Editing Gladiator (section)

=== In Roman art and culture ===
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In this new Play, I attempted to follow the old custom of mine, of making a fresh trial; I brought it on again. In the first Act I pleased; when in the meantime a rumor spread that gladiators were about to be exhibited; the populace flock together, make a tumult, clamor aloud, and fight for their places: meantime, I was unable to maintain my place.<ref>Terence. ''Hecyra'', Prologue II.</ref>
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[[File:Graffito of a gladiatorial scene from Pompeii, Naples National Archaeological Museum (15269619095).jpg|thumb|upright|150px|Graffito of a gladiatorial scene from Pompeii, Naples]]
Images of gladiators were found throughout the Republic and Empire, among all classes. Walls in the 2nd century BC "Agora of the Italians" at [[Delos]] were decorated with paintings of gladiators. Mosaics dating from the 2nd through 4th centuries AD have been invaluable in the reconstruction of combat and its rules, gladiator types and the development of the ''munus''. Throughout the Roman world, ceramics, lamps, gems and jewellery, mosaics, reliefs, wall paintings and statuary offer evidence, sometimes the best evidence, of the clothing, props, equipment, names, events, prevalence and rules of gladiatorial combat. Earlier periods provide only occasional, perhaps exceptional examples.<ref name="Brown, 181">{{harvnb|Richlin|1992|loc=Shelby Brown, "Death As Decoration: Scenes of the Arena on Roman Domestic Mosaics", p. 181}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=2}}.</ref> The [[Gladiator Mosaic]] in the [[Galleria Borghese]] displays several gladiator types, and the [[Bignor Roman Villa]] mosaic from [[Roman Britain|Provincial Britain]] shows [[Cupid]]s as gladiators. Souvenir ceramics were produced depicting named gladiators in combat; similar images of higher quality, were available on more expensive articles in high quality ceramic, glass or silver.

Some of the best preserved gladiator graffiti are from Pompeii and [[Herculaneum]], in public areas including Pompeii's Forum and [[Amphitheatre of Pompeii|amphitheater]], and in the private residences of the upper, middle and lower classes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient Graffiti Project|url=http://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/results |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=ancientgraffiti.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Keegan |first=Peter |date=2005 |title=Writing and drawing on the walls of Pompeii: how the study of graffiti relates to the HSC ancient history core syllabus for 2006 |url=https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/writing-and-drawing-on-the-walls-of-pompeii-how-the-study-of-graf |journal=Ancient History: Resources for Teachers |language=English |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=37–64 |issn=1032-3686}}</ref> They clearly show how gladiator ''munera'' pervaded Pompeiian culture; they provide information pertaining to particular gladiators, and sometimes include their names, status as slaves or freeborn volunteers, and their match records.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Christesen |first1=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laULAQAAQBAJ&dq=gladiator+graffiti+pompeii&pg=PA422 |title=A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity |last2=Kyle |first2=Donald G. |year=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1444339529 |language=en}}</ref>
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[[Pliny the Elder]] gives vivid examples of the popularity of gladiator portraiture in [[Antium]] and an artistic treat laid on by an adoptive aristocrat for the solidly plebeian citizens of the Roman [[Aventine Hill|Aventine]]:

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When a [[freedman]] of Nero was giving a gladiatorial show at [[Antium]], the public porticoes were covered with paintings, so we are told, containing life-like portraits of all the gladiators and assistants. This portraiture of gladiators has been the highest interest in art for many centuries now, but it was Gaius Terentius who began the practice of having pictures made of gladiatorial shows and exhibited in public; in honour of his grandfather who had adopted him he provided thirty pairs of Gladiators in the Forum for three consecutive days, and exhibited a picture of the matches in the Grove of Diana.<ref>Pliny. ''Natural History'', 30.32 (cited in {{harvnb|Welch|2007|p=21}}).</ref>
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