Gladiator School

Listening to the shouts from the crowd, I see my foe with tarnished armor.  I hold a huge “rudis,” or trainingsword.  It is life or death. This was what it was like at Gladiator School in Rome with my family.   As I battled with a boy my age, I was nervous that I was going to lose, but after attacking with my sword and punching my shieldas defense, I eventually defeated my enemy, and was placed to fight others. 

We learned a few of the basic gladiator fighting techniques that the real gladiators used many centuries ago. To be a gladiator was partly a death sentence. A gladiator never knew if he would come back alive. Many gladiators were chosen to fight because of their strength, and many others were chosen because they would be easy to kill. Most importantly, they were chosen to amuse the audience.  The audience was enthusiastic to see slaves and traitors be executed.  To see one person kill another person was a way to see who was more masculine than the other, who was stronger, and who was a warrior.

 

After training ended, the battles began, where I became a warrior in the arena.  I, then, understood the routine for the gladiators. They would fight, and if they won, they would fight again later. If they didn’t win, they would be killed in the arena. I enjoyed my training and combat, and felt that the gladiator was much more than a slave sent to die. A gladiator was a symbol of courage and strength that each and every one of us have within ourselves: to navigate asituation no matter the odds and consequences. Everyone has the will to survive and that is what a gladiator shows to the ancient Romans and to us today.