Latest news with #gladiators
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
British & Irish Lions prop 'gladiators' form secret society in Australia - but competition for places is fierce as first Test draws closer
A secret society of Lions prop ' gladiators ' has been formed in the early stages of this Australia tour, but amid the bonds of new friendships, these competitive beasts are jostling for places in their own complex hierarchy. With a fortnight to go until the first Test against Australia in Brisbane, the front row battle lines will continue to be drawn on Saturday, as the tourists confront the reinforced Waratahs in their third game Down Under. As it stands, selection is still up for grabs and for the pillars of the pack on duty at Allianz Stadium, the presence of the giant known as 'Tongan Thor' will serve to focus minds on a fixture of seismic importance. Wallabies tighthead Taniela Tupou will line up for the hosts as he seeks to revive his fading hopes of being involved in the series against the Lions, after a torrid season and ahead of a summer move to Racing 92 in France. While he has been grappling with a chronic loss of form and confidence, Tupou has the physical clout to target what has been a creaking British and Irish scrum, while also wreaking havoc with his carrying around the field. First up to lock horns with him in the set piece will be Scotland's South African loosehead, Pierre Schoeman, who has already emerged as one of the characters of this 2025 crusade. He has spoken about how the mix of props in Andy Farrell's squad, from England, Ireland and Scotland, have been forming connections as they compete for places. 'We are almost like a gladiator when all the gladiators come together,' he said. 'It is nice knowing each other and learning from each other. You have to get along. You have to make it work. It is like a mini unit and the engine has to go.' It is all very hush-hush when the props get together, apparently. 'We have a prop group that none of our other team members are allowed on,' added Schoeman. 'No hookers, just props. We are like bison, migrating together. 'We have a secret meeting every night. Finlay Bealham started it and now all the props have bought in. We stick together and have a tea after every training session and we get to meet each other's families and ask deep questions. It is just for props in our group, in whatever hotel we live.' Schoeman is gunning for the Lions No 1 shirt in the Test series. So is Ellis Genge. Lately, they have been in neighbouring beds. 'I room with Ellis at the moment,' said Schoeman. 'If I snore too much, he gets grumpy, so I snore more. I know a lot of things about Gengey. I've sat through phone calls. I know all his business friends, family, everything. I have asked him to phone my family as well! 'He's brilliant. He's a powerhouse in the scrum as well as his carries. He's not afraid to make a shot and he's experienced as well.' The respect and camaraderie between the rivals will intensify, but so will the competition for places. There are three auditions left before Test selection time. Genge put a marker down at loosehead with a scrummaging onslaught and some rampaging ball-carrying in the pre-tour fixture against Argentina, so now Schoeman and Andrew Porter of Ireland are having to respond. It's certainly not a done deal in that position yet. As for tighthead, it is wide open and perhaps even a source of nagging concern to Andy Farrell and his coaching staff. Australia-born Ireland prop Finlay Bealham is alone among the trio of contenders in really putting his hand up so far, against the Pumas – having wept when the head coach called to inform him of his late call-up, at the age of 33. Tadhg Furlong is the veteran with all the pedigree, who started the last six Tests that the Lions have played. But he was way off his vintage best in the demolition of the Western Force. That left the door wide open for Will Stuart – outstanding for Bath and England in recent months – to seize his opportunity, but he was unable to do so in a patchy performance against the Reds in Brisbane. In other positions, emphatic Test cases have been made, notably by Joe McCarthy in the second row, by Jac Morgan at openside flanker and by Elliot Daly at full-back, before his tour was cruelly ended. On Saturday, Farrell will want to see his props similarly rise to the occasion and provide more of a robust platform for the Lions to further develop their all-singing, all-dancing gameplan. Yet, the task of gelling unfamiliar units can be decidedly tricky, as Furlong explained, saying: 'Think of the amount of connections in the scrum; tighthead is on hooker with shoulder and arm. Hooker is on to loosehead's shoulder and arm. Then you have second row coming in with two points of contact with the three of them (front-rowers). 'There are so many touch points in the scrum and you're scrummaging with people who have different methods to what you're used to. It's not insurmountable, but it's about getting on the same page.' That will have to happen or the Waratahs will target any chinks in the 'gladiators' armour. The Lions are certainly alert to the danger posed by Tupou, with Farrell saying: 'I know he was in the Australian squad, he's now dropped out to play against us, so I suppose he's got a point to prove. I'm sure he'll be well up for that. He's very disruptive, to say the least. He's certainly got power and pace on both sides of the ball, that's for sure.' Set-piece resilience has to be a priority for the Lions and their secret society, given the threat coming their way. If Tupou is deemed expendable, it is an indication of the Wallabies' enhanced potency in the scrum. Gone are the days when they were easy prey in that area. For their warm-up fixture against Fiji, Ulster-bound Angus Bell has been named among the replacements – and he was arguably the best loosehead in the world last year. If Will Skelton can recover from injury in time to play in Brisbane, Joe Schmidt's Australia pack will be armed with the biggest tighthead lock in the world, to add colossal ballast behind the front row. So, the clock is ticking for the Lions. Through all these clandestine daily meetings and the sharing of a four-nation stock of talent and know-how, they must clarify their hierarchies and brace themselves for a truly gladiatorial contest.
