Ludus Dacicus
About
Founded under Domitian and completed under Trajan to train gladiators drawn from Dacian prisoners, its fighters specialized in the falx, the curved blade that had cut through Roman shields on the Danube frontier. It stood on the slope of the Caelian Hill east of the Colosseum, alongside Rome's three other imperial schools, though its exact footprint has never been pinned down by excavation. Trajan's Dacian triumph of 106 CE kept it freshly supplied with captives in the years just before 117 CE.
What happened here
The day starts before dawn with a run and weapons drill against a wooden post, twice the weight of a real sword so the real one feels light after. A doctor and a trainer are on the payroll, because a dead fighter in training is money wasted. Meals are heavy on barley and beans — fighters are called hordearii, barley men, for it — and the diet is meant to pack on fat as padding over muscle, not to make anyone lean. Men here range from slaves bought for the purpose to free volunteers who signed a contract away, sold their bodies by oath, and can be flogged or killed under its terms. A cell is barely wide enough to lie down in. Rank inside the school follows the win record exactly, and everyone knows everyone else's.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →