Gladiators used to be warriors who were compelled to participate to bloody fights in games organized in Colosseum and arenas in ancient Rome. These warriors were slaves or men condemned to death, who had to fight against each others sometimes untill the death. These fights, and the others games happening in the arenas, were an entertainment for Roman people.

These extremely violent battles were mostly composed by fights between gladiators, but sometimes, the fights opposed gladiators against wild animals such as lions, tigers or elephants for instance. Once the confrontation over because a gladiator managed to knock down his opponent, the gladiator had to wait for the emperor to decide if he had to kill him or let him go.

Several kind of gladiators existed, classified according to their body shape, their weapons and armors. There were the heavy gladiators like the samnium equipped with a short blade (spartha) a round shield and protections to the legs. Light gladiators didn't really have effective protections. Retiarius made part of this category and used to be equipped with a trident, a net, and a dagger.