Are you not entertained?

Reillius Maximus - ready for the Arena!

Coming off the AHPC VI high, I am currently finishing up my first ludus for Jugula in the hope of starting up a campaign with Dux in the near future.  In doing some research I remembered these pics from our visit to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa last year.


In addition to their excellent permanent exhibits, they had a temporary Gladiator exhibition, "Death & Glory", which had some great relics, recreations and finally some 'dress up' stuff which gave one a good feel for the weight of the equipment.

 There was a particularly good section which described the classic 'match pair' types of combatants : 

Having pursued the displays it was time for "hands on" section of the exhibit:

The Lad dressed up as a Retiarius - does everyone recall how that ended up in Spartacus? (the movie that is...)

 

The Lad discovers the Murmillo's limited field of vision

And the Thraex is no better 

Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant!

Naturally, the inevitable then ensued...

...at which point we were asked to stop the combat!

Paulus the Gaul asks the obvious question: "Are you not Entertained?"

And finally an original Murmillo helmet circa 100AD that we found on display in the British Museum while passing through London last Christmas.