Gladiator Mosaic - Kos

[Conal]

I attach some links but does anyone have better pictures ?

http://www.islandspics.com/webpage/thum ... 150899.jpg

Another pic


*edited for prettier url JO*

[john m roberts]

I hope so. I can barely make out anything on my screen. It looks like a retiarius-secutor fight. When and where was this found? It seems to me there was more than one Kos.

[Martin Moser]

I can barely make out anything on my screen. It looks like a retiarius-secutor fight. When and where was this found? It seems to me there was more than one Kos.

Hi John, try

http://home.wanadoo.nl/~jantheob/kos/we ... e-glad.htm

and scroll down, the 2 fights are more clearly to be seen there.

From the gladiators' equipment I'd guess it is a 3/4th century mosaic: The retiarius does not wear a shoulder plate any more, but his manica covers half the breast instead. Can't make out too much details of the secutor's helmet, but it seems different from the 1st century examples and might also show a larger visor (? - not sure). The other pairing I'd say are provocators, note the leg greave on the left foot only that reaches up over the knee (which is not the case with murmillones) and also the helmets with the wide rim covering all of the shoulders.

The artist caught very well how the gladiators with shields keep them close to the body, laying themselves into the shield with the shoulder and stabilizing the lower end with their left knee, thus fixing the shield with 3 points to the body (shoulder, handle, knee) making it harder for their opponent to unbalance or knock the shield out of the way with theirs. The secutor skillfully maintains this while making a step forward to attack his adversary.

Note the shortness of the swords used by the fighters, many reenactments use military length swords which are way too long IMHO ...

cheers,

Martin

...of course I may be wrong with all the above :-P P

[Conal]

Jon

Download picture & muckabout with it in microsoft paint.

[Gashford]

They look good, some points of interest for me are

Provocator vs Provocator
Secutor vs Retiarius

This is the first time I have seen some nice long ties at the back of the subligar, presumably to hold up the belts?

The Provocators greaves are quite high up there knees. This might be artistoc impression, but its nice to see some variations. and padding being tugged at by the greave ties, nice touch.

I am still uncertain what the ties about the rear knees are actually for other than aesthetic. I think I read somewhere that some people belive it might be to support the knees?

Do you think that the retiarius manica is meant to be mail (often depicted by dots) or leopard skin?

All the best

[john m roberts]

I am now able to make out a bit more detail, but no color. The equipment seems typical of the Greek East in the 3rd-4th centuries. The secutor's helmet there is often depicted as multiply pierced instead of having the two small eyeholes employed in the West. Likewise with the half-jacket manica of the retiarius, though the Villa Borghese mosaic in Rome shows that rig being used along with the older fabric-and-galerus style. And I believe it's mail, since many other depictions from that area clearly show mail. The rete seems to be stabbing the secutor on the visor. As usual, no sign of a net. The stab to the helmet with the trident seems to be seen more often in Eastern art, maybe because of all those holes in the visor making it a more tempting target than in the West.

The provocators have the usual Eastern helmets. I've often wondered why the helmets in the East took this form instead of that common in the West. The fighter on the left seems to have stabbed or cut his opponent on the wrist, causing abundant bloodshed. At least, I'm assuming that's blood. With no color it's hard to tell.

[Martin Moser]

Provocator vs Provocator

This is the first time I have seen some nice long ties at the back of the subligar, presumably to hold up the belts?

There is another mosaic from Kos, shown in Marcus Junkelmann. Das Spiel mit dem Tod. p.38 which also shows the same 2 pairings. Both provocatores have the same straps hanging down at their back, only that it's 3 instead of 2. Compared that with more western depictions in that same book - there aren't any to be seen, but those are earlier, too. Maybe we have something else specific for the gladiators of the eastern empire here ... thanks for pointing that out, Gashford!

The Provocators greaves are quite high up there knees. This might be artistoc impression, but its nice to see some variations. and padding being tugged at by the greave ties, nice touch.

Quite certainly no artistic impression, but one of the marks that help destinguish a provocator from other galdiator types. The stele of the provocator Diodoros from Amisos (2/3rd century) shows it, above mentioned 2nd mosaic from Kos has it, so does the fragment from the Tiber, end of 1st century BC with the provocator Clemens and his adversary (name lost) and a relief from Ephesos from the 3rd century AD. There is a find from Pompeji which quite probably is such a provocator greave. The greaves of Traex and Hoplomachus are distinctly longer, those of the secutor or the murmillo quite a bit shorter. Also something to bear in mind when reenacting a provocator, IMHO.

cheers,

Martin

[Opifex]

...
...
The artist caught very well how the gladiators with shields keep them close to the body, laying themselves into the shield with the shoulder and stabilizing the lower end with their left knee, thus fixing the shield with 3 points to the body (shoulder, handle, knee) making it harder for their opponent to unbalance or knock the shield out of the way with theirs. The secutor skillfully maintains this while making a step forward to attack his adversary.

Note the shortness of the swords used by the fighters, many reenactments use military length swords which are way too long IMHO ...
...

To keep your shield close is more to rest then a good defending position. However it covers a lot from your body, but you can't move it as you can't move behind/with it. And you have no chance for a proper strike.
So it is more like a picture of the resting moment in the fight. IMHO.... :wink:

[Martin Moser]

To keep your shield close is more to rest then a good defending position. However it covers a lot from your body, but you can't move it as you can't move behind/with it. And you have no chance for a proper strike.
So it is more like a picture of the resting moment in the fight. IMHO.... :wink:

Well, I couldn't disagree more :-) )
Look at all the depictions of gladiators in the middle of a fight, the larger the shield the more they are (in most cases) leaning into it and seem to be doing pretty well that way ....