It was not any gladiator. He did not hold a sword, he didn’t wear a helmet. It was a bear. A brown bearcaptured in the woods of the Balkans and forced to fight for the fun of the Roman public. Now, A skate discovered in Serbia He gives us back his silent voice and shows us what he really meant to be part of the show in the Roman Empire.
The finding, found in 2016 near the Viminacium amphitheaterancient Roman city along the Danube, dates back to about 1,700 years ago. It belonged to a male bear of about six years. And what he tells is chilling: fractured bones, consumed teeth, bone infections. All signs compatible with a long imprisonment and violent fights.
Nemanja markovićarchaeologist of the Institute of Archeology of Belgrade, he explained:
We cannot say with certainty that the bear died during a fight in the arena, but the wounds and the infection that followed have certainly played a decisive role.
The amphitheater of Viminaciumtoday archaeological site in Serbia, could accommodate up to 7,000 spectators. The days were marked by three precise moments: in the morning it opened with hunts to the animals, at noon it passed to public executions and in the afternoon it was reserved for duels between gladiators. Bears were also part of the show.
They were often put against the Ventatores oi bestiariigladiators specialized in fighting ferocious animals. They were not particularly trained and, unlike the most famous gladiators, they were considered sacrificable. The games were not only aimed at entertaining, but also of showing the control of man (and of Rome) on nature.
Until today, ancient mosaics and texts had hinted that the bears were protagonists of the arenasbut there have never been material evidence. This skull, however, changes everything: It is the first direct physical testimony of a gladiator bear.
Head injuries, loyal teeth: the imprisonment told by the body
Radiocarbon and radiological examinations have revealed that the bear he had suffered a very violent blow to the headprobably from a spear. The wound showed signs of healing, but a bone infection had spread, contributing to his death.
Another impressive detail concerns the teeth: The zanne were consumed abnormally And they show clear signs of inflammation to the gums. Signs that indicate a behavior still observed in captivity animals: obsessively biting the bars of the cagefor stress, as Marković said.
This bear was not locked up for a few days. We are talking about a long imprisonment, which lasted probably years.
The bear was local
There is a further detail that makes this discovery even more important. DNA analysis revealed that The bear had not been imported from distant regions of the Roman Empire, such as Lucania, Caledonia or North Africa. Era A Balkan bear, captured in the woods near Viminacium.
This means that, in some cases, Local authorities preferred to exploit the fauna of the placewithout resorting to expensive transport of exotic animals. The constant need for new animals to be offered to the Arena had created a real blood supply chainwhich started from the woods and ended up under the eyes of the public, between the cries and the applause.
And it wasn’t just bears. In the same archaeological site it was also found the skull of a leopardshowing that in Viminacium Exotic animals were also usedbrought from afar and killed during the games.
The use of animals in the arenas was not accidental or sporadic. It was a central element of the Roman entertainment system. As other similar finds show: in England, for example, The skeleton of a man who lived 1,800 years ago was found, with signs of lion’s bites on the pelvis. Archaeologists believe it was a gladiator, probably died in a clash with a feline in York.
All this reminds us that The Roman show did not spare anyone: neither men nor animals. And that brutality was part of an organized, authorized and applauded system.
The study was published in the scientific journal Antiquityand opens new questions not only about the history of the Roman arenas, but also on how the human being, then as today, has treated (and continues to deal with) animals.
