Thracian gladiators were one of the four most common gladiatorial groups in Ancient Rome. They evolved during the 2nd century BC when the Romans discovered the race of warriors in the northern Greece region of Thrace.

Gladiators played an important role in the everyday lives of the Roman people. The first private exhibition of gladiators was given at a funeral in 262 BC and soon they became the most popular type of entertainment. The gladiatorial games were financed by wealthy senators and emperors in order the impress the masses and win their support. It was for this reason that each game was intended to be more magnificent and spectacular than the last. The skilled gladiators could become famous, receiving gifts of money for when they retired. An inscription on a wall in Pompeii describes the Thracian gladiators as ‘the sigh and glory of girls’.

The armor of the gladiators was used to helped draw the crowds to the games and their helmets became works of art. Thracian helmets changed a great deal over the centuries, especially during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, which allows them to be dated depending on their features. Earlier helmets have no visor, leaving the eyes exposed to the attacker while the cheeks are covered with plates, and the narrow rim protecting the face like a hat was only slightly curved. On the other hand, more recent helmets contain a grill covering the eye, a wider rim and a more covered neck piece, as shown in the photo.

A distinctive ornament on a Thracian helmet was the silver-plated griffin’s head sitting on top. The griffin was thought to be the animal companion of the goddess Nemesis, the goddess of retribution or vengeance. Other images used included the head of a gorgon, one of the three sisters from Greek mythology who had snakes for hair and the power to turn anyone who looked at her into stone. These ornaments were not the only decorative features used as the helmet may have even been fitted with feathers that sat into the sockets on the side with a detachable plume fixed to the crest. Not only were the helmets designed to make the gladiators appear more aggressive and fearsome but also impressive.

The helmet was a crucial part of the gladiator’s armor. It protected their head, something that the Thracian shield could not do as it was too small and would leave other vulnerable parts of the body exposed when lifted up to cover the face. It also allowed the crowd to distinguish between the gladiators fighting as the carvings and the plumes would have make identification easy. The helmet even played a part in the introduction procession of the gladiators at games as they carried their helmets under their non-weapon arm as part of gladiatorial etiquette.

About the Author
Charlotte Gardner, a guest blog writer, is currently studying archaeology at the Australian National University. In her spare time she likes to read and write about eccentric historical moments. Her love of old buildings and older stories was sparked when she visited Italy. One of Charlotte’s greatest wishes is that in a few thousand years her skeleton will be dug up by an archaeological investigation team and put on display in a national museum. You may contact Charlotte via email at: charlotteg86@gmail.com.

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What historians typically designate as the ancient Greek period are the years between 1000 B.C. and 323 B.C. when Alexander the Great died or through the 3rd century C.E., when the Christian era began. The legacy of Greek civilization was greatly influential to the succeeding Roman Empire and to subsequent western cultures.

The Archaic Period and Classical periods (extending from roughly 750 - 323 BC) in Greece, which commenced after a period of altercation with the Dorian tribes from the north, marked a period of flourishing arts and letters in Greece. It was a period of time that produced such poets and dramatists as Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Sappho arose and which would eventually produce great philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates. It was also during this age that the Greeks developed the most influential political form - the city-state, or polis.

This period in Greek history was not all calm, however. The many city-states that comprised the Greek culture were allies when having to defend themselves from external forces but could also become enemies of one another in their efforts to attain a dominant role among the Greek league of states. It was during this time that the Greeks fought the Peloponnesian War, wherein Athens and Sparta vied for supremacy in the region. The Spartans prevailed but, weakened by the war and an unhappy population, were soon defeated by another Greek population, the Thebans. The Thebans in turn were overcome by the Macedonian, as was the rest of the Greek league, with the rise of Philip II of Macedon and later his son, Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great’s rule and expansionist vision, allowed Athens to reach its greatest political and cultural heights. Achievements during this period include the building of the Parthenon on the Acropolis, the creation of the tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides and the founding of the philosophical schools of Socrates and Plato.

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The period between the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the establishment of Roman supremacy is called the Hellenistic Period (336-146 BC) when Greek culture and learning were pre-eminent in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. The death of Alexander the Great opened the door for unrest among the city-states again and the fragmented Greek territories became vulnerable to the incursions of the Roman Empire. Rome effectively attained dominance over Greek military might by 187 B.C., though Greek culture would prove to be extremely influential over Roman culture and subsequent Western Civilization.

