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00:00Weaponry, fighting styles, training, and the science of the kill revealed thanks to the
00:20discovery of a mass grave filled with the bones of gladiators. Forced to fight in manufactured
00:27warfare, the ultimate sign of Roman power. The message to their enemies? Don't mess with us.
00:38We're the kind of people who kill men for fun. This bone specialist is on a quest to recreate
00:48the real life of a gladiator.
00:57This is a
01:27Columbus, an idol of his day.
01:30The gladiators were sex symbols. They were like film stars.
01:34And this is his grave.
01:39For centuries, the real lives of gladiators have been shrouded in myth. But now, using pioneering
01:52scientific techniques, Dr. Carl Groschmidt can bring to light a true gladiator blockbuster,
01:58the high drama of the life of Paulumbus.
02:04The story begins and ends in the ancient Roman city of Ephesus, 2nd century AD.
02:18New recruit Paulumbus watches as two veterans do battle in the empire's most lethal bloodsport,
02:26fighting man against man to the delight of the enthralled spectators.
02:31New recruiters, 2nd and 1st century AD.
02:38New recruiters, 9th century AD.
02:43New recruiters, 100-year-oldDamon Accompancy.
02:45New recruiters, 100-year-old
02:59Poulombus knows that his turn in the arena is not far off.
03:08Poulombus is a new type of gladiator, not a slave, but a volunteer.
03:15But why would a free citizen of the Roman Empire sign up for this highly dangerous job that could cost him his life?
03:23Was it unusual, or could our preconceptions about gladiators be wrong?
03:30Poulombus' decision to become a gladiator was controversial. He was shunned by his community.
03:40They were the lowest of the low, and there's an enormous number of stories about gladiators really being described as the scum of the earth.
03:50They weren't accepted into social circles, even those who were not slaves.
03:54A character like Poulombus, a free man who becomes a gladiator, is going beyond the pale of society, according to some opinions.
04:04He is infamous. He can't be buried in a proper burial ground.
04:07Even a dead gladiator remained an outcast. They were buried in their own graveyard outside the city.
04:16For more than a century, excavations have been ongoing at Ephesus, on the west coast of Turkey.
04:36It wasn't until they reached the outskirts of this ancient city that Austrian archaeologists found the gladiator burial site, hidden under a citrus grove.
04:49First, they came across grave markers.
04:56Among them, the headstone of the gladiator Poulombus, carved almost 2,000 years ago.
05:14In his hand, he clasps the symbol of a champion, a palm leaf.
05:31And then the archaeologists found the skeletons.
05:35Thousands upon thousands of human bones.
05:38It's the biggest find of gladiator bones ever made.
05:43Research carried out by renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Karl Groschmidt will revolutionize our understanding of the gladiatorial phenomenon.
05:52There is no other place in Europe or even the world where they have found so many gladiators in one excavation in one cemetery.
06:06This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an anthropologist. This sort of luck doesn't strike twice.
06:12Each of these bones, dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, has been logged and digitally photographed, creating a huge database of information.
06:25Dr. Groschmidt is conducting a remarkable mass autopsy, nearly two millennia after the death of the gladiators.
06:32The evidence of trauma he finds on the bones confirms their identity.
06:37We can prove these were gladiator bones in a variety of ways.
06:43The main one is the frequency of injury, the kind of injury, typical wounds caused by gladiator weapons, like the trident and the sword.
06:51Dr. Groschmidt's forensic analysis also reveals that the vast majority of these men died in combat before they were 35.
07:04I don't believe any of the 70 gladiators here died of natural causes. I think that they all died fighting.
07:11Dr. Groschmidt's meticulous investigation allows him to recreate the life of a real gladiator.
07:19A man like Palumbus, who became one of the greatest stars of the Ephesus arena.
07:25From archaeological evidence and inscriptions, Palumbus' story is pieced together.
07:31His association with the aristocrat who probably masterminded his career, and his rise to glory.
07:40We can show their training, evidence of their training, by marks on the bones.
