11

CE, Honorius had put a halt to

50:13

the various different luti of

50:15

the then very expansive

50:17

and vast empire, citing

50:20

that it was really inexpensive.

50:23

Because here's the thing, remember,

50:25

it's no longer the private trainers. It's

50:28

no longer all those individuals. It's a

50:30

state organization. It's bread and circuses exactly

50:32

as you said earlier. So since this

50:34

is something that is being funded by the state and

50:37

the state has not expanded in

50:39

the previous like 200 years, they

50:42

have no new sources of income. There's no

50:44

new major big sources of slaves except when

50:46

putting down an uprising somewhere. This

50:48

means that you're not going to have

50:51

vast influxes of wealth to be able

50:53

to fuel these games, which

50:56

means that they start to kind of fade

50:58

away. And that tax

51:00

upon the citizens, that tax upon the treasury

51:02

means less money that can go to the

51:04

fences. And so it starts to

51:06

get closed down. And from that, nearly

51:09

1,600 different

51:12

schools across the empire get

51:14

shut down. And

51:17

so when Telemachus, a monk

51:19

hailing from Asia Minor, would crash

51:22

the games, stopping an ongoing

51:24

fight between two gladiators, which is an event

51:26

that happened, the very angry crowd

51:28

responded by stoning the monk to death

51:31

where he stood in the arena. Not

51:35

only are decrees happening by virtue of

51:37

the emperor, but also by the fact

51:39

that a number of different Christian elements

51:41

within society here are wanting to put

51:43

a stop to them. Because no longer

51:45

is Christianity being discriminated against like it

51:47

once was. It is the official, not

51:49

language, religion of the empire. That

51:53

doesn't mean everything is going to change culturally. And In

51:55

fact, this is one of the interesting things when talking

51:58

about the early history of Christianity is that specific. The

52:00

elements of it became significantly more marshall

52:02

as time went on. Because.

52:04

You are. We have this idea of the Crusades

52:07

and everything. Your right? Arm

52:09

Early Christianity. Was. Super.

52:12

Pacifist sick and he be like. To

52:15

the point that. You T.it.

52:17

wasn't just turn the other cheek,

52:20

it was. Oh, there's a person

52:22

that is currently stabbing my child

52:24

to death. I'm. Not going to fight

52:26

them, I would try to restrain them in stop them, but

52:28

I'm not going to take a weapon and stab them. Arm.

52:31

And if they stab me or guess what that means

52:33

that we're now martyrs and we get a free pass

52:35

to habit. That. Was a genuine

52:37

belief which in the early days would

52:39

cause many early christian. Cold Sex

52:41

to actively try to get themselves

52:43

arrested and executed so that they

52:45

could get a free pass to

52:47

heaven. And in this

52:49

case, they saw the Gladys World Games

52:52

as an evil pagan practice that needed

52:54

to end. And so a number

52:56

of months precisely? This is to try to

52:58

stop them. So. From

53:01

Spartacus to Crysis Two Com it is.

53:03

All. Of these varying different. Entities

53:06

All these different the years that were famous

53:08

within. The Gladiatorial Games.

53:10

We. All remember them, but. In

53:13

the ends. They. Do would come to pass.

53:16

So. From that. Actually, Ends. Or.

53:19

Through I Gladiators. This has

53:21

been deeply more of a big overall look

53:23

at all this rather than the specific types

53:25

or other things going into his. But considering

53:27

that we're approaching be sixty minute mark here

53:30

at this point, I'm. I. Don't think

53:32

that we're gonna be able to go into a lot of

53:34

details for weeks. You'll over here from sweat. Said

53:37

before he actually go. Before we finish off this

53:39

any questions or comments. Any things that we want

53:41

to go into from varying different members the audience.

53:44

Better comparison to roughly Was kind

53:46

of interesting actually because nowadays are

53:48

they are by nose or rustling

53:50

isn't real. It's. Real

53:52

and that you can get her and they do

53:54

get hurt. By. You know

53:56

is it's a very persona base thing.

53:59

Back. Then. What? that was there? Ever

54:01

a time or people kind of caught onto it a

54:03

little bit to some degree or another. Where.

