Thursday, 6 June 2013

I Am Spartacus!

Hidden away in Yahoo Groups is an obscure little one I set up about ten years ago called  Munera, which is dedicated to gladiatorial miniatures games. I was looking for some information in it the other day, when I came across a few posts looking at gladiator names. This led to the group's database in which were 40 or so historical gladiator names from various sources. I thought it too good a resource to languish in the obscurity of a Yahoo Group, so thought it could languish in obscurity here as well.

I know I found a few of these, but other people added data too. Unfortunately I don't know who they are. If you're reading this and you see one of your contributions then please make yourself known in the comments and take all the credit you deserve.

Name  Sex  Source (If Any)  Notes
Achillia  Female  Bas Relief in London
Albanus  Male  Pompeii
Alumnus  Male  Villa Borghese mosaic
Amazon  Female  Bas relief in London
Aracintus  Male  Pompeii
Astinax  Male  Mosaic  Secutor
Atticus  Male  Pompeii
Attilius  Male  Myrmillo
Aurius  Male  Villa Borghese mosaic
Bato  Male
Belurefons  Male  Secutor
Callimorphus  Male  Villa Borghese mosaic
Castor  Male  Ovid
Celadus  Male  Pompeii
Crescens  Male  Pompeii
Crixus  Male  Cyprus
Cupido  Male  Retiarius
Cycnus  Male  Pompeii
Danaos  Male  Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
Docilis  Male  Ovid
Ellenikos  Male  Cyprus  Provocatores
Flamma  Male  Pompeii
Gannicus  Male  Cyprus
Gracchus  Male  Retiarius
Hilarus  Male  Thracian
Hippolytus  Male  Pompeii  Retiarius
Kalendio  Male  Mosaic  Retiarius
Krixus  Male
Lucius  Male  Jewry Wall Museum
Margareites  Male  Cyprus  Provocatores
Memnon  Male  Colchester Castle Museum  Secutor
Moderatus  Male  British Museum
Murranus  Male  Pompeii
Negrimus  Male  Pompeii  Retiarius
Oceanus  Male  Pompeii
Pampines  Male  Galleria Borghese Mosaic  Myrmillo
Priedens  Male  Pompeii  Secutor
Priscus  Male  Smyrna, Turkey  Thracian
Publius Ostorius  Male  Pompeii
Pugnax  Male  Pompeii
Quintus  Male
Rodan  Male  Retiarius
Sartornilos  Male  Thracian
Scylax  Male  Pompeii
Severus  Male  Pompeii
Spartacus  Male  As if you need to ask ...
Spiculus  Male  Myrmillo
Telamonius  Male  Villa Borghese mosaic
Valentinus  Male  Colchester Castle Museum  Retiarius

At present all of my gladiator miniatures are labelled with numbers. I rather like the idea of giving each one a permanent name, matching the types given above where possible. Unfortunately I have more figures than there are names above, so I am going to have to be creative. It would appear that gladiator names were a mixture of real names and nicknames, so there's a certain amount of flexibility possible.

Update (11/06/2013) - Added four new names courtesy of Zappo

5 comments:

  1. and I thought I was Spartacus.. I'm going to add this list to my own small stable of gladiators. Friday night when we do battle in the board game, Spartacus: The Game of Blood and Treachery, I'll use my own minis instead of the 4 plastic ones that came in the game..

    Thanks to all who contributed to the list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. you could add Crixus and Gannicus to the list

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...and Margareites and Ellenikos (provocatores?) from Cyprus

      http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosaic_gladiators_Kurion.jpg

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    2. Thanks. I'll add those in when I get a chance.

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