When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This Roman-era relief depicts two female gladiators fighting each other in Halicarnassus, an ...

The ban hints at moral panic, and possibly the clearest proof that female gladiators truly existed. Roman lawmakers took the unusual step of forbidding women from fighting as gladiators. The ban ...

An ordinary Roman oil lamp shows two gladiators with unmistakably female features, fighting in the same poses as men. Discovered by archaeologist Dr. Anna Miaczewska, it may be the strongest visual ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Cavan W. Concannon, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (THE ...