In ancient Rome, gladiators took part in one of the most bloodthirsty spectacles known to history.
Depicted in Ridley Scott’s epic films, the armed combatants engaged in violent public battles to keep public spectators entertained, often to the death.
Now, experts in Italy have found the final resting place of one of these brave warriors, hidden for around 2,000 years.
The burial has been found in Liternum, an ancient town in Campania that flourished from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD.
Although there were some female gladiators, this individual was likely male, but his identity, age and cause of death are yet to be revealed.
Regardless, the discovery adds a fresh twist to Roman history as the individual may have been involved in a cult-like burial ceremony.
The new discovery was announced by Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan Area of Naples.
In a statement posted to Facebook, experts at the government department called the new discovery ‘extraordinary’ and a ‘precious document’.
Archaeologists excavated the 1,600 sq ft necropolis – a cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments – at Liternum in Italy
Epic gladiator movies such as Gladiator and Spartacus usually portray battles in Rome’s Circus Maximus or the Colosseum. Pictured, Russell Crowe in the 2000 film Gladiator
It provides a ‘rare and touching testimony to the memory of these fighters in the society of the era,’ the statement said.
Under the direction of Dr Simona Formola, archeologists excavated Liternum’s 1,600 sq ft ‘necropolis’ – a cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments.
The site’s necropolis has around 20-30 tombs that contained mostly adults, but what was most intriguing two funerary enclosures with special markings.
The two funerary enclosures have fragments of plaster cladding, initially coated white before decorations in red were later added.
Meanwhile, a marble funeral inscription indicates one of those buried was a gladiator, although as yet it’s unclear if the fighter matches anyone from written records.
It’s thought there were thousands of individual gladiators in Roman history, with the first recorded Roman gladiator games in the 3rd century BC.
What’s also unknown is how this individual died, or if he was killed during one of the public battles.
Each gladiator fight could technically be to the death, although it was more usual for a fight to go on until one submitted, heavily wounded.
In the necropolis of ancient Liternum, the two decorated funerary enclosures were once covered in white plaster and painted red (pictured)
Also found at Liternum were grave goods including coins, lamps and small vases. This suspected lamp may have held a candle made of from tallow and beeswax
Huge public venues would host gladiator fights, chariot races and executions. Here, a gladiatorial fight is depicted in Rome’s Colosseum, in ‘Pollice Verso’ an 1872 oil painting by France’s Jean-Léon Gérôme
Curiously the graves were found with a ‘very deep masonry well’, which was ‘probably present for cultic reasons’, perhaps involving the gladiator.
Though the exact link between gladiators and cultic practices is unclear, it’s thought blood of gladiators served an important role in rituals, as well as providing cures for disease.
By the 3rd century BC, the Romans had adopted a religious healing system called the cult of Aesculapius, which took its name from a Greek god of healing.
Initially, they built shrines, but these expanded in time to include spas and thermal baths with doctors in attendance.
When plagues occurred in Italy in 431 BC, the Romans built a temple to the Greek god Apollo, who they believed had healing powers.
According to the researchers, this area at Liternum was in use from the end of the 1st century BC to the middle imperial age (2nd-3rd century AD).
Excavations in the 1930s at Liternum revealed elements of a city centre including a forum with a podium temple from the early years of the town, a public building known as a basilica and a small theatre.
Liternum also had an amphitheatre of its own, which may have hosted the individual’s final battle
The site’s necropolis has around 20-30 tombs that contained mostly adults, but what was most intriguing two funerary enclosures with special markings. Pictured, bird’s eye view of the site
Pictured, remains of Liternum, an ancient town in Campania that flourished from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD. Pictured, ruins of Liternum
Depicted here, a gladiator stabs at another with his trident in this mosaic at Nennig, Germany (c. 2nd-3rd century AD)
But generally at Liternum, ‘very little is still known’ even though it dates back to the Roman Republic, the era dating before the mighty Roman Empire.
Authorities say the discovery offers ‘precious information on daily life, the ritual practices and social dynamics of the communities that inhabited the site’.
‘The area is experiencing a particularly fruitful moment in terms of archaeological research,’ said the site’s superintendent Mariano Nuzzo.
‘This necropolis, thanks to its excellently preserved wall structures and tombs, adds an important piece to our knowledge regarding the history of the colony of Liternum.’
