I am now the proud owner of a school of dubious gladiators.
So from left to right we sort of have a dimachearus with his two swords, they are meant to be sicas but, I had gladius handy.
Next is a guy with an axe…. Errr there is no known reference to an axe wielding gladiator… there is a gladiator in the Galleria Borghese in Rome that is sometimes confusing as part of it is missing and a foot is behind a guy with a gladius… when you look at a picture it kind of does look a bit like an axe at first glance, in a poor light and the wish to see an axe!
Next up is a quasi hoplomacus with his spear and round shield.
Next up a thraex with his sica and parmulata (small shield). These shields were usually rectangular. The sica’s curved blade was designed to reach beyond a scutum and do damage to the shoulder of the opponent.
Next in the front is the murmillo. Outside of a retiarius this is probably the most iconic of the gladiators. Think gladiator and most people think of him. Generally he would fight the thraex and hoplomachus.
Front right is a bit of a sort of weird retiarius. I say weird as his trident isn’t as it has four prongs. I also stuck the arms on the wrong body so this one has ocrea (greaves) on his legs. This guy would generally fight the secutor. And not the murmillo as was originally thought. They did pair up and indeed in one bout a retiarius was purported to be on a raised platform with a pile or rocks. A ladder was at each end with a murmillo at the bottom. I cannot remember where this came from, so it definitely isn’t gospel.
At the back I made another sort of retiarius, with a spear this time. I cut the spear point off the original end and gave it a different look to the other one.
As for footwear, on the whole they didn’t wear any. Some confusion comes from the mosaics where leg wraps come down to the foot.
I am going to have a fiddle about and see what other types I can make. A laquerius should be easy enough spear and a lasso instead of a net and trident. A bestiarius or venatore should be easy enough to too. And as for a poor noxxi – some poor dude with just a sword, if he was lucky fighting one of the types above. I might be able to do an eques… all I need is a horse and an ancient rider. Add gladiator arms an helmet and voila!