The Fierce lives of the Roman Gladiator

Throughout the Medieval age, fighting events were very popular amongst the kingdom/Empire, Men Who were mainly stripped and given little armor would have to fight to the death to become an ultimate warrior of the arena. These men were slaves and were used for only public amusement.

Beginning in the Late Bronze age (Fall of Greece – Rise of the Roman Empire) "Gladiators" were common, and were forced into warriors that would later fight each other to the death in an open arena. The rush of adrenaline to survive spread through the men, fighting with all their power, the slicing of limbs and bleeding gouges drenched the arena, the whaling of the crowd, but the fate of life and death is only held in the hand of the Emperor, who is visibly engaged in the fighting and performance of the gladiators.Ever wonder where the thumbs signal came from, well after an epic gladiator battle the Emperor would make a decision whether the warrior would live or die. There is a controversy over the whole idea of thumbs up and thumbs down (Spare the warriors life, Kill him). The famous painting that lead to the pop culture of the thumbs signal, was by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1872) which misleads viewers that thumbs down was a negative reaction and thumbs up was a positive reaction, though historians disagree and leave the subject open for discussion. No matter what gesture it was the tired and injured men would be scared to see the emperor’s final decision.

Over the years these combat fighting events would get even more popular, during the middle ages with jousting to even today with boxing (though they may not fight to the death, many events like these were inspired by ancient Gladiator battles).

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Romans take the Greeks Helmet Ideas to New Heights

Influenced by the Greeks, Romans also had a few similar designs to their helmets. There were few different types of Roman helmets as well, which included the Montefortino, Coolus and the Imperial-Gallic. The Montefortino helmets were worn by soldiers dating back to 4^th century B.C. to the 1^st century B.C. This particular helmet was actually designed after the Celts model, made from brass and conical in shape with a small extension on the back used as a neck guard. Based upon a Gallic form of helmet the Coolus helmet was made in the Coolus district of Marne during the 3^rd century B.C. to the 1^st century A.D. The Coolus’ pattern was made in bronze and copper; it was round in shape with a neck guard and had a spike plug-in for a plume. The Imperial Gallic helmet was worn by Roman soldiers during late 1^st century B.C. through 2^nd century A.D. These Gallic helmets included ear protectors and brass accents that were decorated around the helmet.