The ''arbelas'' (plural ''arbelai'') was a type of

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

. The word is a ''

hapax legomenon In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written record of an entire ...

'', occurring only in the ''

Oneirocritica ''Oneirocritica'' ( el, Ονειροκριτικά) (''The Interpretation of Dreams'') is an ancient Greek treatise on dream interpretation written by Artemidorus in the 2nd century AD,"Artemidorus Daldianus" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica' ...

'' of

Artemidorus Artemidorus Daldianus ( grc-gre, Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ Δαλδιανός) or Ephesius was a professional diviner who lived in the 2nd century AD. He is known from an extant five-volume Greek work, the '' Oneirocritica'' or ''Oneirokritikon ...

, a Greek work on

dream interpretation Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. Although associated with some forms of psychotherapy, there is no reliable evidence that understanding or interpreting dreams has a positive impact on one's mental health. In m ...

that discusses the symbolism of various

gladiator types A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

. It may be related to the Greek word ''arbelos'' (ἄρβηλος), a

cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who repairs, and sometimes makes, shoes Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * ''The Cobbler'' (1923 film) ...

's semicircular blade used to cut leather similar to an

ulu An ulu ( iu, ᐅᓗ, plural: ''uluit'', 'woman's knife') is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cu ...

. A few

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s show gladiators armed with a curved blade fighting each other; it has been argued that these (possibly also fighting ''

retiarii A ''retiarius'' (plural ''retiarii''; literally, "net-man" in Latin) was a Ancient Rome, Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a net casting, weighted net (''rete'' (3rd decl.), hence the name), a three-pointe ...

'', the net-fighters) are ''arbelai''; however, they have also been seen as the '' scissores'' who likewise may have been matched against ''retiarii''. Artemidorus lists the ''arbelas'' among gladiators who might appear in dreams advising a man about what sort of woman he is to marry. Both the ''

dimachaerus The dimachaeri (singular: dimachaerus) were a type of Roman gladiator that fought with two swords. The name is the Latin-language borrowing of the Greek word meaning "bearing two knives" ( di- ''dual'' + machairi ''knife''). The dimachaeri were ...

'', who fought with two curved blades, and the "so-called" ''arbelas'' signify that the woman will either be a poisoner, malicious, or ugly.

References

{{Reflist Gladiator types Gladiatorial combat

See also

References