07:45We can see signs of injury, what kind of diet they had, what sort of illnesses, and what they died of.
07:55The ruins of the city of Ephesus, where Palumbus lived, are located on the coast of modern-day Turkey.
08:01A thousand miles from Rome, in 200 A.D., Ephesus was the capital of Roman Asia Minor, and an important gladiator center.
08:14This arena is where the gladiator Palumbus trained, fought, and became a champion.
08:21And it is here, where Dr. Groschmidt begins to unravel the science behind how real gladiators like Palumbus, prepared for a career in cheating death.
08:32What he is about to discover, will expose the treacherous world of gladiator warfare.
08:46The career of a gladiator began with a sacred oath.
08:49I, Palumbus, swear to be burnt, to be chained, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword.
09:01The leader of this apparently brutal training regime was called Alanista.
09:08Ex-gladiator turned trainer, his job was to turn out fearless fighters who knew how to put on a good show.
09:14Early Roman accounts report that gladiator training was notoriously harsh.
09:30Many novices were destined to die even before they got to compete in the arena.
09:35But is there scientific evidence to support the description of this severe regime?
09:45Back in Vienna, this question confronts Dr. Karl Groschmidt.
09:53To examine the rigors of the gladiator training program, he inspects the shape and size of the gladiator bones.
10:00Almost immediately, he finds signs that seem to confirm that the training was just as harsh as the ancient accounts claim.
10:07He discovers enlarged bones, an indication of heavy muscular development.
10:14With computer-aided shape and size analysis, we were able to identify changes on the bones.
10:21The bones became bigger, became wider.
10:25The base holding the muscle and tendons changed.
10:28That means the gladiators trained hard.
10:30These enlarged bones are particularly significant in the foot.
10:36Generations of historians, painters and filmmakers have always assumed gladiators fought in sandals or boots.
10:43Studying the shape of a gladiator heel bone, Dr. Groschmidt concludes they've been wrong.
10:49On the sandy floor of the arena, bare feet gave a far better grip than sandals.
10:53These changes on the foot skeleton show us that they fought with bare feet and that they were put under a lot of strain, meaning that they trained and fought intensively.
11:06But an intensive training regime is not necessarily a barbaric one.
11:12Dr. Groschmidt searches for tiny bone fractures, an indication of overtraining.
11:18To his surprise, he finds no evidence of microscopic damage.
11:21We have not found any stress fractures, and this is one sign that they were trained properly, not brutally.
11:30Dr. Groschmidt wants further evidence to support his findings, so he creates ultra-thin slices of bone, which he can examine microscopically.
11:39From the bone density, he'll be able to detect how healthy and how strong gladiators really were.
11:44A sample is cut, immersed in a gel, glued to a slide, and sliced.
11:54Ground down until it reaches a thickness of only ten microns, that's four one-thousandths of an inch.
12:01It is then dyed for easy viewing under a microscope.
12:04Dr. Groschmidt concludes that gladiator training was far from barbaric.
12:08In fact, it was a careful science.
12:12What we have found is that the density of osteons, or bone tissue, is significantly higher than normal.
12:21This is because of the physical training.
12:25And it's exactly what we find in modern top athletes.
12:30This also indicates that gladiators were a highly expensive investment for the owner.
12:36Almost certainly, Palumbus signed up to fight for an aristocrat called Vettius.
12:41Inscriptions in Ephesus confirmed that he was part of a powerful local dynasty, which owned the city's primary gladiator school.
12:52These are the remains of Vettius' bathhouse, once the venue in which he conducted his business affairs.
13:00From here, he would have kept a careful eye on his gladiator academy.
13:09It was a massive investment geared towards enhancing Vettius' political prestige.
13:14It was not only important to be rich to define your position within the society,
13:20it was more important even to be popular to the common people.
13:23And therefore, if you wanted to be someone in the city, it was necessary to sponsor games.
13:31Vettius' opportunity to sponsor the Ephesus games came only once every few years.
13:37A successful staging of the event could bring great political advancement.
13:41Failure could bankrupt him.
