Was Flamma actually a Roman soldier?

Quaestor Posts : 20 Join date : 2024-02-08

Were the gladiators really bad at single hand-to-hand combat while Roman Legionnaires are one of the greatest duelist warriors of all time in all of history?

History’s best gladiator Flamma the Syrian was actually a former Roman soldier. He was an Auxiliary soldier in the Roman Army.

By the way, some People say that Flamma actually started out either as an enslaved young Syrian Jew kid who has no fighting skills or as a Jewish anti-Roman rebel?

Which was he most likely? I think he was most likely a Roman soldier but correct me if I am wrong.

Subject: Re: Was Flamma actually a Roman soldier? Sun 25 Feb 2024, 19:39

I doubt anything can be said with certainty beyond the brief information on his gravestone in Sicily:

Flamma s[e]c(utor) vix(it) ann(os) XXX / pugna(vi)t XXXIIII vicit XXI / stans VIIII mis(sus) IIII nat(ione) Syrus / hui(c) Delicatus coarmio merenti fecit.

That is; 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 made this for his deserving comrade-in-arms.

* a scutor or "chaser" was a class of gladiator usually armed with a curved rectangular shield and short sword, and typically paired against a retiarius, a lightly armoured gladiator armed with a trident and net.
** Flamma means "flame" in Latin and is surely just a 'stage' name rather than any sort of family name.

Anything more can only be conjecture.

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Was Flamma actually a Roman soldier?

Was Flamma actually a Roman soldier?

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