Female gladiators

While Roman enthusiasm remained high for gladiatorial battles, audiences were always looking for new and exciting developments to keep the suspense. One solution to this problem is a class of female gladiators called "Amazones". Seeing women fight as their male teammates is something new and exciting for audiences and keep the popularity of these fights alive. The "Amazones" were recorded in the writings of several Roman historians such as Tacitus, Martial, and Suetonius. This interesting fact about gladiators in the Roman Empire, "Amazones" has also been depicted in Roman art, showing fighting in loincloths and no helmets.

Historians are uncertain when women were first fit to fight as gladiators, but by the 1st century AD, they had become a popular fixture in games. Female gladiators may not be held in high esteem in patriarchal Roman culture, but a few seem to have proved themselves in single combat. A marble relief dating to around the 2nd century AD depicts a duel between two women dubbed "Amazon" and "Achillia", who the inscription says won the fight for an honorable draw. Women also participated in animal hunting, but their time in the arena may have ended around AD 200 when Emperor Septimius Severus forbade them from participating in the games.