The mass culture often shows gladiators as slaves who were taught to fight. They fought and killed each other for people’s entertainment. But if we take a closer look at historical facts, we will find out that their lives were not so tragic. In the beginning, the fighters were really chosen from local slaves, conquered people, and criminals.

But as gladiator fights became more and more popular, free people started coming to gladiator schools. Most of the time, they were ex-soldiers who wanted to win money. Later, even noble people would become gladiators. They did it to become famous and nobody forced them to fight to their death.