13:43His fate lay in the hands of his gladiators and their potential to become megastars.
13:53Gladiators are commonly believed only to have been slaves.
13:58But this assumption is mistaken.
14:01The inscription on Palumbus' gravestone reveals that he was married,
14:05and in Roman law only free citizens could marry.
14:12What could have possibly persuaded a free man like Palumbus to pursue such a dangerous career?
14:23The first gladiators were slaves, forced to fight to the death at the funerals of Roman nobility.
14:32It looks as though they began, 3rd century BC, as funeral rites.
14:39Two or three slaves conquered prisoners, killed on the grave of a Roman warrior.
14:46A Roman warrior.
14:49The spilling of human blood was believed to bring honor to the dead.
15:03But what started as a simple religious ritual was transformed over time.
15:09It became a huge public spectacle with a political message.
15:13Gladiatorial games were a way in which the Romans advertised themselves to their own population and to the peoples whom they conquered.
15:23And what the advertisement said was, we ain't kidding. We really mean it. Don't mess with us.
15:30We're the kind of people who kill men for fun.
15:33By the time of Julius Caesar, there was a network of gladiator schools, each packed with prisoners of their enemies.
15:42Two hundred years later, when Palumbus fought, arenas had spread across the empire.
15:48But now the supply of slaves had dried up.
15:51Time for the new model to emerge.
15:54Men who fought not for freedom, but for money.
15:56It would have been quite impossible to fund the number of gladiators that you needed just from ex-slaves, from captured prisoners of war.
16:06So it seems very likely that in the second century, the number of free people becoming gladiators must have increased, merely to feed the Roman habit of putting on gladiatorial shows.
16:18But a free man had to sign away his right to freedom.
16:22If Palumbus entered into a contract, the contract could have been for a fixed term, say for three years.
16:28And then at the end of the three years, if Palumbus was still alive, he would have been released from the contract and could take all his earnings with him.
16:34Palumbus must have hoped that by joining up as a gladiator for a limited period of time, he could earn enough in winnings to put a lifetime of poverty behind him.
16:48It was a somewhat desperate thing to do to become a gladiator, to risk one's life in this way.
16:56It could bring you success. It could bring you enormous status.
17:00Successful gladiators were superstars, and they were also sex symbols.
17:05So you can see why somebody might choose to do it, but it's not something that very many people would readily choose on their own.
17:14Once he'd signed up to fight, Palumbus' first challenge was to survive the training regime.
17:23Would he even make it into the arena?
17:30At the gladiator school, new recruit Palumbus would have been instructed in one of several distinct fighting styles.
17:43Each had its own unique armor and weaponry.
17:46They were based on the mythical figures and ancient enemies of Rome.
17:50The shield and helmet on Palumbus' headstone shows that he was a gladiator type called a mamillo.
17:59The mamillo had a mythological connection to the sea and meant manfish or merman.
18:04A heavyweight gladiator, the mamillo evolved from the original gladiator, the Samnite.
18:14The Samnite's short sword, the gladius, inspired the name gladiator.
18:20And further specializations followed.
18:22Of course, people wanted some variation in the sport and so developed about seven, eight standard types of gladiator.
18:35Each character had different armor which protected some parts of the body and left other parts exposed and vulnerable.
18:42By the second century AD, when Palumbus was fighting, the themed variations of gladiator had reached their height.
18:56Palumbus would have trained alongside other specialists, from extreme heavyweights like the Secutor with his ten-pound helmet,
19:04to lightweight fighters like the provocateur who relied on his agility.
19:15Palumbus' usual opponent was a Thracian, or Thrax, based on a former enemy of Rome.
19:21His distinctive curved blade made him particularly lethal.
19:25The most popular pairing was between a heavyweight mamillo, or manfish, and the trident and net-wielding Ritiarius, literally a fisherman.
19:46Palumbus would have clashed with the feared Ritiarius many times.
19:49With several victories behind him, he would be a well-known local hero.
19:55Yet every time Palumbus survived with his life, he would not have escaped unscathed.
