Ref.: ROME-90011
Roman "Provocator"
The latin word Provocator, literally translated, means challenger but also who provokes and attacks an opponent. The Provocatores were one of the many classes of the romans gladiators in the imperial age; from the roman sources we know at least a dozen of these: Retiarius and Contraretiarius, Murmillo, Secutor, Thraex, Oplomacus, Dimachaerus, Scaeva, Essedarius, Iaculator, Pulsator and, finally, our Provocator. The different classes of gladiators fought in the munera, or gladiatorians games, a class against the other in different combination of duels until the munera sine missione, true elimination-fightings where the winner was stripped of his weapons and forced to fight nake against a new armed challenger. The looser gladiator asked mercy raising a finger of the left hand while the winner was waiting for the crowd’s sentence. The shout: missum! meant he was free while, according Iuvenalis, thumbs down meant dead and, among the shouts and hoots the word: Iugula! was cried. Then the winner cutted the troath to the looser. The veterans who managed to surviving after a victorious fighting-career awarded the rudis, a wooden sword symbol of their freedom and leave of the arena. These veterans were called rudiarii and often they remained in the gymnasium’s circle, teaching to the young gladiators the tricks of the trade, as old and done boxers. The gladiatorians games were very popular. The Romans bet doggedness on the fightings, being them fans of their champions. The fans opponents were quarrelsome and terrible was a brawl among Pompeians and Nocerians in 59 AD, with a lot of dead and wounded men among both opponents. So Tacitus says in his Annales.