In April 2025, archaeologists announced the discovery of the first hard physical evidence of gladiatorial combat head-to-head against dangerous wild beasts.

Marcus Tullius Cicero used gladiators’ physiques not to celebrate the republic’s valiant heroes, but to deride their bloated muscles as the embodiment of amoral tyranny.

Contrary to the "strength and honor" depicted in Hollywood films "Gladiator" and "Gladiator II," some ancient Romans considered gladiators the embodiment of amoral tyranny.

There have been a few freelance efforts. In 1994, passionate fans of ancient Roman military and gladiatorial life began putting on small pageants outside the Colosseum.

Archaeology & History An Ancient Roman Arm Guard Has Been Reconstructed Like a ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’ From Over 100 Fragments The reconstructed artifact will go on view at the British Museum's ...

If you slipped back through time to taste a dish from the Roman Empire, you'd likely be sampling some fermented fish sauce.

Museum conservators have finally pieced together the “ancient jigsaw puzzle,” reconstructing what is now a full piece of “exceptionally rare” Roman armor known as an arm guard, officials said.

But we did have to learn ancient Roman history as part of the class, so this next story caught my attention. A Roman man will train a few dozen tourists as gladiators at the Colosseum in Rome.

This AC/DC rock hit from 1981 was actually inspired by a British poet and ancient gladiators in the Roman Coliseum.

The real defenders of Roman values – according to Cicero, anyway – exchanged sharp words in the Roman senate. Catiline, on the other hand, “trained” his superhuman physical hardiness to ...

In the films, the brawny biceps of gladiators Maximus and Lucius reflect “strength and honor” – to reprise the motto of the franchise – as each of these heroes fights to overthrow self ...

But apart from the simple fact that most gladiators were enslaved – and, for that reason, were scorned by elites as social outcasts – there is another reason for the prevalence of this image ...