Sex symbols

Gladiators often become celebrities and sex symbols, this is one of the interesting facts about gladiators in the Roman Empire. Although often considered rude and uncivilized by Roman historians, gladiators earned a great reputation among the lower classes. Their portraits were painted on the walls of many public places; children play with clay gladiator action figures, and the most successful boxers even endorse the same product as today's top athletes. They were also famous for their ability to make Roman women swoon. Many women wore hairpins and other trinkets dipped in gladiator blood, and some even mixed gladiator sweat — then considered an aphrodisiac — into facial creams and cosmetics.

An entire industry has been built around the sexual attraction of gladiators, becoming sex symbols. Thracians - gladiators armed with only a short sword and a small shield - are considered particularly evil, mainly because they barely wear anything in the arena. Bold businessmen would bottle gladiator sweat and sell it in small bottles, marketing it as a powerful aphrodisiac. It is also said that noble women would ask them to dip hairpins or other jewelry in the blood of a favorite gladiator. Again, this is considered a good aphrodisiac or fertility aid.