A Day at the Gladiatorial Games: Beast Hunts, Mass Slaughter, and Flooding the Colosseum to Reenact Roman Naval Battles

History Unplugged Podcast · Jun 25, 2026 · 52m

A gladiator named Diodorus defeated his opponent Demetrius in the arena, accepted his submission, discarded his own helmet and shield, and reached for the palm branch that marked his victory. Then the referee refused to honor the submission and ordered the fight to continue. Diodorus was killed. His tombstone, which survives, reads: "Murderous Fate and the cunning treachery of the referee killed me, and leaving the light, I have gone to Hades." Another gladiator named Urbicus, who had once spared a defeated opponent and was later killed by that same man in a rematch, left behind the most…