20:00Injuries were common.
20:03The weapons are legendary, and Dr. Grosschmidt thinks he's discovered a new one.
20:09During his analysis of the gladiator bones in Ephesus, Dr. Grosschmidt has found an unfamiliar wound pattern with four symmetrical markings.
20:20Located close to a knee joint, it doesn't pair with any known gladiator weapon.
20:25The cause of the injury is a mystery.
20:30After exhaustive research, he tracks down a rare wall relief,
20:35which depicts a four-pronged object.
20:40Dr. Grosschmidt believes that this dealt the mystery blow.
20:43Historians believe it was used in religious ceremonies, yet almost nothing is known about this strange object, called a quadrant.
20:52Until now, archaeologists have always interpreted this as a kind of cult object.
20:57But with the evidence of these four holes, we could prove that it was a weapon.
21:03And that was a sensational find for the archaeologists.
21:07Dr. Grosschmidt's find proves for the first time that it was used in the gladiator arena as a weapon.
21:13A gladiator on the receiving end of this blow would have been extremely lucky to have escaped death.
21:25But Dr. Grosschmidt believes gladiators survive terrible wounds on a regular basis.
21:34Conducting x-rays on his bone samples, Dr. Grosschmidt has found evidence of a high standard of medical care.
21:44Gladiators were patched up by professionals.
21:48Examining the results on his computer, he finds the same story repeated again and again.
21:55Fractures that have healed, broken bones that have been carefully reset.
22:00With the use of digital x-raying, we can see that the bone fractures were set.
22:08This proves they received physiotherapy. It's comparable to today's medical standards.
22:13After several years of contractual killing, Palumba's service to his master would be drawing to an end.
22:21His final gains would be the pinnacle of his career and the ultimate test.
22:25Would he retire rich and heroic or die at the last hurdle?
22:31Successful gladiators had their images and names put on products just the way athletes today were talking about an absolutely enormous social and cultural phenomenon in the Roman world.
22:44Vettius also had a lot at stake in the upcoming games.
22:51If his star performer, Palumbus, failed to deliver high drama to a bloodthirsty crowd, his hope of using the games to increase his family's political influence would come to nothing.
23:01Each aristocratic family, when they are elected to public office in a provincial town, has to put on a show.
23:08And that show will last a family, a symbolic capital for five years. So this is their one chance to get prestige.
23:17The fates of Palumbus and Vettius were entwined. As Vettius' turn came to host the games, massive preparations would begin and an army of publicists, caterers, animal trappers, legal officials and bookmakers would spring into action.
23:35It would have taken five, six months of preparation to get things ready. And then, of course, they have to advertise and make sure the spectators come.
23:49As the day of the games loomed nearer, the champion gladiator Palumbus and his comrades stepped up their intensive training program.
24:08But Dr. Grosschmidt has noticed an apparent contradiction to the normal effects of intensive exercise.
24:14The bone analysis indicates that instead of losing weight before a fight, gladiators actually gained it.
24:23We can say that Palumbus wasn't slim. He was a stocky, muscle-heavy man who was actually quite a fat gladiator.
24:35Ancient Roman mosaics depict gladiators as stout men, which historians have always thought was part of their virile, macho image.
24:42But Dr. Grosschmidt suspects that gladiators like Palumbus put on weight for a purpose.
24:51Once more, scientific analysis is about to reveal hidden aspects of the gladiator lifestyle.
24:59He takes his bone samples to the chemistry laboratory at the University of Vienna.
25:04Dr. Grosschmidt wants to find out if their hefty physiques were the result of overindulgence or a specialized diet.
25:13His colleague Dr. Fabian Kanz hopes to provide the answers by chemically analyzing the bones.
25:20First, he will need to turn the bone into a liquid and vaporize it for analysis in an atomic emission spectrometer.
25:26The average diet of vegetables and meat will have a balance of the elements strontium and zinc.
25:37But Dr. Kanz finds the gladiator sample is surprisingly high in strontium and low in zinc.
