There is no specific Latin word for a female gladiator nor was there a feminine form, gladiatrix being a modern construction, first used in a translation of Juvenal in 1802. The closest term to identify the female gladiator is ludia (from ludus, "stage performer") but even that word tends to refer to the wife or lover of a gladiator.
When Tacitus writes of the "many ladies of distinction" that appeared in the amphitheater, he uses the word feminae, the respectable wives and daughters of Roman citizens. Mulier is used by Juvenal to describe the woman who shamelessly shuns her femininity and practices to be gladiator and by Petronius to describe the essedarius. A distinction was made, therefore, between the lady who does not willingly debase herself in entertaining the mob in the arena, and the woman who does. But neither was ever called a gladiator, although both femina and mulier were used of necessity.
When Tacitus writes of the "many ladies of distinction" that appeared in the amphitheater, he uses the word feminae, the respectable wives and daughters of Roman citizens. Mulier is used by Juvenal to describe the woman who shamelessly shuns her femininity and practices to be gladiator and by Petronius to describe the essedarius. A distinction was made, therefore, between the lady who does not willingly debase herself in entertaining the mob in the arena, and the woman who does. But neither was ever called a gladiator, although both femina and mulier were used of necessity.
___________________________________________________________________________
The marble relief from Halicarnassus in Turkey dates from the second century AD. Now in the British Museum, it depicts two women, Amazon and Achillia, fighting as gladiators. The Greek declares them missae sunt, that they both have received missio and been granted a reprieve from this particular contest.
Although heavily armed in the manner of the secutor, with greaves and the right arm protected and carrying a large oblong shield, the heads of the women are bare (as are their breasts). The absence of helmets is a curious omission and may be due simply to the desire to see the faces of the combatants, given the rarity of such encounters and how evenly matched were the protagonists. Coleman, however, suggests that the two round objects on either side of the names represent, not spectators but helmets, signifying that each combatant has qualified for missio.
Achilles is said to have killed and then fallen in love with Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, her beauty conquering the conqueror (Propertius, Elegies III.11). The noms de guerre of the two women, therefore, seem especially appropriate and one wonders if they were chosen deliberately.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Juvenal, a contemporary of Martial (XII.18), is especially critical of women from distinguished and illustrious families disgracing themselves in the arena or, for that matter, being enamored of gladiators and prizing them above home and country (VI. 82ff).
"What sense of shame can be found in a woman wearing a helmet, who shuns femininity and loves brute force....If an auction is held of your wife's effects, how proud you will be of her belt and arm-pads and plumes, and her half-length left-leg shin-guard! Or, if instead, she prefers a different form of combat [as a Thraex, both of whose legs were protected], how pleased you'll be when the girl of your heart sells off her greaves!....Hear her grunt while she practises thrusts as shown by the trainer, wilting under the weight of the helmet." (Satires, VI.252ff).
The desire for excitement and notoriety was such that several edicts were enacted to limit the participation of women in the arena, at least those who were not slaves or of low social status. Senators (but not equites) first were prohibited from fighting in the arena in 46 BC, when one had desired to compete as part of the games accompanying the dedication of Caesar's new forum (Dio, XLIII.23.5; Suetonius, XXXIX). There was another ban in 38 BC prohibiting senators (and their sons) from fighting as a gladiator (and appearing on stage) (Dio, XLVIII.43.3). In 22 BC, even the grandsons of senators could not appear on stage (Dio, LIV.2.5; Suetonius, Augustus XLIII.3). Performances in the arena were even more scandalous and must have been banned, as well. Women, given their appearance on the stage, also were included for the first time. But this senatus consultum (senatorial decree) seems to have been ineffectual. Aristocratic women and equites continued to appear on stage and the ban was lifted (Dio, LVI.25.7). In AD 11, a SC declared that "no female of free birth of less than twenty years of age and for no male of free birth of less than twenty-five years of age to pledge himself as a gladiator or hire out his services <for the arena or stage>," a ban reiterated in AD 19. When Caligula came to the throne in AD 37, these prohibitions were of no significance. "He caused great numbers of men to fight as gladiators, forcing them to contend both singly and in groups drawn up in a kind of battle array. He had asked permission of the senate to do this, so that he was able to do anything he wished even contrary to what was provided by law" (Dio, LIX.10.1-2).
In 200 AD, Septimius Severus banned any female from the arena. During a gymnastic contest, "women took part, vying with one another most fiercely, with the result that jokes were made about other very distinguished women as well. Therefore it was henceforth forbidden for any woman, no matter what her origin, to fight in single combat" (Dio, LXXVI.16).
Although heavily armed in the manner of the secutor, with greaves and the right arm protected and carrying a large oblong shield, the heads of the women are bare (as are their breasts). The absence of helmets is a curious omission and may be due simply to the desire to see the faces of the combatants, given the rarity of such encounters and how evenly matched were the protagonists. Coleman, however, suggests that the two round objects on either side of the names represent, not spectators but helmets, signifying that each combatant has qualified for missio.
Achilles is said to have killed and then fallen in love with Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, her beauty conquering the conqueror (Propertius, Elegies III.11). The noms de guerre of the two women, therefore, seem especially appropriate and one wonders if they were chosen deliberately.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Juvenal, a contemporary of Martial (XII.18), is especially critical of women from distinguished and illustrious families disgracing themselves in the arena or, for that matter, being enamored of gladiators and prizing them above home and country (VI. 82ff).
"What sense of shame can be found in a woman wearing a helmet, who shuns femininity and loves brute force....If an auction is held of your wife's effects, how proud you will be of her belt and arm-pads and plumes, and her half-length left-leg shin-guard! Or, if instead, she prefers a different form of combat [as a Thraex, both of whose legs were protected], how pleased you'll be when the girl of your heart sells off her greaves!....Hear her grunt while she practises thrusts as shown by the trainer, wilting under the weight of the helmet." (Satires, VI.252ff).
The desire for excitement and notoriety was such that several edicts were enacted to limit the participation of women in the arena, at least those who were not slaves or of low social status. Senators (but not equites) first were prohibited from fighting in the arena in 46 BC, when one had desired to compete as part of the games accompanying the dedication of Caesar's new forum (Dio, XLIII.23.5; Suetonius, XXXIX). There was another ban in 38 BC prohibiting senators (and their sons) from fighting as a gladiator (and appearing on stage) (Dio, XLVIII.43.3). In 22 BC, even the grandsons of senators could not appear on stage (Dio, LIV.2.5; Suetonius, Augustus XLIII.3). Performances in the arena were even more scandalous and must have been banned, as well. Women, given their appearance on the stage, also were included for the first time. But this senatus consultum (senatorial decree) seems to have been ineffectual. Aristocratic women and equites continued to appear on stage and the ban was lifted (Dio, LVI.25.7). In AD 11, a SC declared that "no female of free birth of less than twenty years of age and for no male of free birth of less than twenty-five years of age to pledge himself as a gladiator or hire out his services <for the arena or stage>," a ban reiterated in AD 19. When Caligula came to the throne in AD 37, these prohibitions were of no significance. "He caused great numbers of men to fight as gladiators, forcing them to contend both singly and in groups drawn up in a kind of battle array. He had asked permission of the senate to do this, so that he was able to do anything he wished even contrary to what was provided by law" (Dio, LIX.10.1-2).
In 200 AD, Septimius Severus banned any female from the arena. During a gymnastic contest, "women took part, vying with one another most fiercely, with the result that jokes were made about other very distinguished women as well. Therefore it was henceforth forbidden for any woman, no matter what her origin, to fight in single combat" (Dio, LXXVI.16).