At the funeral of their father in 264 BC, Marcus and Decimus Brutus introduced an ugly sport into Roman life -- man fighting man to the death solely for the pleasure of spectators.
Six gladiators fought that day, but it was only the beginning. The taste for these bloody spectacles spread and soon there were both private and state-sponsored gladiatorial events. Emperor Titus, one of the better Roman emperors, held a 100-day gladiator show in which 9,000 animals were slain. Emperor Trajan exhibited 5,000 gladiators, and in 90 AD Emperor Domitian held a spectacle in which dwarfs fought women.
Gladiators were generally criminals, prisoners of war or slaves who were armed with nets, spears, tridents or firebrands. After training, they were sent to the arena to fight each other or wild animals. Most famous of the gladiators was Spartacus, who led a gladiator's revolt against the Romans in 73 to 71 BC.
In 326 AD the practice was suppressed by Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and was again outlawed in 404 AD by Honorius, though it appears to have continued for some time after that.