25:44It leads him to a startling conclusion.
25:46Our initial results show us that the gladiator diet was mainly vegetarian food.
25:55Dr. Kanz's results solve an obscure historical puzzle.
26:00One historical text nicknames gladiators hudari, meaning barley crunchers, because they lived on an extremely bland diet of barley and beans.
26:10I think the historical text is all right, saying they eat barley and beans.
26:18It was a boring diet, barley and beans every day.
26:23But they got enough of this food and became very fat and strong.
26:29But why would gladiators like Palumbus have eaten barley and beans to put on a thick layer, not of muscle, but of fat?
26:36Dr. Groschmidt thinks he has the answer.
26:40This sort of layer of fat can only be put on with a diet of barley.
26:46And that thick layer of fat protects the gladiator from slash wounds and from damage to nerves and blood vessels.
26:55Body fat equals body armor.
26:59Dr. Groschmidt believes that adding extra inches of flesh under their scant metal armor would have protected them from certain wounds, meaning the difference between life and death in the arena.
27:12But the night before the fight, meat was on the menu. Lots of it.
27:22The gladiators' barley diet was forgotten as they feasted at the traditional gladiator banquet hosted by Vettius in their honor.
27:30This lavish dinner was packed with the most exotic foods the Roman Empire had to offer.
27:45Here, Vettius would show off Palumbus and the other gladiators, his pride and joy, his future.
27:52For the men themselves, the feast was a welcome distraction from the horrors of the next day.
28:02This is the opportunity for the gladiators to take their fill, that the convicted men eat their last dinner before tomorrow, when they might die.
28:11After the festivities, a lone Palumbus would have retired to his room in the gladiator academy.
28:24Ahead of him lay his final battle.
28:27He knew that this night might be his last.
28:41As the sun rises, he knows that a long, nerve-wracking wait lies ahead.
28:54It may even be nightfall before he enters the arena to fight for his honor and his life for the very last time.
29:02Preparations for the big event begin early.
29:08For Vettius, the games are a landmark in his career.
29:12A chance to impress and win political prestige.
29:18The day will follow a set pattern of events.
29:21The gladiatorial combat is the grand finale.
29:23Down in the tunnels, Palumbus starts his mental preparation as the first event of the day begins.
29:33Men fighting beasts.
29:42Palumbus sees firsthand the terrible wounds the wild animals inflict on human flesh.
29:47An hour later, he smells the meat distributed to the crowd after the animals are slaughtered.
30:02More animals feature in the next event of the day.
30:06Public executions.
30:10By midday, Palumbus hears the first shrieks of agony as criminals are put to death.
30:14These gruesome spectacles are often themed on mythology.
30:20One favorite is the story of the Titan Prometheus, whose liver was torn out by a hawk.
30:31Once the executions are over, the build-up to the gladiator contests begins.
30:37There have been wild beast hunts, there have been executions, but what people have really come for.
30:43The finale, as it were, are the gladiatorial fights.
30:47That's what people have been waiting for.
30:54But first, the pre-match warm-up.
30:58Palumbus and his comrades enter the arena with wooden swords to show off their swordsmanship.
31:03As the excitement grows, bets are made, and the crowd, invigorated by food and drink, becomes rowdy and impatient.
31:15The fans at gladiatorial games are not famous for their restraint.
31:20Just like the soccer fans of today.
31:27There would be shouting, there would be competition in the stadium, violence might break out among fans.
31:35We have graffiti competing and extolling the virtues of different gladiators.
31:41With the practice fights over, the gladiators arm themselves for the real show to come.
31:49They will fight one pair at a time.
32:01As top billing, Palumbus and his opponent must wait to the very end of the extravaganza.
32:07They are the star attraction.
32:08Finally, Vettius gives the go-ahead for the games to begin.
32:14The next few hours will make or break him.
32:17First up, two lightly armed gladiators called provocateurs.
32:31Their performance will have a direct bearing on Palumba's own fight and fate.
32:56An unsatisfying display will incite the crowd's lust for blood.
