Who else besides the gladiators fought in the Colosseum?

Answer 1

The Colosseum was one on the many amphitheatres (arenas for gladiatorial games) around the Roman Empire. It was the largest and most famous one. The gladiatorial games lasted the whole day or several days. The gladiatorial combats were the highlights, but there were other events as well. The schedule of the day was:

Displays of exotic animals

Animal hunts which replicated hunting scenes

Comic acts with clowns and dwarfs

Acrobatic and gymnastic acts

Tightrope walking

Music and dances Animal acts

Tortures and executions

Wrestling

Boxing

Gladiatorial contests

Therefore, besides the gladiators there were clowns, dwarfs, acrobats and gymnasts, boxers and Greco-Roman wrestlers, dancers and musicians. The second most important type of entertainer was the venator (hunter), who performed in the animal hunts (venation, plur. Venationes). These involved both wild and other animals: lions, elephants, bears, deer, wild goats, dogs, and rabbits. Some of these animals were trained, and instead of fighting, performed tricks. In the city of Rome venationes were also performed at the Circus Maximum (the Chariot Racing track). The games also included the execution of convicts condemned ad bestiam; that is, condemned to be attacked by wild beasts.

Mock naval battles (naumachiae) were fought at the Colosseum four times. These involved fights between large numbers of fighters who represented opposing sea borne armies. The fighters were war captives or convicts sentenced to death.

The gladiators fought each other in pairs, apart from the retarius (a type of gladiator who had a dagger, a trident net to catch the opponents with) who fought against two secutors (gladiators with a large rectangular shield, a short sword a helmet enclosed the head entirely, apart from small eye-holes as protection against the prongs of the trident).