What Hollywood gets wrong—and right—about Roman gladiators

Gladiators seem to be made for the cinema. Strong warriors armed with exotic weapons fighting one-on-one in the Colosseum as emperors and nobles look on. These clashes have become a staple of any story set in imperial Rome, contrasting the brute strength of these fighters and the pampered decadence of the elite.

The full story of gladiators in the Roman Empire continues to expand as new discoveries come to light through archaeology. Early excavations at the Colosseum laid the foundation while recent excavations have uncovered gladiator schools along the Danube, and training barracks in Pompeii. Archaeology is revealing how much more complex these entertainments were and how much planning and training went on behind the scenes. Here's what we're learning:

1. Gladiators had nicknames?

In 2000's Gladiator, Russell Crowe's hero Maximus earns the nickname "The Spaniard" after he starts his gladiatorial career. While nicknaming fighters may seem like something out of professional wrestling, it goes back to Roman history.

Gladiator reenactors pose amid Roman-era ruins in Arles, France. Based on archaeological finds, the gear they're wearing is tailored to an ancient fighting style.

Photograph by Remi Benali

Historians say that gladiators were known by their personas, attracting fans and followings. They often had their own signature moves and equipment based on their fighting style, known as their armatura. One superstar was Celadus the Thracian: graffiti in Pompeii celebrated his victories as well as his popularity with the "girls."

 2. Sudden death? Or sudden victory?

Pop culture is largely responsible for the misconception that gladiators were always fighting to the death, but history is showing that "fights without reprieve" were pretty infrequent. Some gladiators were criminals or prisoners of war, but most were professional athletes who studied at gladiator schools with extensive training grounds.

A fresco from Pompeii reveals that wounded gladiators signaled surrender with a lifted finger. Each fighter represented a sizable investment, so sponsors favored sparing gladiators' lives. Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Italy

Photograph by Remi Benali

Zakhar Nikmatulin has been fascinated by gladiators ever since he watched the 1960 movie Spartacus. The scene on his back took tattoo artist Alexander Kosach 25 hours to draw and ink in his Moscow studio.

Photograph by Remi Benali

Rather than a punishment, being a gladiator was a career, one that could launch a person into celebrity. And savvy Roman promoters had no interest in killing off their talent. About nine out of ten times, gladiators survived their bouts to fight another day.

3. Sharks? In the Colosseum?

In breathtaking scene in Gladiator II, the Colosseum is flooded, so manned warships can battle it out while sharks circle menacingly in the waters around them. It might all seem like Hollywood fantasy, but mock naval battles, called naumachia, really did happen. And the sharks? That's a no.

Modern historians are divided on whether naval battles actually took place in the Colosseum, despite there being ancient accounts of them. This 1721 engraving imagines one organized by Emperor Domitian in the Colosseum. To see if it was physically possible to flood the arena, archaeologists attempted to calculate how long it would take to fill it with enough water.

Photograph by Namus Archive/ Scala, Florence

The earliest mock naval battles were organized during the reign of Julius Caesar, well before the Colosseum was completed around 80 A.D. Historians are divided as to whether naumachia ever really happened in the Colosseum. According to some ancient accounts, Emperor Titus held one there when the venue first opened.

4. Was ancient Rome really that diverse?

Gladiator II features myriad characters from all over the ancient world, which does accurately reflect the multicultural nature of the Roman Empire. Whether in the capital itself or at a frontier outpost, you could find people from different regions of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

The Roman-age skeletons from Driffield Terrace laid out in York's Guildhall.

Photograph by York Archaeological Trust

The DNA of headless skeletons found at a British imperial outpost near York revealed origins thousands of miles away. The Roman Empire was cosmopolitan and mobile with a broad range of ethnicities and cultures.

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