AWA395 - Gladiators and the Roman Army

Alexis asks about the connection between the Roman military and gladiators. Why did the army build and use its own amphitheatres, like the one at Carnuntum, with others recently identified at Megiddo and possibly Carthage and Puteoli Another puzzle is why the army engaged with gladiators at all when civilian amphitheatres already existed. Murray looks at what military amphitheatres were for in day to day army life. Were they training grounds, places of discipline, entertainment or demonstrations of Roman power He explores how common gladiator involvement with the army actually was, how units may have used them for morale or control, and what archaeology can tell us about life inside the frontier camps. Join us on Patreon patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast

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AWA395 - Gladiators and the Roman Army is an episode from Ancient Warfare Podcast by The History Network.

This episode is 09:29 long.

This episode was published on Feb 6, 2026.

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