gladiator
Gladiatorial games were originally funerary rites, and relief depictions like this often served as grave markers or commemorative monuments for those who staged the games. A heavily-armed gladiator is called a secutor (Latin for “chaser” or “pursuer”), identifiable by his plain, rounded helmet that covered his whole head except for two small eyeholes, which protected his head and shoulders from the retiarius’s trident. The secutor is armed with a short sword (gladius) and a large rectangular shield (scutum). A lightly-armed gladiator is called retiarius (or “net-man”), who fought without a helmet or body armor (save for an arm guard and shoulder guard) using a net (iaculum) and a three-pointed trident (fuscina). The pairing of a secutor and a retiarius was common, symbolizing a contest between a fish and a fisherman, and was a popular form of entertainment across the Roman Empire. (Kremer, 2025) Photo from Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, Italy, 2025.