33:05But a good fight will see both gladiators honored for their courage.
33:09And the loser granted a right of clemency.
33:18Even if a gladiator would lose a battle, if he fought bravely, he could appeal to the person throwing the game.
33:26Who would then often ask the audience what to do and be granted his life because he fought so bravely.
33:35Far more gladiators actually survive than is often assumed.
33:45If Vettius' gladiators fought a good fight, the crowd would often be merciful.
33:49Estimates suggest that only one in eight gladiators died in combat.
34:04Palumba's can only hope that even if he loses, the crowd will be impressed enough by his performance to spare his life.
34:15But for each fight that ends without bloodshed, the odds stack against him.
34:19Anticipation mounts as the finale draws closer.
34:27The crowd in the Ephesus Arena is ready to watch a champion.
34:31Puttin' on the helmet and armor of his specialized fighting division, the Mamilo Palumbus readies himself for combat.
34:46Tonight, he faces the Mamilo's nemesis, the Thrax.
34:51An opponent whose curved sword is used to slash open flesh, causing massive blood loss.
34:57The crowd prepare to watch Palumbus seal his fate.
35:04Whatever the outcome, they always demand a good show.
35:10Tonight, the spectators are volatile, and the cries of support for Palumbus and his red-shielded opponent echo throughout the arena.
35:32He's injured.
35:58Once Palumbus is prone, he has no choice.
36:05He must appeal to his master for mercy.
36:09It's the worst outcome for Vettius.
36:12Should he save Palumbus as reward for his years of service?
36:16Or satisfy the crowd's lust for blood?
36:19The time, money, and effort it has taken to train a champion will be factors encouraging him to stay his hand.
36:29But ordering the death blow will please the crowd and quench its desire for blood.
36:34Will Palumbus live or die?
36:37Will Palumbus die.
36:49Reluctantly, Vettius gives the order.
36:54Columbus must die.
36:56But what happened in those final moments?
37:11Looking for evidence of how the death blow was delivered, Dr. Grosschmidt has found a
37:16series of scratches etched onto the spinal bones of fallen gladiators.
37:21And they have allowed him to recreate, for the first time, the execution blow used to
37:26kill gladiators.
37:29We can see the bones, we can see the cut marks on the bones.
37:33The executions of the loser consisted of trying to stab his heart.
37:37He had to kneel down and bend back his head.
37:43Then his adversary would try to hit him here in the heart.
37:58It is a ritual slaying, the spiritual climax of the gladiatorial duel.
38:04Dr. Grosschmidt's discovery also provides a new interpretation for the hand signal which
38:10meant, go ahead, take him.
38:15Not a thumb down as long believed, but a thumb pointed at the throat.
38:22Palumbus knows he must face execution boldly.
38:27All his training has conditioned him to overcome the fear of death, to hold it in contempt.
38:32The moment of death is the dramatic end to the conflict.
38:39So the victor, poised above the defeated, all the schooling has been that he must die bravely.
38:47All the accounts are that death is met in the brave way.
38:51All the criminals are that he is with.
38:58All the criminals are the briefings of the murder.
39:04The one who is the man who is the man who is the man who is the man who is the man who is the man who is one of the three sinners.
39:09Palomba's death is the pinnacle of the day's entertainment.
39:32A sacrifice for the greater glory of Rome.
39:39And the end of his dreams for a better life for him and his wife.
39:45Despite the unclaimed riches, Palombas must have left behind enough winnings for his wife
40:12Hymnus to buy him a tombstone.
40:17The inscription reads,
40:18To Palombas, my own husband, for the sake of his memory, Hymnus.
40:42Columbus was buried by his wife Hymnus, among his fallen brethren in the gladiator graveyard
41:09at Ephesus.
41:16Thanks to the discovery of this burial site, forensic anthropologist Dr. Carl Grosschmidt and his
41:21team have been able to step 2,000 years back in time.
41:28With the aid of 21st century science, they have brought to life the customs, training and
41:34battles of a true gladiator.
41:49And battles of a true gladiator.
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