54:06

They like. It's a bit of

54:08

a show, more so than actual combat of

54:10

five. One. Hundred percent and a

54:12

new a day. Already knew because unless it was

54:14

a duel between to hear that there would be

54:17

a winner. but the whole purpose of it was

54:19

he was a genuine fight you t wasn't scripted

54:21

for Who was going to win or lose in

54:23

the case of a dual usually. But

54:25

it would be they would try to make it

54:27

as grandiose and as entertaining as possible. You know

54:30

she could have a person who's going to be

54:32

sitting there guarding the entire time they're going to

54:34

be doing big movements are gonna be trying to

54:36

make it is entertaining for the crowd as they

54:38

can while also still trying to with. There.

54:41

Were others that were one hundred percent scripted

54:43

when they would do this, and this would

54:45

be when they would try to recreate historical

54:47

battles. Because. If there is one

54:49

thing that the Romans really, really loved.

54:52

It was more. And. The other thing

54:54

that they really really loved was talking about

54:56

that war. So. They

54:58

would put on these massive

55:01

theatrical performances, with the gladiators

55:03

recreating historical battles from their

55:05

past. We're. Talking circumstances where everyone

55:07

knows the fun fact about them sledding the

55:09

coliseum in order to be able to recreate

55:11

naval battles they would also do things where

55:14

they would have harriet fights within their to

55:16

recreate ancient battles of old and from battle

55:18

dealing with like the city and and other

55:20

people. That. Yeah, the Britain's

55:23

as well they would. He would do this

55:25

with all the varying different groups. So yes,

55:27

there were fights that were one hundred percent

55:29

scripted and they would do so to tell

55:31

a story. Yes, assuming.

55:34

They lived long enough. What his retirement look

55:36

quite for Gladiator Or was that even an

55:38

option. In the for anyone is

55:40

actually seen the movie like Gladiator and

55:43

you see the scene of the Looters

55:45

Master and how he had received his

55:47

own played. He was a former gladiator

55:49

himself who got his freedom. That.

55:51

was a real possibility for those that

55:54

were slate you could earn your freedom

55:56

especially for those that word get slates

55:58

if you're a dead slave once you

56:00

had paid off your amount, you

56:02

could leave. You could go. Now

56:05

at that point, do you have anything that is

56:07

left for you? Do you have a family that

56:09

is waiting on you? Has it been five, six

56:11

years and all of them have passed? Are

56:13

you a foreigner that is trapped in this land,

56:15

unable to do anything else? And this is

56:17

the only thing you know. For

56:20

many of them, maybe they earned enough money from it.

