ORIGINS
- Early literary sources seldom agree on the origins of gladiators and the gladiator games.In the late 1st century BC, Nicolaus of Damascus believed they were Etruscan.A generation later, Livy wrote that they were first held in 310 BC by the Campanians in celebration of their victory over the Samnites.
Early literary sources seldom agree on the origins of gladiators and the gladiator games. In the late 1st century BC, Nicolaus of Damascus believed they were Etruscan.A generation later, Livy wrote that they were first held in 310 BC by the Campanians in celebration of their victory over the Samnites.Long after the games had ceased, the 7th century AD writer Isidore of Seville derived Latin lanista (manager of gladiators) from the Etruscan word for "executioner", and the title of "Charon" (an official who accompanied the dead from the Roman gladiatorial arena) from Charun, psychopomp of the Etruscan underworld.This was accepted and repeated in most early modern, standard histories of the games.