Drawing of a gladiator
((:gladiator sine capite ad dext.))
| Description of Drawing (English): | headless gladiator facing right |
|---|---|
| Findspot: |
Smyrna, Basilica
(Agora.1)
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| Drawing Category: | Gladiators |
| Writing Style: | charcoal |
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| Bibliography: | Bagnall, R. S. et al., Graffiti from the Basilica in the Agora of Smyrna (2016): 276-277. |
| Commentary: | Dipinto of a headless gladiator, located in the upper left quadrant of the back wall of Bay 28. The drawing is made in thick black lines with a certain attention to the details. The man is walking toward the right, his left leg advanced. The arms are the least realistic elements of the representation, as they are short and barely sketched. The gladiator, clearly decapitated during the fight, is depicted with an elongated neck. Another wound is visible at his back: blood, drawn as a series of four parallel lines, is gushing out of it. The unarmed gladiator is an eques, as is evident from his attire, composed of a voluminous sleeveless tunica, short gaiters, and a manica on his right arm. The head of the gladiator, or at least his helmet, is depicted as hanging from a pole in another dipinto that is located further to the right on the same wall (see D28.4). Interestingly, this is the only dipinto that suggests that gladiatorial combats could lead to the death of one of the fighters. In fact, the great majority of other representations of gladiatorial fights in the Smyrna corpus show the gladiators as engaged in the fight but without any significant wounds. The only other notable exception is dipinto D28.6, where the gladiator is notably wounded but still capable of walking off the arena on his own legs. Another instance of a defeated gladiator walking off stage is in dipinto D28.8; however, in this dipinto the fighter is depicted as unscathed and still wearing his full combat attire, helmet included. |
| Suggested Citation: | AGP-SMYD00282, The Ancient Graffiti Project, <https://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-SMYD00282> [accessed: 21 Nov 2024] |
| Contributions: |
Editor: Roger S. Bagnall Principal Contributor: Roger S. Bagnall Last Revision: 2016-10-03 |
