The Roman elite organized the fights, and the gladiators were typically enslaved individuals or condemned criminals. Their battles could be fatal; however, the more fights that a gladiator won ...

The Roman gladiatrix, though, is a well-kept secret. She has appeared in few pieces of media, among them a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in Ridley Scott’s “ Gladiator ” — the ...

A version of this article appears in print on April 29, 2025, Section D, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Brutal Landscape: Evidence of Gladiator-Lion Combat Discovered in Yard of ...

A third-century depiction of gladiators found in Germany. Though Roman culture spread far and wide, researchers were still surprised to find a gladiator in England with 25 percent Scandinavian DNA.

A 2,000-year-old Roman knife handle shaped like a gladiator that was discovered in northern England will go on public display for the first time, the charity English Heritage said on Friday.

There’s just one catch: To ancient Romans, gladiators were not ideals of masculinity, or of heroism. In ancient Rome, gladiators served as entertainers, albeit on stages with very high stakes.