r/bloodonthesands

Wacvs Boncvs the Thraex and Gnaeus Bonus the Murmillo met again in a rematch on Rome’s northern frontier. Both Lanistae found the game flowed much quicker with some familiarity and although I’m sure we made a few mistakes I think we got most things right. Wacvs had a definite plan to try and pin me back against the arena wall, but some fortunate rolls countered his ploy. Gnaeus then scored a deep bleeding wound which left Wacvs accumulating fatigue at a seemingly terminal rate.

The gods however smiled kindly on the young Thraex and with what was, quite literally, his last throw of the dice, he scored a hard strike that tripped Gnaeus and forced him (me!) to concede

"The gladiator Lupercus is depicted fully armed. On the right, a young man holds his helmet. 150-200 AD" Per the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece where this is on display. Obviously the date indicates that this was clearly made in the Roman empire. Also, there were many Greek speaking gladiators after Romans exported gladiatoral games (invented by Etruscans, made popular by Romans) from Italy to other regions. Hence, the object is Roman with a Greek inscription.

Identity in ancient times was very complex and layered, including that of one's town, region, ruler, religion, language, historical alliances, etc. The Roman Empire was a multilingual, multiethnic state; its heterogeneous nature meant that control by Rome in regions outside of Italy varied and so too did local institutions, the composition of elites, the amount of migrants or veteran settlers, customs, calendars, the prevalence of local deities, etc.

After Greece was conquered militarily in the mid 2nd century BC, the Romans learned a lot from them and were inspired greatly by their art and literature. Greece became incorporated into and was an important part of the Roman Empire for centuries! Some people claim that during that time that Greek speakers were not Romans, only Latin speakers were...which is not correct. Plenty of people in Roman times in the boundaries of modern day Greece (Hellenic Republic) among the Roman provinces of Achaia, Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace had Roman citizenship...and after an edict in 212 AD all free inhabitants there had Roman citizenship. But even those without Roman citizenship were still Romans in the geopolitical sense as they paid taxes to Rome, were protected by the Roman army, received money after earthquakes from Roman authorities, benefited from infrastructure projects paid for or organized by Roman authorities, were subject to Roman laws, conducted trade with and were influenced by others in the Roman empire, etc.

The word "Greek" when referring to ancient history could refer to culture, language, geography, traditions...but not a singular nation or political union. Greek rule over all of Greece in the classical period lasted only for a bit before the Roman conquest and did not resume until the Byzantine Empire/Eastern Roman Empire which was eventually a predominantly Greek Orthodox state based in Constantinople. Then people called themselves Rhomaioi, not Hellenes (that is a whole different discussion).

The Blood on the Sands quick start that was part of Wargames Illustrated magazine with the Warlord Games myrmillo gladiator thrown in for good measure as I liked the dynamic pose. Now to hopefully not make too many mistakes in a solo learning game.

A Roman mosaic portion showing a bull in addition to other animals hunted in the amphitheater (during the venationes) on the border surrounding images of deities. This is in situ in the Roman villa of Orbe (Switzerland) along with several other interesting mosaics dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD.

A pair of Thraex, obviously the greaves and helmets are wrong but with the weapon and shield being correct I think it is clear what they are from looking.

Might get myself the Gangs of Rome rules to tide me over!

Apologies for lack of content, meanwhile here’s a little messy in progress shot of some background buildings…