Editing Gladiator (section)

===Life expectancy===
[[File:Funerary inscription of the gladiator Q Vettius Gracilis (Nîmes, Mus Arch).jpg|thumb|upright|Inscription from Nîmes commemorating the ''thrax'' Quintus Vettius Gracilis, died age 25, born in [[Hispania|Roman Spain]]]]
A gladiator might expect to fight in two or three ''munera'' annually, and an unknown number would have died in their first match. Few gladiators survived more than 10 contests, though one survived an extraordinary 150 bouts;<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=145}}</ref> and another died at 90 years of age, presumably long after retirement.<ref>{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=144}}</ref> A natural death following retirement is also likely for three individuals who died at 38, 45, and 48 years respectively.<ref name="FIGHTING FOR IDENTITY 2000"/> George Ville, using evidence from 1st century gladiator headstones, calculated an average age at death of 27, and mortality "among all who entered the arena" at 19/100.<ref name="Futrell 2006 144">{{harvnb|Futrell|2006|p=144}}. Futrell is citing George Ville.</ref> Marcus Junkelmann disputes Ville's calculation for average age at death; the majority would have received no headstone, and would have died early in their careers, at 18–25 years of age.<ref>{{harvnb|Junkelmann|2000|p=145}}.</ref> Between the early and later Imperial periods the risk of death for defeated gladiators rose from 1/5 to 1/4, perhaps because ''missio'' was granted less often.<ref name="Futrell 2006 144"/> Hopkins and Beard tentatively estimate a total of 400 arenas throughout the Roman Empire at its greatest extent, with a combined total of 8,000 deaths per annum from executions, combats and accidents.<ref>{{harvnb|Hopkins|Beard|2005|pp=92–94}}.</ref>