Flamma (lit. The Flame) was a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

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 ...

under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

during the reign of

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

. He was one of the most famous and successful of his time.

History

How Flamma ended up as a gladiator is unknown. He may have been a revolutionary Syrian or a dissatisfied Roman auxiliary. He was most likely forced into slavery and then into a

gladiator school 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 ...

. He fought as a ''

secutor A secutor (''pl.'' secutores) was a class of gladiator in ancient Rome. Thought to have originated around 50 AD, the secutor ("follower" or "chaser", from ''sequor'' "I follow, come or go after") was armed similarly to the Murmillo gladiator a ...

'', a class of gladiators in Rome. His common opponents were thus ''

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 ...

''. Fighters were granted retirement or freedom if they showed great skill and bravery; in doing so they were rewarded with a wooden baton known as ''rudius''. Flamma was awarded the ''rudius'' four times, but each time he refused this freedom and chose to remain a gladiator. The number of fights Flamma engaged in is higher than most gladiators. Many have lower numbers like Purricina Iuvenus (ILS 5107) who fought 5 times or Glaucus of Modena (ILS 5121) who fought 7 times. Flamma had fought 34 times and won 21 of them. He also achieved old age for a gladiator, dying at age 30 while many died in their early 20s. His gravestone in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

includes his record and reads in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: Which translates as: "Flamma, ''secutor'', lived 30 years, fought 34 times, won 21 times, fought to a draw 9 times, won reprieve 4 times, a Syrian by nationality. Delicatus (a gladiator) made this for his deserving comrade-in-arms."

References

{{reflist Roman gladiators