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When we see gladiators walking to the arena for their fights, they have their arms and armour worn by another slave.
I seem to remember to have seen/read somewhere the gladiators also wore 'parade dress', so nicely decorated tunics or cloaks. Anyone similar with sources for that, or an opinion if it's true and if so, how this would have looked like?
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Hello,
Good gladiators were the sports hero's of their day. One could say that the best of them might have worn some sort of 'dress' to please the crowds. I'm sure that they would have removed them as the fighting was to begin.--Just a thought.
Dante
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Yes, I was indeed thinking of clothing wore when not 'fighting'. Just for the during the pompa to the amfitheathre and after a won battle.
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I know that some carvings and mosaics show the gladiators parading before the fights fully clothed in "civilian" dress, while the Borghese mosaic shows victotious gladiators after the fights waving their victory palms and stripped to very brief loincloths. Perhaps this was done to emphasize that these men were armed and dangerous only in for specific moments in the arena and at no other time. The public may have needed reassurance that they represented no threat to society and civic order.
Pecunia non olet
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Junkelmann states in his book that there was no such thing as "parade armor" esp. when thinking of the highly decorated pieces of armor found at the gladiator barracks in Pompeii. He says that these were well suited to be used in combat as well. It is known though that a slave carried the gladiator's helmet walking in front of him. This makes sense because when you walk into the arena and carry already the shield and weapon you cannot tuck the helmet under your arm, and during the pompa you were supposed to see the faces of the gladiators. Also it would make sense that the gladiator didn't wear a tunic but only the subligaculum which he would wear during his fight as well so the audience could see the well trained bodies since betting on gladiators was still going on during the pompa.
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@Svenja: I don't meant Parade gear. I meant parade dress, so cloths used in the pompa, afterwards taken of for the fight.
I found the reference again. It's in Shadrake's book (The world of the gladiator, p118-119), when describing the pompa enters the Arena for lap before the afternoon program can start.
Quote:They are wearing the purple and gold cloaks that Domitian likes to kit them out in
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Maybe there aren't any hard rules regarding that issue. We're talking about centuries of gladiatorial fights and certainly many things changed during that time that we can't possible know about. Add to that small divergences in costumes for the provinces, etc, and you get the picture.
Also, who knows if Domitain had a particular preference for his gladiators during the pompa? Plus his gladiators were the Imperial ones, owned by the Emperor, the best of the best. I doubt some cheap gladiators in a munus put out by some cheap editor would be lavishly clad like Domitian's.
This is probably one of those cases in which common sence must prevail since ~2000 years old sources are few and fragmentary.
Pedro Pereira
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That's totally true, but I was actually searching for the source of that statement (unfortunately I hadn't the statement at hand when I first posted the question). So, I could better reformulate my question in: 'What source did Susanna use for that statement and do we have any more sources for such garnents?'
We simple want some more clothing to wear when not having a show. Something that just cover your body some more and where looking into something historically, and came up with this reference.
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Oh, sorry. Now I got it.
I'm reading some stuff now on the subject, which is generously anotated, if I come across the source I'll let you know.
Pedro Pereira
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Just to keep others, who might be interested in this subject, too, update I just came across another reference.
After the death of emperor Commodus his clothes are sold. Among this lot is also a 'gladiator's Toga'
(Scriptores Historiae Augustae Pertinax 8.2-8.4)
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I assume that this was a special dress worn by Commodus (who is known to have fought as a left-handed secutor) because he was emperor but appeared as a gladiator in the arena which of course was disgraceful under normal circumstances. Since he was a Roman citizen he of course wore a toga, but when considering that the majority of the gladiators weren't Roman citizens but foreigners they would not have had such a garment at all which was allowed to be worn by Roman citizens only.
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I agree with you that this dress was probably a special made one for the emperor, but distinguishing it as 'gladiator toga' suggest (at least in my opinion) that it had a special feature that made it not just a toga, which he on occasion wore in the arena, but a 'gladiators toga'. When we take into account that the toga is a kind of upper class cloak and also that Domitian is told to kit his gladiators in purpose made cloaks, this indeed contributes to the opinion that there was (maybe only on occasion, but that means there is a source for it) a kind of gladiator 'parade dress'. I don't say this dress in the reference of Domitian is a toga, it is a cloak. So I would say in more general we're talking about tunics and cloaks on the lower class.
Also we think to know that the gladiators didn't wore their arms and armour in the pompa, so they had to change clothing anyway, so another dress during the Pompa seems again plausible. (And yes, I know this is no direct evidence to go by the above statement, but it contributes.) I'm not suggesting it's the general case, but just in the search if we can use some other clothing in the displays, as we found that getting interaction with the public if you're in the camp area in just your subligaculum can sometimes be hard. (And Christian, before you come in, yes I know I'm getting in the danger zone about not being objective, as I'm seeking for evidence).
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The dress of a gladiator was mainly the subligaculum and then his distinctive armor such as greaves, manica etc. I assume that it would be possible that they wore maybe a cloak like a sagum which was easy to take off when it was ones turn to fight. Similar to modern sportsmen, like boxers taking of their robe or soccer players track suit top with which they walk into the ring or stadium when the fight or the match begin. This is just assuming, but evidence I have none.
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