The Gladiator Wore a G-String

[livius drusus]

In pottery form, anyway (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051212/gladiator_arc.html).

Divers exploring a river near a former Roman Empire fort and settlement in Britain have found a piece of pottery that depicts the backside of a rather buff gladiator wielding a whip and wearing nothing but a G-string, according to British researchers.

The image represents the first known depiction of a gladiator in such revealing attire. It adds to the evidence that ancient Romans viewed gladiators not only as fearless warriors, but also as sex symbols.

[...]

"A lot of film stars and celebrities like to show a bit of bum, so the Romans were no doubt the same or worse," Rolfe Hutchinson told Discovery News. He discovered the object with diving partner Bob Middlemass. "After all, they were the celebrities of the day."

:giggle: A bit of bum... That's almost as cute as wotcha.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051212/gallery/gladiator_zoom.jpg

[Leesifer]

That's quite a sexy, muscley glute there, liv. :yup:

[livius drusus]

Indeedly. What's weird to me is that I had no idea gladiators were always represented clothed. I think I had them jumbled up in my mind with Greek athletes who went for the full monty all the time, even though obviously gladiators were doing something involving pointy swords and tridents instead of discuses and finish lines.

[Leesifer]

You just like thinking about naked men, obviously. :giggle:

[cappuccino]

I always thought Roman gladiators were hot :giggle:

[livius drusus]

Git your minds out of the gutter, y'all. It could just be a slip of the potter's hand, after all. :hmph:


Besides, gladiators are fine even without the bit of bum showing. :giggle:

[Crumb]

Or maybe he was a victim of the legendary and dreaded wedgicus.

[ChuckF]

Or maybe he was a victim of the legendary and dreaded wedgicus.
:giggle:

At the col-ass-see-um.

[Legs]

G String Gladiator has the same stance as justaman confronting Europe. :laugh:

[livius drusus]

:eep: OMG!!!1 That's downright uncanny.

[Ymir's blood]

This thread has me yearning for the vomitorium.

[Chris Porter]

Well, couldn't it be just the backside thong of the string that's typically tied around the prepuce to hold the penis against the body so it doesn't flop around during activity? I thought that was sort of common in sports back then.

kynodesme (http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/)

[livius drusus]

The kynodesme is frequently depicted in Greek art, though. This is the first of its kind in gladiatorial depictions.

[godfry n. glad]

So, liv...

What was the Roman attitude toward the nude human form? The baths were gender separated, were they not?

I suppose it depends upon the period, eh? Is there a phallis/vulvul cult in the Roman tradition anywhere?

It seems the Romans were prudes, compared to the Greeks and their idealized athletic forms.

[livius drusus]

Not at all. Romans were very body positive. Priapic figures are common -- there's a ponderous one welcoming visitors to the house of the Vettii in Pompeii -- as are explicitly sexual ones.

Baths were gender separated, but I think that was more a function of strict gender roles and public sexual mores than prudery.

[godfry n. glad]

I thought the Priapic stuff was Roman, but was not sure.

I wonder why gladiator figures haven't been represented this way in finds to date? It was not common?

[MonCapitan2002]

This thread has me yearning for the vomitorium.
You saw that movie too? The acting in it was so awful. Then again, movies like that aren't watched for their acting.

[Ymir's blood]

This thread has me yearning for the vomitorium.
You saw that movie too? The acting in it was so awful. Then again, movies like that aren't watched for their acting.
What movie?

From Wikipedia: A popular misconception is that the Romans made use of a room called a vomitorium for the express purpose of vomiting between meals to make room for more food. Only a very small minority of the highest classes indulged in the practice of deliberately vomiting. A vomitorium is actually an architectural feature – a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre, through which the crowds could "spew out" at the end of a show.

I was just making a lame pun about leaving the thread.

[Puck]

You know, it seems I heard somewhere recently that at first the baths were co-ed, untill a woman who was a leader, or had designs on being a leader, or some such, pissed off the men by talking politics with them,and they decided to ban women to separate baths.

[MonCapitan2002]

This thread has me yearning for the vomitorium.
You saw that movie too? The acting in it was so awful. Then again, movies like that aren't watched for their acting.
What movie?

From Wikipedia: A popular misconception is that the Romans made use of a room called a vomitorium for the express purpose of vomiting between meals to make room for more food. Only a very small minority of the highest classes indulged in the practice of deliberately vomiting. A vomitorium is actually an architectural feature – a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre, through which the crowds could "spew out" at the end of a show.

I was just making a lame pun about leaving the thread.
There was a movie called Gladiator Eroticvs (http://www.seductioncinema.com/2000/gladiator/index.php) or somesuch title. They mentioned in the movie the use of such a facility. I thought it was a complete fabrication on the part of the filmmakers. I guess I was wrong. when you mentioned the vomitoriums, I thought it was in reference to that movie.

[livius drusus]

Huh. I thought you just meant the Russel Crowe movie was so bad it made you puke.