1. Female Gladiators Were Called Gladiatrices
In ancient Rome, the term ‘gladiatrix’ (plural: ‘gladiatrices’) was used to refer to female gladiators, though this term was not used during the Roman period itself. The Latin language lacked a specific word for a female gladiator, so Roman authors often used terms like ‘ludia’ or ‘mulier’ to describe women participating in the arena. ‘Ludia’ referred to a female performer, while ‘mulier’ simply meant ‘woman’. The earliest known use of ‘gladiatrix’ is from a 4th-century gloss of Juvenal’s work, where the term was used to describe a woman training for a performance at the ludi for the Floralia festival. This suggests that the concept of female gladiators existed in Roman society, even if the specific term was a later development.
