Sunday, April 28, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Wars and Battles
The Ancient Romans fought many battles and wars in order to expand and protect their empire. There were also civil wars where Romans fought Romans in order to gain power. Here are some of the major battles and wars that the Romans fought.
The Punic Wars
The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. Carthage was a large City located on the coast of North Africa. This sounds like a long way away at first, but Carthage was just a short sea voyage from Rome across the Mediterranean Sea. Both cities were major powers at the time and both were expanding their empires. As the empires grew, they began to clash and soon war had begun.
There were three major parts of the Punic wars and they were fought over the course of more than 100 years,
- First Punic War (264 - 241 BC): The First Punic War was fought largely over the island of Sicily. This meant a lot of the fighting was at sea where Carthage had the advantage of a much stronger navy than Rome. However, Rome quickly built up a large navy of over 100 ships. Rome also invented the corvus, a type of assault bridge that allowed Rome's superior soldiers to board enemy navy vessels. Rome soon dominated Carthage and won the war.
- Second Punic War (218 - 201 BC): In the Second Punic War, Carthage had more success fighting against the Roman legions. The Carthage leader and general, Hannibal, made a daring crossing of the Alps to attack Rome and northern Italy. This crossing was made more famous because he also brought a large number of elephants with him. Hannibal was a brilliant general and won several battles against the Romans. However, despite fighting for 16 years, Hannibal wasn't able to conquer the city of Rome. When Rome counterattacked his homeland of Carthage, Hannibal was forced to retreat. The final battle in this war was the Battle of Zama where the Roman general Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal.
- Third Punic War (149 - 146 BC): In the Third Punic War Rome attacked the city of Carthage. After three years of laying siege to the city, the Roman army broke through the walls and burned it to the ground.
In this battle the Roman Legion under Titus Flamininus soundly defeated the Macedonian Army led by Philip V. This battle was important because the successors of Greek leader Alexander the Great had now been defeated. Rome had become the dominant world power.
Third Servile War (73 - 71 BC)
This war started when 78 gladiators, including their leader Spartacus, escaped and started a rebellion. Soon they had over 120,000 escaped slaves and others traveling with them invading the countryside. They successfully fought back many Roman soldiers until finally an army with a full 8 legions was dispatched to destroy them. The fighting was long and bitter, but eventually Spartacus' army was defeated.
Caesar's Civil War (49 - 45 BC)
This war is also called the Great Roman Civil War. Julius Caesar's legions fought against the Senate supported legions of Pompey the Great. The war lasted for four years until Caesar finally defeated Pompey and became Dictator of Rome. This signaled the end of the Roman Republic.
The famous moment in this war was when Caesar crossed the Rubicon River. This meant he was going to war against Rome. Today the term "crossing the Rubicon" is still used to say that someone had reached the point of no return and can not go back.
The Battle of Actium (31 BC)
In this battle Octavian's forces, led by Marcus Agrippa, defeated the combined forces of Roman general Marc Antony and Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra VII. As a result Octavian became the sole power in Rome and would soon become Rome's first Emperor. He would change his name to Augustus when he became emperor.
http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_roman_wars_battles.php
Saturday, April 20, 2013
gladiators
Gladiators
20/4/2013
The Huplomachus and Murmilo were both gladiators. They were heavily armored. The Huplomachus used a mini sword, and Murmilo used a helmet, a shild, a sword and a leg protector.
20/4/2013
The Huplomachus and Murmilo were both gladiators. They were heavily armored. The Huplomachus used a mini sword, and Murmilo used a helmet, a shild, a sword and a leg protector.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Gladiators
Types of Gladiators
History, Facts and Information about Types of Gladiators
The content of this article provides interesting history, facts and information about different types of Gladiators. There were many different types of gladiators who were divided into different classes according to their weapons and fighting styles. There were strict rules and protocol surrounding the fights of gladiators. The pairing of the different types of gladiators was important and ironically the Romans expected to see 'fair play' in the gladiatorial combats. The selection of 'matched pairs' of different types of gladiators of would ensure that one fighter was hampered by heavy armor whilst the other was lightly armed. The different types of Gladiators have therefore been detailed on this page in four classes:
- The Elite Types of Gladiators
- Types of gladiators who heavily armed
- Types of gladiators who lightly armed
- Types of gladiators who specialised in unusual types of combat or entertainment
One
type of gladiator might have freedom of movement but with little armor,
or no armor to protect him. The other type of gladiator matched against
him might be more heavily armed and protected but restricted in his
movements by his armor.
Roman Gladiators
Types of Gladiators - How many different Types of Gladiators fought in Ancient Rome?How
many different types of Gladiators fought in Ancient Rome? Good question
but we cannot provide a definitive answer. The history of the
gladiators dates back over 2000 years and much of the information about
them has been lost. We have, however, provided facts and interesting
information about 26 different types of gladiator including their
specialised fighting skills, their opponents and their weapons,
clothing, armor and shields.
