The dimachaeri (singular: dimachaerus) were a type of Roman

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 ...

that fought with two

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s (

dual wield Dual wielding or Macedonian shooting is the technique of using two weapons, one in each hand, for training or combat. It is not a common combat practice. Although historical records of dual wielding in war are limited, there are numerous weapon-b ...

). The name is a borrowing into Latin of Ancient Greek ''dimákhairos'' 'bearing two knives' ( δι- ''di-'' 'two' + μάχαιρα ''mákhaira'' 'knife'). The dimachaeri were popular during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE, and were probably considered to be "insidious" by many Romans. Both written and pictorial records on dimachaeri are scant and rather indeterminate. Thus, an inscription from Lyon, France, mentions such a type of gladiator, here spelled ''dymacherus''.

Equipment

Depictions of dimachaeri and their equipment vary in pictorial sources, so it is difficult to say exactly how, and how uniformly, they were equipped. Some pictorial sources depict wearing extremely minimal such as a balteus and leather wrappings or none at all, save a ''subligaculum'' (loin cloth). Other show a slightly more heavily armored dimachaerus, variously equipped with scale armor,

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

shirts, visored helmets in the fashion of murmillones,

greave A greave (from the Old French ''greve'' "shin, shin armor") or jambeau is a piece of armor that protects the human leg, leg. Description The primary purpose of greaves is to protect the tibia from attack. The tibia, or shinbone, is very close to ...

s and leg wrappings, both barefoot and in sandals. It is a mistake to suppose that dimachaeri were always identically equipped, or even similarly equipped, apart from wielding two blades. It is also entirely possible that the dimachaerus was not a separate class of gladiator at all, but a sub-discipline within a class, or even a cross-discipline practiced by multiple classes. In the late Roman Empire, when references to dimachaeri first appear, many novelties and new gladiator types were being introduced to the arena, and sub-classes had appeared within many gladiator types.

Fighting style

The dimachaeri were equipped for close-combat fighting. A dimachaerus used a pair of

sica The sica is a short sword or large dagger of ancient Illyrians, Thracians, and Dacians; it was also used in ancient Rome. It is a shorter form of the falx, and the root of the word is the same as the modern sickle. It was originally depicted as ...

(curved scimitar) or

gladius ''Gladius'' () is a Latin word properly referring to the type of sword that was used by Ancient Rome, ancient Roman foot soldiers starting from the 3rd century BC and until the 3rd century AD. Linguistically, within Latin, the word also came t ...

and used a fighting style adapted to both attack and defend with his weapons rather than a shield, as he or she was not equipped with one.Marcus Junkelmann, 'Familia Gladiatoria: "The Heroes of the Amphitheatre"' in The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome: Gladiators and Caesars, ed. by Eckart Köhne and Cornelia Ewigleben (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2000), p. 63. Little else is known about this class of gladiator, but due to the difficulty of wielding two swords it can be inferred that dimachaeri were ambidextrous or highly skilled and experienced fighters, and were probably relatively exalted as a class of gladiator. Dimachaeri would have been ideally suited to fight heavily armored opponents and they may have fought other dimachaeri, as well. They are also referred to as fighting against a gladiator class called

hoplomachus A hoplomachus (pl. hoplomachi) (hoplon meaning "equipment" in Greek) was a type of gladiator in ancient Rome, armed to resemble a Greek hoplite (soldier with heavy armor and helmet, a small, round, concave shield, a spear and a sword). The hopl ...

, which, according to

Justus Lipsius Justus Lipsius (Joest Lips or Joost Lips; October 18, 1547 – March 23, 1606) was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatibl ...

, was a putative variant of the Samnite.Roman life and manners under the early empire 'Ludwig Friedlaender' (1913)pp 176-2

References

{{reflist Gladiatorial combat Gladiator types

Equipment

Fighting style

See also

References