56:22

Maybe they earned enough things that they could start their

56:24

own business, but it's going to be different for each

56:26

and every individual person. But for

56:28

many of them, it was the life they

56:30

knew. And once if they,

56:32

if they were successful enough and

56:34

they had achieved celebrity status, that's

56:37

what they would do. A number of

56:39

them would even go on to become masters themselves and

56:42

train their own gladiators. So there

56:44

was a trope of one

56:46

of the combatants being drugged. How prevalent

56:48

is that? Of drugged? I

56:50

mean, if you're talking about the whole thing would happen

56:52

in like the gladiator movie, and we see

56:54

this with comedists doing that action. I

56:57

don't know off the top of my head if we

56:59

have any actual records of that happening. There can be

57:01

a case of force of someone trying to fix a

57:03

fight because for as many times

57:05

as these gladiatorial games were done for

57:07

entertainment. They are also,

57:09

it was a casino. They were gambling

57:12

on these matches. So there very well

57:14

could be cases where people were sabotaged

57:16

in order to make the

57:18

outcome of a bet more likely

57:20

or certain. Anyone else? So

57:24

the scripted place, were they more

57:26

like the Victorian place where they

57:29

actually got stabbed on purpose and

57:31

just had to survive if they

57:33

got the bad part? So did

57:36

they fight whatever they could? There

57:39

could be multiple examples of say ones

57:42

that were actual just like slaves, like

57:44

war criminals that were thrown into something

57:46

as a sacrificial, like they actually die

57:48

and get killed. There

57:51

were cases where they would

57:53

have gladiators dress

57:56

up as proper Roman

57:58

soldiers in formation. and

58:00

just slaughter an enemy, an opponent to

58:03

show their might and power, etc. to

58:05

break them apart. In others, it

58:07

would be way more dramatic and drawn out,

58:09

where they would get stabbed, or

58:11

they would get, you know, not even stabbed, but a

58:13

slash, and you can get slashed

58:15

across the chest, and it's just, it causes a

58:18

lot of blood to flow, but

58:20

it's not a deep enough wound to actually,

58:22

you know, kill or debilitate you, but

58:24

you fall over dead. But

58:27

yes, actual blood would be used in the

58:29

– it wasn't like, oh no, we got

58:31

a pack of sheep's blood or something on

58:33

here, and it goes splattering out, like in

58:35

the case of an old Japanese film. That

58:37

was red jello, wasn't it? Japanese films. Yeah,

58:40

I know. So earlier

58:42

you mentioned stuff about, like, their blood

58:44

and sweat. I remember hearing that

58:46

that was used as, like, kind of

58:48

like lotion and products like that. Yes,

58:51

they would – so, gladiator blood,

58:53

sweat, and other bodily fluids, you

58:57

can take that information with what you will.

59:00

They were specifically used as

59:02

things for cosmetics for women.

59:05

It was seen as a thing for

59:07

an aphrodisiac. It was seen as something

59:09

that could be used for a variety

59:12

of different purposes. So it's not the

59:14

weirdest thing from what they would do. Like, we did a

59:16

whole episode on, like, cosmetics and things throughout history in here,

59:18

and one of the big things that was used at this

59:20

time, like, they used crocodile dung,

59:23

like the Egyptians did, as a contraceptive

59:25

by shoving it up their hoo-ha, okay?

59:28

That was a thing that was done. Like, they

59:32

made a plug out of crocodile

59:34

poop, okay? That was a thing. That

59:37

was a thing. So,

59:39

gladiator blood, sweat, and other bodily fluids, that

59:41

could be used as a thing as a

59:43

lotion for the face. It could be used

59:45

as a thing to be mixed into a

59:47

tincture in order to be able to be

59:50

drunk or something for an aphrodisiac for other

59:52

kinds of purposes. Really, the possibilities are endless

59:54

if your imagination is good enough. Who

59:57

was in charge of, like, the ceremonies themselves?

1:00:00

Who would set up like the order for the

1:00:02

day? Was it the Ludus? Was it the state

1:00:04

the Emperor himself? It's actually a great question on

1:00:06

here It's gonna vary depending upon where it's gonna

1:00:09

be located if something is being done within like

1:00:11

the Coliseum The the ones who oversee all of

1:00:13

that is like the Senate itself or after that

1:00:16

The Emperor who would order it now they're

1:00:18

gonna be able to delegate it to people

1:00:20

that are gonna be under them but Specifically

1:00:22

like in the days prior to the Emperor

1:00:24

taking control of all of it it would

1:00:26

have been varying different people who would have

1:00:28

actually won the position or been elected to

1:00:30

it or been delegated the task because

1:00:33

Forgot the third thing that Romans loved besides war

1:00:35

and telling stories about war was bureaucracy Well

1:00:40

with that my friends I think that we're gonna go

1:00:42

ahead and end things here today because we are approaching

1:00:44

the one-hour mark and I think it's been a successful

1:00:46

Time here. This has been the first live episode that

1:00:48

we have did or did done damn it Fumbling right

1:00:50

at the end first live episode that

1:00:52

we have done for the history of everything podcast I

1:00:54

want to thank each and every one of you who

1:00:56

have joined me on this I know at this point

1:00:58

it's like the second to last day before it is

1:01:00

that we all head out and Some

1:01:02

of you have actually been around since the Japan trip

1:01:04

that we did and I think that

1:01:06

this is gonna be a fun Tradition that we

1:01:08

do for all other future trips. So thank you

1:01:10

all for joining us Well,

1:01:13

the sonnet. Okay. Okay, my wife is saying like the son

1:01:15

is a fun tradition. No, well, hey next

1:01:17

time we do Japan We'll do this in

1:01:19

the onsen Yeah

1:01:23

Yeah, in the onset. Anyway, goodbye

1:01:25

my friends. Thank you all for joining us and I'll see

1:01:27

you next time Bye guys

1:01:48

You. My

1:02:03

name is Greg Jackson. I'm historian professor

1:02:05

and creator of History that Doesn't Suck.

1:02:07

A podcast the provides a complete overview

1:02:09

of Us history through storytelling. It keeps

1:02:11

the rigor you'd expect any university class.

1:02:13

starting with twenty year old George Washington

1:02:15

in his first bow Twenty Four. chronological

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telling of the United States story is

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unlikely. Revolution Sachs, a Civil War, tenacious

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inventors, brave reformers, and more. With more

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than one hundred episodes you can already

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been. Listen your way through the progressive

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