Comments on: Man Knowledge: The Men in the Arena–A Primer on Roman Gladiators

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:29:11 +0000

I know looking at it from two thousand years later, the arena seems colorful and fascinating. But don’t forget, this was the brutal torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of humans and animals for the sole purpose of entertaining crowds for money. They not only watched this inhumanity, they enjoyed it! There is absolutely nothing romantic about the arena, to me. It was a holocaust.

By: Gareth

Gareth — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:25:30 +0000

Another theory is that the thumb would be clenched INSIDE the first for mercy because it would imply sheathing the sword.

By: C.J. REBEL

C.J. REBEL — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:21:59 +0000

@Jethro

I agree with your assertion. For example, we’re showing assassinated/dead dictators or whatnot on television right now. It’s OK if it’s a perceived enemy.

I believe that we need to strive to be more CIVILIZED. The marks of a true man to me is his maturity, responsibility to others – his environment, etc., humility, the ability to reasonably debate, and civility. I believe that we should always strive to be more civil to our fellow man, and lead by this example, even when it’s unpopular with pop culture to do so.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:19:29 +0000

FROM THE ARTICLE: “For a gladiator who had fought valiantly, the crowd was likely to vote for mercy.”

PEDANTRY ALERT!

Terry Jones (of Monty Python) did a documentary where he claimed that a gladiator’s life was spared as an act of clemency, not mercy. Apparently, the Romans thought that clemency was something earned by the strong while mercy was something dispensed to the weak and the Romans didn’t care too much for the weak.

By: TubbyMike

TubbyMike — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:51:41 +0000

As already said by Messers Foley and Brucifer, “Bread and Circuses”. Keep the Proles entertained and distracted and enough bread for a full stomach and they’ll acquiesce to your wishes. Hence the proliferation of sports, reality TV and the cult of celebrity. Bread and Circuses is what allows financiers and politician to continue to get away with the “business as usual” economic plans, when ordinary people all over the world are looking for real change from their leaders.

Your very interesting article has shown again; plus ça change…

By: Dave Tindell

Dave Tindell — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:34:23 +0000

For those of you looking for a “gladiator”-style workout, check out Men’s Health and its Spartacus workouts. They are killer workouts but they do the job. For those interested in learning more about the life of the gladiator, check out the 1st season of “Spartacus”, the Starz series starring the late Andy Whitfield. It’s sometimes a little over-the-top with blood and skin, but from what studies I’ve done on the period in college and later, the depiction of life in the “ludus”, the training hall, is pretty accurate. Also accurately portrayed are the business and political aspects of the games. Whitfield’s portrayal of Spartacus, a POW from Thrace, was very inspiring and certainly he embodied manly virtues like honor, loyalty to his wife and his best friend, and resistance to oppression and exploitation. If you want to see one of the greatest gladiatorial combats ever presented on film, check out the climactic episode of the “prequel” series, “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena”. Finally, I would recommend martial arts training for the closest modern-day combat training a man can get outside of the military. When you step into the ring for the first time in a full-contact taekwondo bout, you will find out a lot about yourself, and you will find it out fast.

By: jeff

jeff — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:17:58 +0000

The problem with Gladiators, as with most of the ancient cultural icons, is that there is little information other than anecdotal forms that where written long after the events. I like what one archeologist said about the Gladiators; that they should be viewed as part professional wrestling and part public execution manipulated by the elite to pacify the rabble. The killing was not as common as some depictions, since replacing a trained gladiator would be like replacing any highly skilled worker and would make little economic sense.

By: Ramrok22

Ramrok22 — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:56:44 +0000

Life is like being a gladiator. Day in and day out. If your not training your losing, not studying- failing, not praying-sinning, not growing and learning- dying. Life itself- is a battle for survival whether to fight against complacency and laziness or die for negligence and apathy for yourself and for others. The sad part I see good men throw in the towel and give up. I see them fall into the trap that life is sucks and that its it nothing they could no do. But what would you if you were hungry to stay alive and fight and claw your way to the top. from average to outstanding. We have to fight no matter the cost. Whether is to maintain a steady paycheck, a grade point average, or a burning love affair, it all comes at price. So i dont know bout you but i will be in the trenches training and training with my brothers so that i can have piece of success and share it with everyone!!!!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:12:37 +0000

It is impossible to compare historical figures to standards of today. We may be considered to be barbarians to men in the future for eating meat or watching rap videos. It should be considered that Roman gladiators were staged entertainment for the masses and not the will of Roman leadership.
We all must live our life in the time that we are born…IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT 2000 YEARS AGO THE AVERAGE ROMAN MAN WAS 5 FEET TALL. IF YOU ARE 6 FEET TALL, AS I AM, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED TO BE A GIANT AND POSSIBLY FOUND YOURSELF IN THE RING!

By: Rutger

Rutger — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:42:12 +0000

This was wonderful and informative article and many of the responses were just as great, but I am going to have to agree with Rachel that the author was not trying to promote the violence of the gladiatorial games and the more often than not criminal backgrounds of the gladiators as being “manly.” I think the point of the article was just to be what I said in my first sentence: wonderful and informative. Like it or not, we have romanticized much of history, especially that pertaining to the development of western civilization, and in so doing we’ve even glorified what today would be considered barbaric. I am not going to equate modern TV shows or sporting events to the gladiatorial games because that just seems silly. Yes, some television programs are just mind-numbingly ridiculous with how conflict based they are, but I don’t think we, as a people, would ever want to see someone escalate the conflict to the point of taking another person’s life. With sports, the heavy contact sports draw a crowd, but I don’t know anyone who would be legitimately happy if they saw a player injured during play. I was an athlete for most of my life and we did not rejoice if a player on the other team was hurt. We stopped the play and were respectfully quite while they were taken care of.
In short, the article was to shed some light on what many have romanticized as an example of a manly archetype in history and give facts based on research and not opinions. If you want articles in the vein of the idea of manliness, check out the archetypal articles like the 3 Archetypes of American Manliness series or The Four Archetypes of the Mature Masculine series. They are really good articles.