Come face to face with murderous life in the arena.

A cemetery discovered in Turkey has revealed the remains of Roman gladiators—some of whom died battling in the arena.

Archaeologists, working in a graveyard in what was once the Roman city of Ephesus, have unearthed the remains of at least 68 individuals. Two sets of remains were those of a young woman (probably a slave) and a middle-aged man, but the rest were men who died in their 20s or 30s. Among these young men, 10 show signs of having died as a result of head wounds. Eleven others also suffered head wounds, but these apparently had healed before their deaths. By examining historical sources, Fabian Kanz and Karl Grossschmidt of the Medical University of Vienna were able to determine which type of gladiator weapon caused each wound.

Variety in the Arena

Gladiator fighting in the Roman world was a highly structured business. There were two types of fights. In ad gladium contests, prisoners of wars, slaves, and criminals were given swords and sent, without training, into the arena to die. In ad ludum matches, trained gladiators who had attended a gladiator school (ludus gladiatorius in Latin) fought each other.

There were also different categories of gladiators, each having its own weaponry and armor. Most fought with a short sword called a gladius, although the thraex used a sica or knife instead. The retiarius was modeled on a fisherman: Instead of a sword, he attacked with a net and trident. Members of one type were commonly matched against those of another type. For example, a retiarius often fought the type of gladiator known as a secutor.

After collecting and examining the remains, Kanz and Grossschmidt had to determine the nature of the skull injuries. The marks left by damage to bones can either be ante-mortem, peri-mortem, or post-mortem. Ante-mortem wounds happen well before an individual's death and shows signs of healing, while peri-mortem wounds occur at or near the time of death. Post-mortem wounds occur well after the death of the individual and can be caused by the elements, scavenging animals, or even by an archaeologist's trowel.

Deadly Combat

Once Kanz and Grossschmidt determined which wounds were post-mortem, they could then study the remaining wounds to learn about the lives—and deaths—of the gladiators. Among the ante-mortem wounds, they identified a number of blunt wounds that had probably been caused by the gladiator's own helmet when it was struck by an opponent's weapon or shield. The blade or point of a gladius or sica was most likely the cause of other wounds. Two other skulls feature sharp, oval-shaped punctures that could have been caused only by a retiarius's trident.

Of the 10 who showed peri-mortem injuries, the anthropologists determined that 6 had died as a result of being hit by his opponent's shield, sword, or trident. Four, however, appear to have died from a hammer strike. Turning again to historical writings, Kanz and Grossschmidt learned that if a gladiator was incapacitated but not slain during combat, a servant dressed as the Roman death god, Dis Pater, would finish the job using a workman's hammer.

In the arenas of ancient Rome, the winner took all.

Jackson Kuhl writes about archaeology, history, and science.