BLOOD SPORT
Sex in tunnels with ‘groupies’, gory panto shows & ghouls who drank BLOOD… incredible secrets of real-life gladiators
Historian Dan Snow tells us how the 'pin-ups' of their age swept women off their feet
THE new adrenaline-fuelled blockbuster movie Gladiator II shows the Colosseum as a brutal bloodbath where Roman fighters were dispatched to gory premature deaths.
But the real fighters who inspired the Hollywood flick were actually highly-prized sex symbols to be protected at all costs - and they would bonk their armies of admirers... if the price was right.
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TV historian Dan Snow tells The Sun: “Their training school was connected to the Colosseum by an underground tunnel - but if you paid the right price you could sneak in and spend the night with a Gladiator.
"Although there was persistent gossip that people would have sex with gladiators there is no hard evidence of that since they were imprisoned."
In the long-awaited Sir Ridley Scott sequel, a buff-looking Paul Mescal fights - and bites - giant monkeys, rhinos and even sharks after the Romans somehow managed to fill the famous arena with Great Whites.
While experts argue that movie makers have veered away from reality for dramatic effect, life in the real Colosseum was often gory and highly dangerous.
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In 69AD when Rome was teetering on the brink of destruction, the new Emperor Vespasian announced his intention to save the city by ordering the construction of a massive amphitheatre to emphasise his might and power.
Although it was only used about ten times a year, it held 65,000 spectators who followed their favourite fighters loyally.
“The system was more complex than Hollywood gives it credit for," explained Dan.
“Gladiators weren’t just sent to the slaughter, as prized fighters and elite athletes, they were worth more alive."
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In Channel 5’s new two-part series The Colosseum with Dan Snow, the presenter separates fact from fiction to reveal what it was really like to spend a day at the gruesome games.
But Dan has been banned from watching Sir Ridley's fictionalisation because he criticised his earlier film Napoleon for not being historically accurate either.
Watch Paul Mescal in new Gladiator 2 trailer
“Absolutely the Gladiators were sex symbols,” he added.
“They were pin-ups, the mega stars of the Roman age - virtually naked and flexing their muscles.
“Gladiators were the modern equivalent of our most famous sports superstars."
Unusual aphrodisiac
Both men and women adored the Gladiators, and the most successful fighters would have had hoards of devoted fans that followed their every move.
It has even emerged that they would write an early form of fan mail.
Archeologists excavating the ruins of Pompeii have unearthed Latin graffiti scratched on the walls praising the fighters.
One read: "He catches all the girls in his net." Another had the scrawling: "He makes girls hearts beat faster."
People obsessed over them... They were adored but enslaved
Dan Snow
There is even the suggestion that the sweat that dripped off the Gladiators was considered to be an aphrodisiac.
It was scraped from their buff bodies after a fight and then sold to rich women.
"People obsessed over them," added Dan. "They were adored but enslaved."
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Grisly 'cures' & rigged fights
There were around 1,000 deaths a year at the Colosseum and plenty of guts and gore to keep the crowd amused before the highly trained headline acts appeared.
As the gleeful spectators roared with approval, fighters were thrown naked into the arena to be torn apart by hungry wild animals - without any weapons to defend themselves.
Gladiatoral fights were the main event of the day but if it did not go their way, they were taught how to die correctly - gracefully and showing no fear.
Bravery until the very end was vital because they had to be seen to die with honour.
A lot of money was spent on training them so it would not make sense to build them up then kill them... You don’t want your prizefighter getting injured
Dan Snow
And since Gladiators were seen as the ultimate symbols of male virility, if they were killed doctors would immediately rush forward - to snatch up pieces of their liver and try to salvage their blood.
They believed that drinking warm blood from a Gladiator's throat was a cure for various illnesses including epilepsy.
Sometimes Emperors or Generals decided they would like to have a go in the arena - but if they demanded a battle the Gladiator had to let him win, and sacrifice his own life.
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Death-bringing wounds
The Colosseum was designed with pure entertainment in mind.
"It was a very theatrical way of fighting that would never be seen on the battlefield, it was a spectacle," explained Dan.
"The key thing is that the Gladiators were quite valuable property who were not worth much in death.
"A lot of money was spent on training them so it would not make sense to build them up then kill them.
"You don’t want your prizefighter getting injured."
They were usually trained by a retired gladiator who had survived every battle - using wooden swords.
Some emperors and generals would fight the beasts but they would have been drugged first
Dan Snow
But there is no question that plenty of blood was split in the Colosseum.
Perfumed water had to be sprayed over the crowd at regular intervals, not only to keep spectators cool but also to mask the stench of blood following a killing.
But historians now suggest that Gladiators were far more likely to die after the battle was over, as a result of their injuries.
They were cared for by the most expensive doctors in Rome, and as a result, only had between a five and ten percent chance of death - and that was from sepsis as a result of wounds getting infected rather than being executed.
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Beast bouts & animal executions
Before the main attraction, a day's entertainment at the Colosseum would begin with a parade of exotic animals led in to warm up the crowd - including tigers, lions, leopards, elephants and rhinos.
But there were no sharks unlike in the new film, where the enormous sea predators hunt around the Colosseum.
Experts insist it would have been impossible to flood the Colosseum because the amount of water required would have also submerged the enormous network of rooms below the arena and the surrounding streets.
"There has been a suggestion that Emperor Titus flooded the arena for ships to stage a naval battle but that idea is hotly contested because of the network of chambers below," explained Dan.
