The Business of Blood

Gladiatorial games were a multi-million denarii industry. A top gladiator could be worth the equivalent of a modern luxury sports car. Owners insured them. Promoters marketed them. Fans carved their names into walls.

• Lanistae — trainers who bought, trained, and rented out fighters
• Editores — wealthy politicians who funded the games for votes
• Rudis — the wooden sword given to a gladiator who earned freedom

Death wasn't as common as Hollywood suggests. Many bouts ended in surrender or a referee's call rather than a kill, because a dead gladiator was expensive to replace.