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Ancient Roman GladiatorsPeople of all walks of life were either driven or pulled to become a gladiator in Ancient Rome. Some were taken captive on the battlefield and sold into slavery; others willingly gave up their freedom in repayment of debts, crimes or simply to seek fame and fortune. Even emperors competed in gladiatorial games. Wherever you can from before, the life of a gladiator was harsh (emperors competed in the games occasionally but...

Gladiator Mosaic 320-30 AD Villa Borghese Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, gladiators were not given random weapons, sent into the arena, and told to fight. When someone became a gladiator, they were assigned a specific type and style of fighting and practiced it constantly. A specific type of gladiator only fought another specific type of gladiator as determined by well-established rules. These pairings were intended to prov...

Most, if not all, of the reasons for Spartan dominance on the battlefield can be attributed to their incredibly strenuous and brutal training regiment, the agoge. Even before beginning the agoge, newborn Spartan boys underwent a highly in-depth physical scrutiny to make sure the newborn was without flaws. Any that did not pass the examination were left out in the country to die. Then, between ages five to seven, the boy was taken to begin traini...