Names given to different Types of GladiatorsThe
first Roman Gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according
to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian and the Gaul (Gallus).
Old enemies became allies and the names of the different types of
gladiators changed to reflect their combat techniques such as Secutores
(chasers), Bestiarii (beast fighters) and Retiarius (net fighters).
Types of Gladiators - List of the Elite
The elite types of Gladiators were the Rudiarius who were gladiators who had obtained their freedom but chose to continue fighting in gladiatorial combats, the Tertiarius who were experienced gladiators who acted as substitutes if a gladiator was unable to fight and the Sagittarius, a rare delight for the spectators, as these were highly accomplished mounted bowmen. Each of this type of gladiator was well known to the spectators, highly experienced and extremely skilful.
The elite types of Gladiators were the Rudiarius who were gladiators who had obtained their freedom but chose to continue fighting in gladiatorial combats, the Tertiarius who were experienced gladiators who acted as substitutes if a gladiator was unable to fight and the Sagittarius, a rare delight for the spectators, as these were highly accomplished mounted bowmen. Each of this type of gladiator was well known to the spectators, highly experienced and extremely skilful.
The Elite Type of Gladiator
|
| Rudiarius (Free Gladiator) Tertiarius (Substitute Gladiator) Sagittarius (Mounted Bowman) Amazones - Female Gladiators |
The Elite Type of Gladiator
|
Types of Gladiators - List of Heavily armed Gladiators
The different Types of Gladiators who were heavily armed were as follows:
The different Types of Gladiators who were heavily armed were as follows:
Types of Gladiators - List of Lightly armed Gladiators
The different Types of Gladiators who were heavily armed were as follows:
The different Types of Gladiators who were heavily armed were as follows:
List of Unusual Types of Gladiators
There were also unusual types of Gladiators. These types of gladiators were forced to fight, or specialised in, unusual types of combat or entertainment. The Andabatae (Sight Restricted Gladiators) were convicted prisoners who were forced to wear helmets without any eye holes. No other armor was worn. They fought bare-chested and blindly lashed out at each other until the last man was standing. The Bestiarii (Beast Fighters) were lightly armored types of gladiators and fought wild animals. The Venatores were Wild Animal Hunters who entertained the spectators with their hunting skills. The Praegenarii were the 'opening act gladiators'. This type of gladiator only used wooden swords, accompanied to festive music. The Bustuarii was a type of slave gladiator who fought in combats to the death at the funerals of prominent Romans. The Naumachiarii were combatants in sea-fights - the arena of the Roman Colosseum was originally able to produce such sea battles for more information see Water Battles at the Colosseum. Facts and information about all of these different, unusual types of gladiators can be accessed via the following links:
There were also unusual types of Gladiators. These types of gladiators were forced to fight, or specialised in, unusual types of combat or entertainment. The Andabatae (Sight Restricted Gladiators) were convicted prisoners who were forced to wear helmets without any eye holes. No other armor was worn. They fought bare-chested and blindly lashed out at each other until the last man was standing. The Bestiarii (Beast Fighters) were lightly armored types of gladiators and fought wild animals. The Venatores were Wild Animal Hunters who entertained the spectators with their hunting skills. The Praegenarii were the 'opening act gladiators'. This type of gladiator only used wooden swords, accompanied to festive music. The Bustuarii was a type of slave gladiator who fought in combats to the death at the funerals of prominent Romans. The Naumachiarii were combatants in sea-fights - the arena of the Roman Colosseum was originally able to produce such sea battles for more information see Water Battles at the Colosseum. Facts and information about all of these different, unusual types of gladiators can be accessed via the following links:
Names of other Types of GladiatorsOther specific names were given to different types of gladiators according to their status and roles:
- Auctorati - Definition: Roman citizens who were in debt and sold themselves to gladiator schools for money, swearing of a legal agreement agreeing to submit to beating, burning, and death by the sword if they did not perform as required. Auctorati gladiators were not deprived of their Roman citizenship
- Tirones gladiatores or Tiro - Definition: Trainee gladiators
- Veteranus (Veterani) - Definition: A trained gladiator and a veteran of one or more gladiatorial combats
- Meridiani - Definition: Lightly armed gladiators who fought in the middle of the day, after the wild beast fights
- Ordinarii - Definition: These were the regular gladiators who fought in pairs in the ordinary way
- Catervarii - Definition: Name given to gladiators when they did not fight in pairs, but when several fought together
- Noxii - Definition: Criminals who had been sentenced to death fighting as gladiators in the arena
- Gladiatores Fiscales were maintained by the private treasury of the emperor
- Gladiatores Postulatitii, were Gladiators of great skill, maintained by the Roman state treasury
- Taurarii gladiators who were bullfighters
http://www.roman-colosseum.info/gladiators/types-of-gladiators.htm
E-book:
http://www.salariya.com/web_books/gladiator/index.html
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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