Having explored the evidence, it is unsatisfactory to have to conclude that there is precious little with which to build a vivid, detailed picture particularly in respect of what an average gladiatrix would have worn, what weapons she would have employed, what background and training applied. Yet here common sense dictates that, if there was no such thing as an average gladiator, then even more so must that rule apply to the exotic ‘rara avis’, the gladiatrix. However, from Achillia and Amazonia’s marble relief we can see they wielded short swords(the gladii from which their occupation derived its name), and carried rectangular shields.They appear to be wearing some kind of ‘subligaria’ or loincloth or kilt, but this could just as easily be the partially obscured bottom portion of a respectably decent ‘tunica’. And in passing, the ‘tunicati’ deserve a mention- they were a category of gladiators labelled as effeminates, perhaps indicated by the wearing of the woman’s garb? The two women also seem to have a suggestion of padded bindings or leather strips on their upper and lower arms- the ‘fasciae’ so often seen on the gladiators depicted in mosaics. And that is all we can say about these women fighters commemorated at Halicarnassus ( Bodrum in modern Turkey).
Juvenal supports the sense we get from all the evidence that the women used the same equipment as the men…but to return from proof to supposition, it is important to mention the interesting grave - find unearthed in 1996 at a Roman cemetery on the south bank of the river Thames, in what is now Southwark. Analysis by archaeologists at the Museum of London have identified a fragment of the pelvic bone of a young woman in her 20’s. Buried with her were a dish decorated with the image of a fallen gladiator,other vessels with symbols associated with gladiators, and three lamps with images of the Egyptian jackal-headed god, Anubis, who was associated in turn with the god Mercury, who had a ritualistic representation in the arena as the conductor of souls i.e. escorted the dead out of the Porta Libitensis, the gate of death through which the fallen gladiators were taken out for disposal.
hey some screenies of my new skin-updated
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Originally Posted by Archer
