Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

146 Gladiators
The question, of course, arises about the issue of combat between the
Samnite or secutor and the Thracian or retiarius. Much of the same analysis
applies. The retiarius has the advantage of reach with his trident and can
throw the net for entanglement or attempt to trip his opponent. However,
his lack of armor can prove fatal. The large shields of the Samnite and secutor
would have provided a great deal more protection against the reach
of the trident than the small shield of the Thracian. However, this in no
way makes the Samnite or secutor a clear winner over the retiarius.
When either was matched against the Thracian, once again the large
shields of the Samnite and secutor could prove to be of decisive advantage.
However, the Thracian had extreme mobility and his sword-arm was well
protected by the ocrea. The Thracian would have been able to maneuver his
small shield well against the thrusting attacks from the gladius of the Samnite
or secutor. The Thracian would have been able to maneuver around the
shield of the Samnite or secutor to find a way to stop these opponents.
There is also the issue of unarmed combat. The Greeks developed advanced
martial art systems in boxing, wrestling, and most notably, the
pankration (a kind of all-in fighting where all techniques were legal). Other
Mediterranean societies in the ancient world, such as the Cretans, had advanced
systems of unarmed combat. Curiously enough, however, the Romans
are not credited with developing unarmed combat systems of their
own. Some of this bias is due to the fact that Roman society did not appreciate
athletic events in the same way the Greeks did. Gladiatorial games
were the rule, rather than the exception, to Roman taste, and the accompanying
cruelties that went with such contests meant that it has been assumed
that Romans never used unarmed combat as the Greeks did.
However, if evidence from (unfortunately scant) surviving mosaics is
any indication, it is obvious that Roman gladiators were well versed in
boxing and wrestling techniques. These techniques were used to advance
the training of the gladiators in much the same way that jûjutsu was used
to supplement the training of Japanese bushi (warriors) and wrestling techniques
were used to supplement the training of knights and men-at-arms of
the Middle Ages in Western Europe. The Romans did not view unarmed
combat as a discipline in and of itself, but as a supplementary one, especially
for gladiators, that was needed for survival in the arena. Unarmed
combat techniques were intended to work with weapons. If a gladiator lost
his weapons in the arena, which was always a possibility, he had to have
some skill to at least try to survive. Also, when an opponent had closed in,
fists, choking, and joint locking were often appropriate weapons.
Therefore, it is likely that Roman gladiators were also taught the skills
of entering, seizing, trapping, disarming, and tripping their opponents.
Such actions are well known to Asian martial arts and, as demonstrated in