Some artistic sources, such as reliefs and mosaics, show gladiators with a various number of tassels hanging from one arm or leg.
For the fighting, functional combat armour was used this too could be elaborately decorated. Peacock feathers were used for plumes while tunics and loincloths had patterns in gold thread. Julius Caesar's gladiators wore silver armour, Domitian's wore golden armour and Nero's wore armour decorated with carved amber. Most gladiators only fought others from within the same school or ludus, but sometimes specific gladiators could be requested to fight one from another ludus.Įlite gladiators wore high-quality decorative armour for the pre-game parade (Pompa). Combatants were usually pitted against opponents with different, but more or less equivalent equipment, for the sake of a fair and balanced contest. Different gladiator types specialized in specific weapons and fighting techniques.
Some of the first gladiators had been prisoners-of-war, and so some of the earliest types of gladiators were experienced fighters Gauls, Samnites, and Thraeces ( Thracians) used their native weapons and armor. There were many different types of gladiators in ancient Rome. A retiarius ('net fighter') with a trident and cast net, fighting a secutor (79 AD mosaic).
