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FEMALE AND DWARF GLADIATORS 147
especially telling that these scholars regularly cite these sources without
any comment or discussion. The assumption seems to be that their interpretation
is unproblematic and does not need to be examined. Yet
when these passages are in fact subjected to careful analysis. the most
that can be asserted is that women and dwarfs were a noteworthy feature
of Domitian's games and that they may have occasionally appeared
during the same spectacle. They never. however. appeared in the arena
at the same time. The misconception that female and dwarf gladiators
were matched against each other has arisen essentially because scholars
have pushed the evidence further than it will go.
Easiest to deal with are those references that clearly mention either
women or dwarfs but not both. A good example is Sp. 68 in which Martial
argued for the remarkable nature of Titus' games on the grounds
that women were now capable of deeds similar to those for which Hercules
had been celebrated in the past. notably his killing of the Nemean
lion. 9 The event that triggered Martial's praise is described by Dio. who
noted that Titus employed women to kill animals during the extravagant
games held at the inauguration of the Colosseum (66.25.2). Probably
to be read with Sp. 68 is Sp. 6. which also seems to have celebrated
the feminine valor displayed during these games. In this epigram Martial
observed that while in the past only Mars had served Titus. now
Venus did as well. Weinreich persuasively argued that Venus here symbolized
the women who fought in the arena during Titus' show. IO
Less
convincing is his idea that these women were dressed to resemble representations
of armed Aphrodite or Venus. While Venus or Aphrodite
was often shown holding or standing near a shield or other weapons.
images of this goddess actually armed and in a fighting pose were not
common and it is unlikely that the audience would have understood the
reference if Titus intended to draw on the tradition of Venus as a war-
is emended. dwarfs. Yet this passage. like the six discussed here. cannot be taken
to show that women fought dwarfs in the arena; see below. 11.1 in the list of evidence
for female gladiators.
9 Friedlander in his edition of Martial's epigrams ([above. n. 7] 51. 135-137)
argued that some of the poems in Sp. probably referred to Domitian's games as
well as to Titus' show. His arguments have been disproved by Ville (above. n. 7)
147-148. and in any case they were not directed at the two epigrams discussed
here. I follow Shackleton Bailey's text of the last line haec iam feminea vidimus
acta manu. The other proposed readings likewise indicate that Martial believed
that the actions of the female venatores were remarkable and to be praised.
10 O. Weinreich. Studien zu Martial: Literarhistorische und reJigionsgeschichtliche
Untersuchungen. Tiibinger Beitrage zur Altertumswissenschaft 4
(Stuttgart 1928) 34-36.