When in Rome, it would be difficult not to think of its glorious past as well as its bustling present. But, how much of what you think you know about that past is accurate? Take gladiators, for example.
The late Ramon Novarro (“late” because he was murdered in 1968) brought the Roman gladiator back to life when he played the title character in the silent film era’s original “Ben Hur” in 1926. Amsterdam, NY, native Kirk Douglas did it during his motion picture prime with 1960’s “Spartacus.” Russell Crowe, who was born four years after Douglas’s film, did it most recently in 1998’s “Gladiator.”
Now, scientists are taking their turn, thanks to the discovery of a site at the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey, believed to be a gladiator graveyard that would be typical of the era — including Rome. The graves hold thousands of bones and three gravestones clearly depicting ancient Roman arena fighters. Two professors from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, have spent the past five years analyzing every bone for age, injury and cause of death.
They estimate they have found and studied at least 67 individuals, mostly aged 20 to 30, and many with healed wounds. What that means to the researchers is that the gladiators got good medical care and probably were involved in fights organized under strict rules. Otherwise, they say, mass brawls as sometimes depicted in films would have resulted in multiple wouinds on bones and other evidence of gross trauma.
Their report, just recently made available to the BBC, also includes detailed information on the types of weapons, the types of fights, and the final dispositions of some of the gladiators.
Fascinating stuff, that what we’ve been seeing all these years in the movies may well be close to the truth. Many people feel that gladiatorial battles were the height of barbaric behavior for a supposedly advanced civilization such as Rome. My take on it is that they didn’t have cable TV, so what can you expect?
I wonder what anthropologists in A.D. 4007 will deduce from their study of artifacts from our times — images from “ultimate” fighting bouts and WWF wrestling that dot cable TV, the remnants of “survivor” shows on remote islands around the globe, footage from teen slasher flicks, and preserved outtakes from the Jerry Springer drekfest. Now, that’s barbaric.
(Posted 06/12/07)
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