In ancient Rome, the gladiators participated in one of the best known blood shows in history.
Represented in the epic films of Ridley Scott, armed fighters engaged in violent public battles to entertain public spectators, often to death.
Now, experts in Italy have found the last rest of one of these brave warriors, hidden for about 2,000 years.
The burial was found in Litinum, an ancient city of Campania which prospered from the 1st century BC in the 3rd century AD.
Although there have been female gladiators, this individual was probably a man, but his identity, his age and his cause of death must still be revealed.
Be that as it may, the discovery adds a new turn to Roman history because the individual may have been involved in a cult burial ceremony.
The new discovery was announced by the superintendence of archeology, the fine arts and the landscape for the metropolitan region of Naples.
In a declaration published on Facebook, experts from the Department of the Government have called the new “extraordinary” discovery and a “precious document”.
Archaeologists searched the 1,600 square foot necropolis – a cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments – in litinum in Italy
Epic gladiator films such as Gladiator and Spartacus generally depict battles in the Cirque de Rome Maximus or in the colosseum. In the photo, Russell Crowe in the film Gladiator of 2000
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It provides a “rare testimony and touching on the memory of these fighters in the society of the time,” said the press release.
Under the direction of Dr. Simona Formola, archaeologists searched the “necropolis” of 1,600 square feet of litinum – a cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments.
The site’s necropolis has about 20 to 30 tombs which mainly contained adults, but which was the most intriguing two funeral speakers with special brands.
The two funeral speakers have plaster coating fragments, initially covered with white before red decorations are added.
Meanwhile, a marble funeral inscription indicates that one of the buried those was a gladiator, although he is not yet clear if the fighter corresponds to someone written documents.
We think that there were thousands of individual gladiators in Roman history, with the first games of Roman gladiators recorded in the 3rd century BC.
What is also unknown is how this individual died, or if he was killed during one of the public battles.
Each gladiator fight could technically be to death, although it is more usual for a fight until we submit, strongly injured.
In the necropolis of the old litrenum, the two decorated funeral enclosures were formerly covered with white plaster and painted red (photo)
The goods are also found in Litinum, including coins, lamps and small vases. This suspected lamp may have held a candle from tallow and beeswax
Huge public sites would host gladiator battles, tank races and executions. Here, a gladiator fight is represented in the colosseum of Rome, in “ pollice back ” an oil painting of 1872 by Jean-Léon Gérôme de France
Curiously, the graves were found with a “very deep masonry well”, which was “probably present for cultic reasons”, perhaps involving the gladiator.
Although the exact link between gladiators and cultic practices is not clear, it is thought that the blood of the gladiators has played an important role in rituals, as well as to provide remedies against disease.
In the 3rd century BC.
Initially, they built sanctuaries, but they developed in time to include spas and thermal baths with the doctors present.
When plagues occurred in Italy in 431 BC, the Romans built a temple in the Greek god Apollo, who, according to them, had healing powers.
According to researchers, this area of litinum had been used since the end of the 1st century BC at the average imperial age (2nd to the 3rd century AD).
The excavations in the 1930s in Lternum revealed elements of a downtown one including a forum with a podium temple from the first years of the city, a public building known as Basilica and a small theater.
Litinum also had its own amphitheater, which may have hosted the final battle of the individual
The site’s necropolis has about 20 to 30 tombs which mainly contained adults, but which was the most intriguing two funeral speakers with special brands. In the photo, view of the eyes of the site
In the photo, remains of Litinum, an ancient city of Campania which prospered from the 1st century BC in the 3rd century AD. In the photo, the ruins of litinum
Represented here, a stabbing gladiator to another with his trident in this mosaic in Nennig, in Germany (c. 2nd-3rd century AD)
But generally in Litinunum, “very little is known” even if it goes back to the Roman Republic, the era dating from the powerful Roman Empire.
The authorities say that the discovery offers “valuable information on daily life, ritual practices and social dynamics of the communities that lived in the site”.
“The field is experiencing a particularly fruitful moment in terms of archaeological research,” said the superintendent of the Mariano Nuzzo site.
“This necropolis, thanks to its mural and very preserved tombs, adds an important article to our knowledge concerning the history of the litinum colony.”