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Greece is a land of hard limestone mountains and deep valleys cut almost in two by the Corinthian Gulf. To the east the mainland is continued by islands, to the south by the greater island of Crete. Even including the islands, Greece is a small country that has never had more than a few million inhabitants. However, it has always played an important role in the history of Western civilization. Bound by the Ionian and Aegean seas, the Greeks have long been a maritime people, reliant on maritime trade and mobility to prosper. In ancient Greece central control over every district was difficult because areas were separated from one another by mountains or the sea. This largely determined the political make-up of ancient Greece, which was composed of city-states that continually sought to increase their boundaries to accommodate their inhabitants. The isolated nature of the city-states did not stem the flow of ideas, however, particularly aesthetic and philosophical ones, and ancient Greece gave rise to a rich tradition of thought.

During the Classical period of Greece’s history, Athens reached great heights in politics and culture. This was the period during which Pericles developed his democratic ideas, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripedes wrote their great tragedies and Socrates and Plato set up their great philosophy schools.

Through philosophers such as Socrates the Greeks disseminated ideas about man’s existence and search for knowledge. Socrates’ questioning philosophy and his belief in the rational human mind guided other philosophers and established a fundamental base to western philosophical thought.

The Ancient Greek tradition in politics and the growing influence of these ideas throughout Western Civilization would eventually form the foundations of the democratic systems prevalent today. These political ideas, combined with their philosophical explorations of the human experience and the premise that liberty was a fundamental right for the individual - also found its representation in future political ideology. Just as a Greek inhabitant would have detested the thought of being subject to external powers, so his own circle a man claimed for himself the freedom to do all he was capable of in order to realize his full potential within society. Freedom of speech and freedom of movement were fundamental rights, the belief in freedom sustained by a deep respect for personal honor, nurtured by a love for action.

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The Greeks also had at their disposal a wonderfully subtle, expressive and adaptable language, and they made full use of it. Poetry was given a high place in the cultural life of the Greeks, evoking as much respect and admiration as the visual arts. A poet, said the philosopher Socrates, was “a light and winged and holy thing.” If a person had something important to say he often said it in verse - which would have meant that he said it in song, for almost all Greek poetry was originally sung or spoken with music.

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In Western Society, we have grown accustomed to democratic government models managed by common citizens and have bought into the premise that the power of the collective good governs wisely. To understand the western democratic model of today, it helps to examine how the Greek City States, and notably the Ancient Athenians first devised the notion of a democratic government in their time. The Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato first defined Democracy as a system of “rule by the governed”. The origins of democracy first developed in the form of an Assembly which entitled all Athenian citizens to attend and participate. The Reform of Solon in 594 BC permitted the Assembly to either approve or reject legislation introduced by the Council. But it was not until after 508 BC, that the Council was chosen in a democratic fashion.

Real power, however still remained with the Athenian nobility, who excercised their control in the Assembly through their council, known as the ‘Aeropagus’. Through this council, the nobles elected the Archons who would govern the city. By 488 BC, the Archons were also chosen in a democratic fashion, thereby eliminating a source of power from the nobility. Magistrates were elected by freemen, jurors in trials were paid fees. Though, Athenian democracy did not bring equality, it did provide for the right of all citizens to be involved in governing their city in some form.

Since 508 BC, examples of democratic rule and governance can be found in the societies of the ancient Phoenicians, and the ancient Sumerian City States. It is interesting to note that even though the Roman Republic contributed significantly into certain aspects of democracy, such as Laws, Rome itself never became a true democracy. During the Middle Ages, only a minority of the populations of the societies of the time exercised some form of democratic rule. These limited forms of democracy are illustrated in certain medieval Italian city states, such as Venice and the Veche in Novgorod and Pskov Republics of medieval Russia. With the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 AD, which restricted the power of English kings, a new form of limited democratic rule was established and was an important milestone in the development of English parliamentary rule with De Montfort’s first elected parliament in England in 1265. However only a small minority of the population actually had a voice.

In 1788 with the signing of the United States Constitution, the founding fathers shared a commitment to the principle of natural freedom and equality and provided for an elected government and protected civil rights and liberties. Nevertheless, the United States Constitution only guaranteed these liberties and a vote for the adult white male property owners. During the French Revolution in 1789, the revolutionary government adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which resulted in a short-lived National Convention elected by all males.

The political upheaval resulting from wars, revolutions, decolonization, and religious and economic turmoil of the late 19th and 20th Centuries has transformed the political landscape throughout the world, prompting many countries to adopt some form of democracy. During this time the democratic form of government in western societies has matured to include many demographic groups once disenfranchised by society including women and minorities, while other more nascent forms of democracy still struggle to represent these important demographic sectors. And so, as the United

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States reaches an important milestone with its election of Barack Obama as its first African American President, we can only hope that this event will signal a new dawn for democracy and serve as an important example to other nations still struggling to establish a government for the people, by the people.

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