The Thracian, or Thraex (Latin for ‘Thracian’), was a class of Roman gladiators who fought with a sica and a parma. It was one of the “ethnic” gladiators in ancient Rome, along with the Gaulish Murmillo and Samnite gladiator classes. All Thraeces were outfitted with weapons and armor taken from the fallen Thracians, defeated by Rome. This is similar to the Murmillo wearing the equipment of defeated Gauls, as well as the Samnite gladiators of an Italic civilization with the same name.
History of Thraex
Gladiatorial fights in ancient Rome were extremely popular, and the number of gladiators was so great that there was a whole classification of them according to the type of weapons, battle tactics, and rules of fight. So, among other gladiators were gladiators-Thracians.
Most “ethnic” gladiators in Rome were slaves who were poorly trained and ultimately met horrible ends.
Around the middle of the 1st century BC, the Thraex’s presence was first attested to in writing, in the works of Cicero. A relief found in 2007 in Italy, in a settlement area about 19 miles from Rome, depicts Thraex gladiators for the first time, although this depiction dates back to 30-10 BC. Another relief found is from Patras in Greece.
The Thraex type of gladiator likely originated in the first half of the first century BC when numerous Thracian prisoners of war were taken to Rome during Roman campaigns in the Balkans. In later times, gladiators of the Thraex type could also come from other ethnic backgrounds.
During the late Roman Republic and the first two centuries AD, the battle between the Thraex and the Murmillo was by far the most popular gladiatorial match. Afterward, this duel remained popular, but the combination of Retiarius versus Secutor became the most prominent.
A Thraex combined his agile physique with light armor. He wore a square shield on his left arm, leather bands or plate armor on his right arm, greaves that went above the knee, and an adorned helmet to resemble a griffin’s head. The griffin was a symbol of the goddess of retribution, Nemesis.
They were one of the six most popular types of Roman gladiators.
Thraex’s Equipment
The Thracians were equipped with armor that differed from the armor of other gladiators:
- Sica sword: Sica was a dagger or short sword used by Thraex with a blade that was bent or curved, similar to the falx used by Dacians or harpe sword. It measured 14 inches (35 cm).
- Galea (helmet): They wore a rimmed helmet with a griffin protome on the crest. The helmets didn’t protect the wearer’s face initially, but over time, that changed. Helmets began to have visors under the Roman Empire, which first had eyeholes and then transitioned to mesh around the turn of the 2nd century AD. This design protected his head but limited the field of view.
- Parma shield: A Thracian-style small, curving, square shield, 24-26 inches.
- Ocreæ: The Thraex and hoplomachus are the only kind of gladiators to wear two of these leggings up to the thighs. The other gladiators simply wear one on their left legs. Despite the parma shield, the abnormal height of the ocreæ more than made up for it.
- Manica: The arm (usually the right one) holding the sword was protected by a padded or iron sleeve called a manica.
- Subligaculum: The loincloth undergarment they wore was called the subligaculum. They also wore a belt called a cingulum.
Gladiatrixes, or female gladiators, in ancient Rome were known to use the same equipment as Thraex.
How Did a Thraex Fight?
On the battlefield, the Thracian people used the sica sword to get around large enemy shields like the Roman scutum (pl. scuta). The bent shape of this sword allowed the Thracians to stab the enemy from the side or the back.
Thraex gladiators used the same sword in the arena and utilized the same fighting technique. His technique was to ride around the opponent’s shield with his sword, in order to wound them through the unarmored parts of their body. This was especially the only way to defeat a Murmillo with their huge scutum shield.
The writer Artemidorus Daldianus from the 2nd century AD was known for interpreting people’s dreams. He created a correlation between the arms of a gladiator one dreams of fighting and the personality of a spouse: The latter would be “deceitful” when dreaming of a Thraex because “his dagger is not straight.”
His Opponents
The two ocreæ Thraex wore would allow him to change his guard during the fight. And the most gladiators he would ever have to face up against were murmillions and hoplomachus (murmillion with a spear), whose armaments resembled those of legionaries. Thraex and Hoplomachus symbolized the opponents of the Romans on the battlefield: the Thracians and Greeks, or Hoplites.
When light-armored Thraex paired against a heavy-armored murmillo, like legionaries, this mimicked the fight between Roman warriors against their diverse enemies, making a representation of historical wars between Romans and enemies from other distant geographical areas, specifically from Thrace.
According to contemporary Latin authors like Juvenal, he also fought with secutor (“chaser”), who armed similarly to the Murmillo, and retiarius (“net-man”), the eternal enemy of the Murmillo. Others included the provocators (murmillon with a large shield).
Two Thraex could also face each other, but only some archaeological depictions exist about this with no literary references.
References
- Featured Image: Marcus Cyron, Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic, cropped and enhanced from original.