Munera gladiatorum. Mujeres gladiadoras

Abstract

When studying gladiatorial games (munera gladiatorum) female gladiators should be given special attention. Their existence is out of doubt, though the sources that speak to us of those women are scarce. In this article we study in detail all the literary texts, epigraphic inscriptions and graphic somces we ha ve of gladiator women. In particular, we pay special attention to a bronze statuette kept at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe of Hamburg, which scholars have traditionally misunderstood as representing a female athlete holding a strigil but that, actually, depicts a female gladiator.