BBC News
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Preserved gladiator helmets on display at Leeds armouries
Three gladiator helmets "perfectly preserved" following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago are to go on display in Leeds as part of an international touring exhibition. Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum has been brought to the Royal Armouries in collaboration with the Colosseum in Rome and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The exhibition also features gladiatorial weaponry and armour from a training camp in Pompeii, effectively frozen in time as a result of the eruption in Armouries director general and master of the armouries Nat Edwards said the collection gave a "real sense of the spectacle of gladiatorial combat". He said: "Some of the objects in this collection you really can't see anywhere else in the world."We have three perfectly preserved gladiators' helmets. They're incredibly rare, they're beautifully decorated, all of the parts still work. "They've got decorations showing winged Victories and barbarian captives, and they look as good as new. They could have just been taken off yesterday, they're quite amazing." The exhibition runs from 28 June to 2 November in Leeds, and has already attracted more than one million visitors while on display internationally. It was officially opened on Wednesday by Jodie Ounsley, also known as Fury from BBC One show Gladiators."That was a lovely golden thread that connected the spectacle of Rome, and why people went to watch gladiators then, to our own fascination with competition and larger-than-life heroism," said Mr Edwards. Mr Edwards said his favourite piece was a gravestone to gladiator Urbicus."There's a little object at the end of the exhibition, which is really personal and intimate and it's a gravestone, which was made by the wife of a gladiator."His name was Urbicus and she tells his story. He was a kind-hearted gladiator. He spared one of his opponents in the arena who then stabbed him in the back."But it's a picture of him with his dog, with his pet, and this is a loving wife who has put a picture of this loved, gentle-hearted soul who found his way into the gladiators arena and his pet dog."And there's something, which is so human about that. It's just a little moment of connection with a human being across thousands of years of history and ultimately that's what museums like our own are all about, those human connections," he said. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
South China Morning Post
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Why ancient Rome is haunting contemporary America's far right
The Roman empire looms large in the imagination of American men, and the world should worry. In 2023, TikTok's algorithm uncovered a hitherto unsuspected trend emerging among Americans, mostly men, who seem to spend a lot of time thinking about ancient Rome. A more detailed analysis of TikTok data reveals they tend to favour the Roman empire over the republic, mostly because of its expanse, power and gladiators. Do they prefer imperialism over republicanism? Interestingly, for the American founders, it was the reverse. How times have changed. So it should surprise no one that powerful leaders of the American far right fret more than most about Rome. Steve Bannon, Trump's top White House adviser in his first term, has a bust of Caesar on his studio desk from where he airs his hugely influential podcast. He has read Edward Gibbon's entire History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which numbers more than 2,000 pages in the modern Penguin edition. Elon Musk once tweeted while Joe Biden was still president: 'Anyone feeling late stage empire vibes?' The self-styled 'Imperator of Mars' once used an AI generator to picture himself either as a Roman gladiator or soldier; it was hard to tell. He has named his latest son Romulus. And, fancying himself an original historical thinker, he posed a question which he probably thought had eluded scholars over centuries: 'I sometimes wonder if perhaps Rome was started by exiles from Troy. It's not completely out of the question. At some point in antiquity, a few ships of very competent soldiers … landed on the coast of Italy. Where did they come from?' Didn't a certain Roman poet named Virgil write something called the Aeneid in which the hero Aeneas fled the destroyed Troy, wandered around a bit, ended up in Italy and became the ancestor of Rome? There is even the opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell. But perhaps Musk preferred pop music, considering his dalliance with Canadian pop star Grimes.
