Lampe à huile représentant un combat de gladiateurs

Violence as a spectacle

Din the Roman world, the gladiatorial fights, made public as early as 105 BCE, were a popular entertainment for the entire society, which crowded into the amphitheaters several times a year to witness them. The frequency with which such scenes are depicted on various everyday objects, such as this oil lamp, attests to this fervor. These shows were certainly not as brutal as they are in the modern imagination: fought by professionals, they were codified, refereed, and did not aim so much at the scene of butchery as at the beautiful fight. The fact remains that many gladiators died in them (about 10% of the participants in a given fight), and that the debates they may have caused in Roman society did not call into question this showmanship of violence.

Oil lamp with triangular spout decorated with scrolls. On the medallion the decoration represents two gladiators at the end of a fight. One of them is on the ground, he is wearing a helmet, a loincloth and a short sword, it is perhaps a mirmillon, the long shield is on the ground, behind his opponent. This one, standing, is waiting for the verdict to finish him off. He wears a different helmet, a loincloth, leggings and a small square shield, it could be a Thracian. Their names, no doubt famous, are inscribed, ARDIUS, above and LITICII A below.