The ''arbelas'' (plural ''arbelai'') was a

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

. The word is a ''

hapax legomenon In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an Fixed expression, expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written re ...

'', occurring only in the ''

Oneirocritica ''Oneirocritica'' () (''The Interpretation of Dreams'') is an ancient Greek treatise on dream interpretation written by Artemidorus in the 2nd century AD."Artemidorus Daldianus" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia B ...

'' of

Artemidorus Artemidorus Daldianus () or Ephesius was a professional diviner and dream interpreter who lived in the 2nd century AD. He is known from an extant five-volume Greek work, the '' Oneirocritica'' or ''Oneirokritikon'' ()."Artemidorus Daldianus" in ...

, a Greek work on

dream interpretation Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. In many ancient societies, such as those of Egypt and Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be in ...

that discusses the symbolism of various

gladiator types A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

. It may be related to the Greek word ''arbelos'' (ἄρβηλος), a

cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who repairs shoes * Cobbler (food), a type of pie Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * ''The Cobbler' ...

's semicircular blade used to cut leather similar to an ulu. A few

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s show gladiators armed with a curved blade fighting each other; it has been argued that these (possibly also fighting '' retiarii'', the net-fighters) are ''arbelai''; however, they have also been seen as the '' scissores'' who likewise may have been matched against ''retiarii''. Artemidorus lists the ''arbelas'' among gladiators who might appear in dreams advising a man about what sort of woman he is to marry. Both the '' dimachaerus'', who fought with two curved blades, and the "so-called" ''arbelas'' signify that the woman will either be a poisoner, malicious, or ugly.

References

{{Reflist Gladiator types Gladiatorial combat

See also

References