BBC News
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Gladiator exhibition opens at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery
A touring exhibition exploring the world of Roman gladiators has opened in Museum & Art Gallery is hosting Gladiators of Britain, which offers insight into the gladiators who lived in the county and the wider finds included two Nene Valley vessels depicting gladiators, fragments of an engraved glass from a Roman villa near Nether Heyford, and a clasp knife discovered in Birrell, curator at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery, said: "[The items] show us the Romans who did live here engaged in spectacle culture... they made objects that have gladiators depicted on them and bought them, used them and lost them in the county." Gladiators are traditionally associated with arenas like the Colosseum in Rome, but many fights took place across was no amphitheatre in Northamptonshire, with the closest being at St Albans - formerly known as Verulamium. There were 25 artefacts in the exhibition, including the Hawkedon Helmet - the only confirmed piece of gladiatorial armour from Roman Britain. It was possibly plundered from Colchester - known then as Camulodunum - during Boudica's rebellion of to the British Museum, the heavy bronze helmet originally had a tinned surface, and the wearer's face would have been encased in a hinged mask with eye guards. Another key exhibit is the Colchester Vase from AD175, discovered in a Roman-era grave in Willi, the curator for ancient Mediterranean life at the British Museum, added: "There are misconceptions about gladiatorial fights... we are trying to dispel some of these myths. "For example, there were rules to the fights, there were umpires, and people didn't always fight to the death. In fact, a bout would last around 15 minutes because a dead gladiator was much more expensive than a wounded one that could fight more."Gladiators of Britain is at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery until 7 September. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
South China Morning Post
18-05-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Study Buddy (Challenger): Bite marks reveal gladiator's fatal encounter with a lion
Content provided by British Council Read the following text, and answer questions 1-9 below: [1] In Rome's Colosseum and other amphitheatres in cities scattered across the sprawling ancient Roman Empire, gladiatorial spectacles were not merely human-versus-human affairs. While there are depictions of humans pitted against animals in ancient mosaics and texts, actual forensic evidence of these contests has been elusive until now. Scientists have determined that bite marks on the pelvis of a man buried in what is believed to be a cemetery for gladiators near the English city of York – known at the time as Eboracum – were made by a big cat, probably a lion. [2] The man appears to have lived during the 3rd century AD, when Eboracum was an important town and military base in the north of the Roman province of Britannia. The bite marks provide clues about his suspected demise in the arena. 'Here we can see puncture and scalloping, indicative of large dentition (teeth) piercing through the soft tissues and into the bone,' said forensic anthropologist Tim Thompson of Maynooth University in Ireland, the lead author of the study published last month in the journal PLOS One. 'We don't think this was the killing wound, as it would be possible to survive this injury, and it is in an unusual location for such a large cat. We think it indicates the dragging of an incapacitated (deprived of strength) individual,' Thompson said. [3] The discovery illustrates how gladiatorial spectacles with wild animals – often presented by emperors and other influential thinkers or leaders – were not limited to the empire's major cities and extended into its furthest-flung provinces. Researchers said this man's skeleton represents the first known direct physical evidence of human-animal combat from ancient Roman times. [4] Wild animals used in such spectacles included elephants, hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, giraffes, ostriches, bulls, bears, lions, tigers and leopards. For instance, in 2022, archaeologists announced the discovery of the bones of bears and big cats at the Colosseum. 'Predatory animals – above all big cats but also sometimes other animals, for example bears – were pitted as combatants against specialist gladiators, known as venatores,' said study co-author John Pearce, a Roman archaeologist at King's College London. [5] Pearce said that large and aggressive animals were pitted against each other – a bull and bear, for example – and often chained together. Simulated hunts were also staged in arenas, with humans against animals and animals against other animals. Animals were sometimes used as a means of execution for captives and criminals, where the victim was bound or defenceless, Pearce said. [6] Gladiators were typically enslaved people, prisoners of war, criminals and volunteers. 'A popular reputation – as expressed in fan graffiti at Pompeii – money and the possibility of being freed as a successful arena star were incentives and rewards for gladiators,' Pearce said. More than 80 human skeletons, mostly well-built younger men, have been excavated at the cemetery. Many had healed and unhealed injuries consistent with gladiatorial combat and had been decapitated, perhaps by losing a bout. Source: Reuters, April 23 Questions 1. In paragraph 1, the discovery of bite marks on a man's pelvis is significant because it … A. confirms the existence of big cats in ancient Britain. B. provides evidence that gladiators were sometimes buried with the animals they fought. C. offers concrete proof of a type of gladiatorial contest previously known mainly through art and writing. D. none of the above 2. According to paragraph 2, what characteristics of the bite marks on the man's pelvis suggest that a large animal inflicted the bite? 3. Based on paragraph 2, the bite marks on the pelvis suggest … A. the lion attacked and killed the gladiator with a bite to that region. B. the gladiator sustained the injury before fighting the lion. C. the lion was partially immobilised when it attempted to drag the gladiator. D. none of the above 4. Where does the phrase 'further-flung provinces' in paragraph 3 refer to? 5. In paragraph 4, what does the phrase 'above all big cats' suggest about the use of these animals against venatores? 6. Based on paragraph 5, describe two traits of the animals chosen to fight against other animals. 7. According to paragraph 5, which of the following can be inferred about the 'simulated hunts' staged in arenas? A. They exclusively featured unarmed humans facing large predatory animals. B. They involved both human-versus-animal and animal-versus-animal confrontations. C. They usually resulted in the death of all the animals involved. D. They were mainly used to train venatores for gladiatorial combat. 8. Find a term in paragraph 6 that refers to people bought by others and forced to obey and work for them. 9. What do the excavated skeletons in paragraph 6 suggest about the nature of gladiatorial combat? An ancient Roman mosaic of a lion on display at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia, Photo: Reuters Answers 1. C 2. The puncture and scalloping of the bite marks indicate large dentition (teeth) piercing through soft tissues and into the bone, suggesting a large animal. 3. D 4. places such as Eboracum (accept all similar answers) 5. Big cats were frequently used in combat against venatores. (accept all similar answers) 6. They were large and aggressive. 7. B 8. enslaved person 9. Gladiatorial combat is violent and leads to major injuries and death. (accept all reasonable answers)
