Thraex

• 1. The Thracian Gladiator

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  Thraex is the Latin word for a Thracian, and in the Roman arena it named a gladiator who fought dressed and armed in the manner of Thrace. The plural is Thraeces. The name sounds like a statement about where a man came from. It turns out to describe something closer to a job. What did a Thraex carry, and what was each piece of it meant to do? And was this a fighting style that someone had to be taught?

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• 2. Arms and Armor

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  The parmula, the Thraex's shield, measured only about 60 by 65 centimetres. Its shape could be rectangular, square or circular, which suggests there was no single required pattern. Small as it was, it sat in the same hand-to-hand fight as the weapon that defined the Thraex, the sica. This was a short sword with a curved blade, like a small version of the Dacian falx. Its curve had a cruel purpose: it was intended to maim an opponent's unarmoured back. The rest of his protection was mostly built around the limbs and head. He wore greaves on his lower legs and a protective belt above a loincloth. His helmet carried a visor, a plume on its side and a high crest. The curved sica raises a question the equipment alone cannot answer: how did anyone learn to fight this way?

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• 3. A Style Taught

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  A passage in Petronius shows that "Thracian" was a style of gladiatorial fighting, one taught in the training schools. The word described a method as much as a costume. A surviving inscription backs this up. It records a doctor thraecum, a teacher of would-be Thracians. An inscription naming a teacher for this single style is a reminder that the Thraex was learned, not simply worn.

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