A Roman Gladiator and a Lion Met in Combat. Only One Walked Away

Gladiators battled lions and other wild animals in the arenas of the Roman Empire. But for all the tales of glorious combat depicted in ancient texts, marble reliefs and mosaics and then retold in movies and other modern media, archaeologists have never found direct physical evidence, like the skeletons of gladiators bearing animal-induced wounds. At last, proof of classical combat between man and beast has been found in the form of a skeleton from a Roman settlement in Britain. It is the first direct evidence of a gladiator mauled by a lion. The skeleton was discovered 20 years ago, in an excavation spurred by a couple hoping to renovate the yard of their home in the English city of York. An initial survey turned up evidence of an ancient cemetery, halting the construction plans. “Britain is rich with Roman archaeology,” said Tim Thompson, an anthropologist at Maynooth University in Ireland and an author of a paper published Wednesday that describes the discovery in the journal PLO ... Read full article.