Could Juvenal’s mockery be evidence that female gladiators were real? A historian follows the clues left behind in ancient texts.
S23E3: Queens of Combat | Clip
Features
A Roman Poet’s Clue to Women Gladiators in the Arena
Martial described gladiatorial combat and hinted women fought—but can hand-copied texts be trusted?
This Roman Law May Be Proof of Female Gladiators
The ban hints at moral panic, and possibly the clearest proof that female gladiators truly existed.
This Roman Statue Was Misidentified for 100 Years — Until Now
Once thought an athlete, this Roman statuette may depict a female gladiator in combat pose.
The Only Relief of Named Female Gladiators Ever Found
This rare depiction may be the greatest surviving monument to women in the Roman arena.
An Everyday Roman Object Suggests Female Gladiators
A Roman oil lamp shows two female gladiators fighting like men—strong visual proof women fought.
Queens of Combat
Experts search for evidence that female gladiators once existed in Ancient Rome.
TRANSCRIPT
-The famous Roman satirist Juvenal wrote during the 1st Century AD, around the same time as the poet Martial.
-Juvenal was also writing at the height of the Roman Empire, and his satires show a persistent anxiety about the sort of dilution, if you like, of Roman behavior, Roman character.
So when you get a woman adopting a male role, that would have been disturbing.
Juvenal would have felt that anything as transgressive as a female gladiator would threaten the fine, upstanding morality of the traditional Roman society.
-One of Juvenal's satires contains a section that suggests female gladiators might have existed.
-In Juvenal's sixth satire, there's quite a long passage satirizing a woman who aspires to train as a gladiator.
And Juvenal's language makes her sound really ridiculous.
He has all sorts of disparaging things to say about the way she grunts while she's doing her press-ups and so forth.
He talks about how much she makes a grunting noise, generally doing extremely unfeminine things.
And then there's this crucial line with the word "arena" in it, where Juvenal says, "And maybe she even hopes she'll actually appear in the arena as a gladiator."
-Juvenal paints a colorful picture.
But is he a reliable witness?
-A satire is by definition not objective reporting.
But if we're trying to understand the ancient world, then every single scrap of potential evidence is valuable.
And this is a piece of potential evidence.
It's potential evidence that women did aspire to train as gladiators.
-Whether or not Juvenal was writing about a real person, the prospect of a female gladiator was a reality to him and his audience.
♪♪ Archaeological evidence is needed to confirm the existence of female gladiators.
And a small museum in southern Italy might have it.
♪♪