Flamma (lit. The Flame) was a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

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 ...

under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

during the reign of

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

. He was one of the most famous and successful of his time.

History

How Flamma ended up as a gladiator is unknown. He may have been a revolutionary Syrian or a dissatisfied Roman auxiliary. He was most likely forced into slavery and then into a gladiator school. He fought as a '' secutor'', a class of gladiators in Rome. His common opponents were thus '' retiarii''. Fighters were granted retirement or freedom if they showed great skill and bravery; in doing so they were rewarded with a wooden baton known as ''rudius''. Flamma was awarded the ''rudius'', or wooden sword that granted freedom, four times; but, each time he refused this freedom and chose to remain a gladiator. The number of fights Flamma engaged in is higher than most gladiators. Many have lower numbers like Purricina Iuvenus (ILS 5107) who fought 5 times or Glaucus of Modena (ILS 5121) who fought 7 times. Flamma had fought 34 times and won 21 of them. He also achieved old age for a gladiator, dying at age 30 after being stabbed in the neck by a trident while many died in their early 20s. His gravestone in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

includes his record and reads in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Which translates as: "Flamma, ''secutor'', lived 30 years, fought 34 times, won 21 times, fought to a draw 9 times, won reprieve 4 times, a Syrian by nationality. Delicatus (a gladiator) made this for his deserving comrade-in-arms."

References

{{reflist Roman gladiators People from Roman Syria