Originally held as part of munera (private games to mark the death of a relative), these fights quickly became widespread and grew in size, eventually becoming spectacles in their own right. Gladiators were not always part of the fabric of Roman life: the first fights we have record of took place in 264 BCE, when three pairs of gladiators fought at a funeral for the father of a former consul (see below). Thus gladiators could be used as a mirror for Roman manhood, and as an example of how to behave, even as at the same time the Romans passed laws against elites and ‘respectable’ men and women fighting as gladiators.
Gladiators were complex symbols to the Romans, showing both degradation and honour at the same time: they might be slaves, freed, or disgraced citizens, but at the same time it took courage and bravery to look death in the face and accept it without flinching and that quality the Romans valued. While not possessing the same popularity as charioteers or mime, gladiators were an essential part both of Roman spectacles and of how Romans articulated and celebrated their own identity and power (it takes a lot of power to have the ability to command two men to fight to the death as part of mass entertainment).
the presentation of gladiators from a range of (nearly all) elite source.the social and legal status of gladiators.