gladiators
For more than 650 years, people flocked to arenas across the empire to watch these armed and highly trained warriors engage in a bloody fight, theater and cold-blooded murder. Not all gladiators were brought to the arena bound in chains. While most early warriors were prisoners and slaves who had committed crimes. attracted by the adrenaline rush of battle and the roar of the crowds, many free men began voluntarily signing contracts with gladiator schools in the hope of winning glory and prize money. These free agent warriors were often desperate men or ex-soldiers skilled in fighting, but some were knights and even senators eager to demonstrate their fighting skills.