When you think of Roman gladiators, you probably picture muscular men in helmets fighting to the death in the Colosseum. But here's something Hollywood doesn't show you: female gladiators were real, and according to the rules of gladiatorial combat, they fought bare-chested just like the men.
They were called gladiatrices (singular: gladiatrix), and they battled each other with swords, shields, and leg armor in front of roaring crowds. They were rare—mostly used as novelty acts to satisfy Roman audiences' craving for exotic entertainment—but the archaeological and written evidence proves they existed. And in 200 A.D., Emperor Septimius Severus banned them entirely after deciding the sport was breeding disrespect for all women.
For centuries, historians debated whether female gladiators were real or just exaggerated stories. But the evidence is undeniable. History.com reports that written accounts from the first century B.C. describe women sparring with each other as after-dinner entertainment, and later fighting beasts, dwarfs, and other women in spectacles hosted by emperors Nero, Titus, and Domitian.
An inscription found in the port city of Ostia shows a local magistrate boasting of being the first to "provide women for the sword" since the city's founding. Female gladiators fought in Pompeii. There are eyewitness accounts of them in Rome itself.
The most famous piece of evidence is an ancient marble relief housed in the British Museum. Found in Halicarnassus (now Turkey), it shows two women battling with shields, swords, and leg protectors. The figures are labeled "Amazon" and "Achillia"—likely stage names inspired by Greek mythology. An inscription above their heads indicates they fought to an honorable draw, meaning neither was killed.
Here's the part that shocks people: female gladiators fought topless. Not because they were being exploited (though that was definitely part of it), but because it was literally a rule of gladiatorial combat.
According to a National Geographic study by Alfonso Manas of Spain's University of Granada, "One of the rules of a gladiatorial fight was that women or men fought with bare chests." Male gladiators also fought shirtless—it was part of the spectacle and the tradition.
The evidence comes from a roughly 2,000-year-old bronze statuette at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbein in Hamburg, Germany. It shows a "bare-chested woman in a loincloth" brandishing a sica—a short, curved sword associated with a type of gladiator known as a thraex (Thracian). Her lowered head and raised arm match the "typical victory gesture of gladiators" in Roman art, suggesting she's standing over a defeated opponent.
For centuries, experts thought the statue depicted a woman holding a cleaning tool. But in 2011, researchers re-evaluated it and concluded she was a female gladiator celebrating a win. History.com notes that the statue shows her "bare-chested, as gladiators typically fought."
Manas wrote in the International Journal of the History of Sport: "No doubt the particular appearance of female gladiators would also cause an erotic impact on viewers." Given that the audience was overwhelmingly male, the bare-chested fighting definitely served a dual purpose: tradition and titillation.
Female gladiators came from all social classes, which is wild considering how controversial it was.
Enslaved women were often forced into it. Wealthy families owned enslaved people, and an entrepreneurial owner might see a strong woman and think, "Let's train her as a gladiator. She'll make me money." According to History.com, David S. Potter, a classics professor at the University of Michigan, explains: "He'd say, 'You're strong. Let's get you trained as a gladiator. You'll make a lot of money from your fights.'"
Middle and upper-class women also fought—voluntarily. Why? Potter says it's the same reason young men of privilege did: "It's exciting. It's different. It pisses off their parents."
At the time, Roman women engaged in various sports and prized staying in shape. Roman officials actually encouraged women's fitness because they believed it built strength for childbirth. Affluent women could afford training and had the leisure time to work out. Professional gladiator troupe managers would recruit women who excelled at wrestling to try gladiatorial combat, which offered money and glamour.
The Roman Senate tried to stop upper-class women from fighting by passing laws in 11 and 19 A.D. prohibiting them from entering the arena. But the laws had almost no effect—accounts of high-born women fighting continued for two centuries afterward.
Female gladiators were rare compared to male gladiators, but certain emperors loved using them as novelty acts to wow the crowds.
Emperor Nero was obsessed with them. In 59 A.D., he held an exhibition where "men and women not only of the [middle class] but even of the senatorial order...fought as gladiators, some willingly and some sore against their will," according to Roman historian Cassius Dio. In 66 A.D., Nero had female gladiators battle at games honoring his mother—whom he had murdered. Yes, really.
Emperor Domitian took it even further. He held gladiator bouts at nighttime by torchlight, sometimes pitting women against dwarfs as well as each other. The whole thing was designed to be as shocking and entertaining as possible.
Roman audiences craved novelty. They'd seen thousands of male gladiators fight. Female gladiators battling each other? That was fresh. That was scandalous. That sold tickets.
Even though people flocked to watch female gladiators, Roman society took a dim view of women fighting in the arena—especially married women.
The Roman poet Juvenal mocked men who allowed their wives to fight, writing sarcastically: "What a great honor it is for a husband to see, at an auction, where his wife's effects are up for sale, belts, shin-guards, arm-protectors and plumes!... Hear her grunt and groan as she works at it, parrying and thrusting. See her neck bent down under the weight of her helmet."
The criticism wasn't really about the violence—male gladiators were celebrated. It was about women stepping outside their traditional roles. Roman men were fine with women being fit and athletic, but actually fighting in public? That was too much.
In 200 A.D., Emperor Septimius Severus banned all female gladiatorial combat. According to History.com, he did it "reportedly after hearing such lewd jokes directed at women in an athletic contest that he feared the sport bred disrespect for all women."
Basically, the emperor attended some kind of athletic event where the crowd was making crude jokes about the female competitors. He decided that allowing women to fight in the arena was causing men to disrespect all women, not just the gladiatrices. So he banned it entirely.
It's worth noting that male gladiator fights continued for another 200+ years after this. The ban wasn't about violence being bad—it was specifically about women fighting being seen as degrading.
Beyond the written accounts and the two known visual depictions (the marble relief and the bronze statuette), there's one more fascinating piece of evidence: the Great Dover Street Woman.
In 1996, archaeologists from the Museum of London unearthed a fragment of a woman's pelvis among cremated ashes in an elaborate Roman-era grave in Southwark. The burial site included decorative items and remains of a lavish feast—typical of gladiator burials. Jenny Hall, the museum's curator of early history, said it was "70 percent probable" the deceased was a female gladiator.
Some skeptics argued she could have been a gladiator's wife or girlfriend, but the lavishness of the burial and the feast remains suggest she was someone important enough to be honored like a gladiator.
Female gladiators are a reminder that women in ancient Rome had way more agency and complexity than we usually give them credit for. Yes, many were enslaved and had no choice. But others chose to fight—for money, for glory, for excitement, or just to rebel against societal expectations.
They weren't just victims or objects. They were warriors who trained, fought, and sometimes won. They wielded swords and shields. They stood in victory poses over defeated opponents. They were memorialized in marble reliefs and bronze statues.
And yes, they fought bare-chested in front of thousands of screaming Romans, following the same rules as male gladiators. It was shocking. It was controversial. It was entertainment. And it was real.
The fact that Emperor Septimius Severus felt the need to ban them in 200 A.D. proves just how popular—and how threatening—female gladiators had become. They challenged Roman ideas about gender, power, and respectability. And for about 250 years, they fought anyway.
History.com - "Did Women Fight as Gladiators in Ancient Rome?"
National Geographic - "Female Gladiators? Tantalizing New Evidence From Ancient Rome"
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