"It is possible that the early days of the Colosseum saw a ship floated in on one meter of water but there would never have been enough water to keep sharks moving."
He added that fake naval battles would have been staged in a lake outside Rome or on the River Tiber that flowed through the Italian city.
GLADIATOR II (15) 148mins ★★★★☆
A HOTLY anticipated sequel film can feel a little like queuing for a rollercoaster.
There’s the nerves that it won’t be as good as the first time you rode it, the feeling that perhaps you shouldn’t even get on in case you want to get off straight away — and the adrenaline the moment it starts.
This is exactly how I felt building up to seeing the long-awaited Gladiator II — released 24 years after the original.
With Sir Ridley Scott once again directing the Colosseum extravaganza, could it possibly be as good as his first Roman spectacular?
Well, it’s not. But, boy, does it put up a good fight.
In Gladiator world, it’s 16 years since the demise of Maximus (Russell Crowe, who features in flashbacks to the original).
This is the story of Lucius (a beefed up Paul Mescal) who having witnessed the death of his slave-turned-Gladiator dad is sent away to Africa, where as an adult he fights for his freedom.
During this unsuccessful attempt, his wife is killed by Marcus (Pedro Pascal) and he is dragged to Rome where he is picked to fight in front of the skin-crawling young emperors and brothers Caracalla and Geta under the teachings of Macrinus (Denzel Washington).
And he makes a damn fine job of keeping them entertained — by fighting giant monkeys, rhinos and even sharks after the Romans managed to fill a colosseum with sea water and Great Whites.
There’s plenty you have to laugh off watching this mad yet somehow majestic film — with some ropey dialogue and a glaring continuity issue straight after Mescal bites a CGI monster monkey that makes you concerned about who Sir Ridley is hiring.
But Denzel Washington is the gem here, playing the best baddie in years.
Like a Roman version of Othello’s Iago, he mostly seems to want to disrupt things just for s**ts and giggles.
Mescal’s acting energy is mostly saved for his fight sequences, where he steps out of being that sultry guy from Normal People and into leading man shoes.
And there’s a smattering of Brit stars to watch out for, including Matt Lucas and Sir Derek Jacobi.
Yes, its camp and sometimes ridiculous. But this adrenaline-pumping film will have your heart racing.
I’d certainly queue up again for another ride.
Speaking about the use of wild animals, he added: "There has also been the suggestion that rhinos were ridden around the arena but they are very bad-tempered animals and impossible to domesticate sufficiently to be ridden.
"Some emperors and generals would fight the beasts but they would have been drugged first."
Animals would also be used as a form of execution for convicted Roman citizens - who happened to be lower class.
This was known as 'Damnatio ad bestias' and involved the prisoner being left alone in the arena ring with one - or more - wild animals.
This particularly vicious way of executing a prisoner was always a crowd pleaser.
Around a million animals died over the 390 years that the amphitheater was active.
Obtaining animals from far-flung corners of the Roman Empire was a display of wealth and a way of allowing the ‘plebs’ of the day to see beasts that they otherwise never would.
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Violent pantomimes
The audience was constantly surprised by the bizarre acts at the Colosseum, and they never knew what was coming next.
The exotic beasts were often followed by elaborate pantomime style shows, with actors dressed in colourful and highly stylised costumes to re-enact versions of the most tragic and brutal myths and legends.
Among the most beloved was the tale of Icarus, in which a victim was given paper wings and then flung from the highest point of the building hundreds of feet in the air and onto the arena floor far below - splattering into a bloody mess before the Imperial box to the delighted squeals of its guests.
Gladiators were adored but enslaved
Dan Snow
In the Colosseum re-enactment of Attis, a condemned man would be forced to take on the role as part of their execution - and be publicly castrated on the sands of the arena.
When the story of Hercules was staged, whoever took on the lead role made his appearance in the Colosseum wielding a club and wearing a tunic soaked in petrol, before being burnt alive.
For a gruesome showing of Orpheus the Colosseum was transformed into a woodland full of animals.
But instead of charming a bear with his music, as the hero does in the ancient myth, the actor was torn apart by the disenchanted animal, with only his lyre to defend himself.
Sex slaves
On the whole, women were a novelty in the Colosseum since Ancient Rome was a very misogynistic society.
There were a few female gladiators, known as 'Gladiatrix' or 'Women of the Sword' but they were very much a novelty act, brought into the arena to be ridiculed.
Wearing skimpy outfits they were ordered to pretend to fight like Gladiators - which the crowd would find ridiculous because women were seen as weak in Roman society.
They were usually slaves, kept as sex workers by their masters.
Only high-status women were allowed into the Colosseum to watch the fights, and they had to sit right at the top alongside the lowest-status men.
Thumbs-up myth
Dan also busted the myth of emperors deciding the fate of a gladiator with a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down signal.
He said: "There was something going on with the hand gestures at gladiator fights. A Roman author does refer to it but we have no idea what it looked like. Gladiators would surrender by putting their fingers up in the air.
Thumbs, fingers, up, down - we have no idea what it meant. But they did it!"
Fan merchandise
Tickets to the Colosseum were free - handed out at the discretion of wealthy patrons - but like all big-name megastars, merchandising was a lucrative sideline.
The streets around the Colosseum were lined with stalls flogging souvenirs including drinking glasses and table lamps etched with images of the most famous gladiators.
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“You could buy merchandise, in fact there is a piece in the British Museum which is a model of a victorious gladiator," explained Dan.
The Colosseum: The Arena of Death with Dan Snow is on Thursday 21st November at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5.
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