Known and Unknown History of Roman Gladiators Gladiators are always known for the bloody, life-or-death fights that HBO portrays, but that's not what happened in the time of the gladiators. Gladiators were not always slaves forced to fight. Gladiator fights were originally part of a funeral service. Not all gladiators fought to the death in the arena. There were many signs that could have meant death. Different classes of fighters attracted different types of crowds. For further entertainment, animals were placed in the arena as an opening event to stimulate the crowd. Women also fought for their lives in the arena. The gladiators began to form their own government to govern each other. The emperors would show their “The referees supervised the action and probably stopped the fight as soon as one of the participants was seriously injured” (Andrews np). Some of today's sports may be descended from gladiators: MMA fighting. If the crowd grew bored of the fighting, both men could walk away with their honor and their lives (Andrews np). Both men had the same skill level and there was no winning, so the ruler made the decision to continue the game so that the crowd would not riot and get tired of the games. This was a way for emperors to maintain crowd control. “Because gladiators were expensive to house, feed, and train, their promoters were loath to see them killed needlessly” (Andrews np). Most rulers would kill the weakest fighter because it wasn't worth spending the money to maintain and feed. “Most lived only to their mid-20s, and historians have estimated that one to five or one in 10 [fights] left one of the participants dead” (Andrews np). All in all, not many gladiators lost their lives in the arena, it was mostly for the entertainment of the many spectators who arrived. involved” (Andrews np). Since gladiators rarely participated, in Roman times these hunts were left to emperors and other high officials. “Animal hunting was usually the opening event of the games, and it was not unusual for scores of unfortunate creatures to be slaughtered in a single display” (Andrews np). The chase was quick and to the point, for the opening act to get the crowd fired up for the main event. “Convicted criminals and Christians were often thrown to ravenous dogs, lions and bears as part of the day's entertainment” (Andrews np). This was another form of human sacrifice and a way to reduce the number of criminals. When the Colosseum opened, over 9,000 animals lost their lives (Andrews np). These animals lost their lives during a 100-day festival that marked the opening of the