For the #ReliefWednesday thread - Female Gladiator Relief

A marble relief from Halicarnassus showing two female gladiators, ca. 1st-2nd Century AD, perhaps representing the tied outcome of a bout. #Gladiator

Image: British Museum (1847,0424.19)

The names of the two combatants are inscribed below the figures ΑΜΑΖΟΝ and ΑΧΙΛΛΙΑ - 'Amazon' and 'Achilia', perhaps alluding to the duel between Achilles and Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, during the Trojan War.

Above the figures is the inscription ΑΠΕΛΥΘΗΣΑΝ - 'They were released', which may refer to their discharge from service or their dismissal from the arena in a 'missio' following a draw (the latter interpretation is advanced by Coleman 2000: see below).

Women in the arena were not uncommon sights, with Dio (66.25.1) noting the appearance of female beast-hunters at the inauguration of the Flavian Amphitheatre in AD 80. Similarly, Suetonius (Domitian 4.1) notes that Domitian presented gladiatorial contests "some by torchlight...

...in which women as well as men took part." Similarly, Juvenal (Satire 6.246-267) reports women training for the arena, though from the presentation it appears that this was frowned upon as an activity.

For more on the relief, see:

Coleman, Kathleen. “Missio at Halicarnassus.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 100, 2000, pp. 487–500.

http://jstor.org/stable/3185234 

#ReliefWednesday #Gladiator