Gladiators :- People Of Past

A Roman gladiator was an ancient professional fighter who specialised with a particular weapons and armour. They fought before the public in organised games held in large -purpose built arenas throughout the Roman Empire from 105 BCE to 404 BCE. As the fights were usually to death, gladiators had a short life expectancy and so ,although it was a in some respect some glamourous profession, the majority of fighters were prisoners or slaves, still these were the most watched form of sports in the roman world. Roman gladiators were an opportunity for emperors and rich aristrocrats to display their wealth to the populace , to commemorate military victories, mark visits  from important officials, celebrate birthdays or simply to distract the populace from the social and economic problems of the empire. The appeal to the public of the games was as bloody entertainment and the fascination which came from contests which were literally a matter of life and death. Hugely popular events were held in in massive arenas throughout the empire and thousand of people came to attend the events to be entertained by the glory spectacles where wild and exotic animals were hunted ,prisoners were executed ,religious martyrs were thrown to the lions and the stars of the shows  were the symbols of honour and courage.
This sport was very much successful in Roman Empire because it was a form of bloodsport and that was the driving force for the spectators, moreover in Rome executions and ritual killings were a way of keeping the peace and showing the roman who was the boss. The arena was also used to entertain the  lower class citizens of Rome. For those being executed it was a total humiliation as one will feel horrible because he was dying for the entertainment of others. Not all the gladiators that were bought were slave some were thrilled by battle, the roar of the crowd and in hope of winning money  people signed contract with these gladiators school. Many joined these schools in order to boast their class in society i.e. some belonged to upper caste while the others to lower 
The rise of Christianity made these games culturally unacceptable because of the money betting and partnership involved
The gladiators sport existed till  5th century AD, philosopher  Seneca  once wrote “The combats have no protective covering and their bodies are exposed to the blows. This is what people prefer in the regular contest ….And it is obvious why. There is no helmet, no helmet ,no shield to repel the blade. Why have armour? Why bother with skill? All that   just delays death “.