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STEPHEN BRUNET
history.2 On the basis of the evidence of Stat. Silv. 1.6 and Dio 67.8,
Navarre stated unequivocally that Domitian was responsible for making
women fight dwarfs in the arena. 3 Essentially the same statement
can be found in Wiedemann's study of the gladiatorial games, although
for support he cites Suet. Dom. 4.1 and Mart. Sp. 68. 4 In his commentary
on Dio. Murison interprets the evidence of 67.8. as Navarre had done,
on the basis of two of Martial's epigrams. 1.43 and 14.213. 5 The assumption
that Dio 67.8 proves that women fought dwarfs reappears in Gunderson's
exploration of the gender issues raised by the Roman games
and in the recent treatment of female gladiators by Schafer. 6 Admittedly,
some scholars, such as Ville, have understood these passages in a
different way, but their views are apparent only from remarks they
make in passing about Stat. Silv. 1.6 or Dio 67.8.7 Nowhere have they or
any other scholar openly challenged the belief that the Roman games
featured matches between women and dwarfs.
In all. then. proponents of the view that women were matched
against dwarfs have based their position on a total of six passages:
Mart. Sp. 6B. 1.43. 14.213: Dio 67.8: Stat. Silv. 1.6: and Suet. Dom. 4.1. 8 It is
2 The notion that dwarfs faced off against women in the arena has also been
played up as an acknowledged fact in a recent television documentary: "Gladiators,"
part 4 of Warrior Challenge. Channel Thirteen/WNET New York: Educational
Broadcasting Corporation (originally broadcast May 27, 2003). A gladiatorial
combat between barbarian women of no particular ethnicity and pygmies
from Africa (actually black dwarfs) also figures prominently in Cecil B. de­
Mille's 1932 film The Sign ofthe Cross.
3 O. Navarre, in C. Daremberg and E. Saglio, eds., Dictionnaire des antiquites
grecques et romaines (PARIS 1877-1919) S.v. Nanus.
4 T. Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators (London 1992) 112, 125 n. 45.
5 C. Murison, Rebellion and Reconstruction. Galba to Domitian: An Historical
Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History, Books 64-67 (A.D. 68-96)
(Atlanta 1999) 239. Murison, however, correctly understood that Stat. Silv. 1.6
refers only to the appearance of women and dwarfs in the same show, not to a
contest between the two types of gladiators.
6 E. Gunderson, "The ideology of the arena," ClAnt IS (1996) 143; D. Schafer,
"Frauen in del' Arena," in H. Bellen and H. Heinen, eds., Fiinfzig Jahre Forschungen
zur antiken Sklaverei der Mainzer Akademie: 1950-2000. Miscellanea
zumJubili:ium (Stuttgart 2001) 245-246.
7 The list of those who seem to believe that wome did not fight dwarfs includes
L. Friedlander, M. Valerii Martialis Epigrammaton Libri (LeipZig 1886)
on 1.43 (his opinion is not clear in Sittengeschichte Roms, II [Leipzig lO
1921-23]
53); G. Ville, La gladiature en Occident des origines a la mort de Domitien.
BEFAR 245 (Rome 1981) 152; and D. Briquet "Les femmes gladiateurs: Examen
du dossier," Ktema 17 (1992) 49.
B No scholar seems to have cited Petro 45.7 in this connection. although the
passage does mention a gladiatorial show involving both women and, if the text