Radar Unveils Well-Preserved ‘Gladiator School’ Ruins in Austria
- Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:52pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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They lived in cells barely big enough to turn around in and usually fought until they died. This was the lot of those at a sensational scientific discovery unveiled Monday: The well-preserved ruins of a gladiator school in Austria.
The Carnuntum ruins are part of a city of 50,000 people 28 miles (45 kilometers) east of Vienna that flourished about 1,700 years ago — a major military and trade outpost linking the far-flung Roman empire’s Asian boundaries to its central and northern European lands.
Mapped out by radar, the ruins of the gladiator school remain underground. Yet officials say the find rivals the famous Ludus Magnus — the largest of the gladiatorial training schools in Rome — in its structure. And they say the Austrian site is even more detailed than the well-known Roman ruin, down to the remains of a thick wooden post in the middle of the training area, a mock enemy that young, desperate gladiators hacked away at centuries ago. Al Jazeera looks at what archeologists have discovered
BBC News reports that the radar images show thick walls surrounding the compound which contained 40 small cells for fighters.
“(This is) a world sensation, in the true meaning of the word,” said Lower Austrian provincial Governor Erwin Proell.
The archaeological park Carnuntum said the ruins were “unique in the world … in their completeness and dimension.”
The gladiator complex is part of a 10-square kilometer (3.9-square mile) site over the former city, an archaeological site now visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists a year. Officials told reporters they had no date for the start of excavations of the school, saying experts needed time to settle on a plan that conserves as much as possible.
“If one has a major injury then you first do a series of CT scans before you let a surgeon do his work,” explained Wolfgang Neubauer, director of the Ludwig Bolzman Institute, which participated in the discovery.
Digging at the city site began around 1870, but only 0.5 percent of the settlement has been excavated, due to the enormity of what lies beneath and to the painstaking process of restoring what already has been unearthed.
Virtual video presentations Monday of the former Carnuntum gladiator school showed images of the ruins underground that morphed into what the complex must have looked like in the third century.
It was definitely a school of hard knocks.
“A gladiator school was a mixture of a barracks and a prison, kind of a high-security facility,” said the Roemisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, one of the institutes involved in finding and evaluating the discovery. “The fighters were often convicted criminals, prisoners-of-war, and usually slaves.”
Still, there were some perks for the men who sweated and bled for what they hoped would at least be a few brief moments of glory before their demise.
At the end of a dusty and bruising day, they could pamper their bodies in baths with hot, cold and lukewarm water. And hearty meals of meat, grains and cereals were plentiful for the men who burned thousands of calories in battle each day for the entertainment of others.
Thick walls surround 11,000 square meters (13,160 sq. yards) of the site, and the school and its adjacent buildings stretch over 2,800 square meters (3,350 square yards).
Inside, a courtyard was ringed by living quarters and other buildings and contained a round, 19-square meter (23-square yard) training area — a small stadium overlooked by wooden seats and the terrace of the chief trainer.
The complex also contained about 40 tiny sleeping cells for the gladiators; a large bathing area; a training hall with heated floors and assorted administrative buildings. Outside the walls, radar scans show what archeologists believe was a cemetery for those killed during training.
The institute said the training area was where the men’s “market value and in end effect their fate” was decided. At the same time, it gave them a small chance for survival, fame, and possibly liberty.
“If they were successful, they had a chance to advance to ‘superstar’ status — and maybe even achieve freedom,” said Carnuntum park head Franz Humer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (41)
Less1leg
Posted on September 7, 2011 at 6:12amprobably find Lindsay Lohan in there. Anyway, history if you can find it proves how little has changed over time except the junk we call civilization. Have we improved over the Romans, or the Aztec. Not one bit. We still have despots, but with bigger guns and bombs.
Report Post »willnotbackdown
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:20pmWonder if Jimmy Haffa ended up there. Hopefully likr father like son will hold true.
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:33pmSo, we can find all this underground but can’t find the smugglers tunnels under the Texas-Arizona boarder?
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:45pmOr the illegals that are here collecting welfare. All they have to do is hold the checks, make them come for them personally, say something about an error on their application, and then check ID when they come to pick it up.
Report Post »Cake
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:32pmWhy do some of you seem to care so much about the source. To quote some guy… “The truth has no agenda”. Who cares where a source or scoop comes from just so its factual.
Report Post »username112973
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 7:46pmAmericans are readng Al Jeezera for truthful news now a days? Unforutunately so, since the American mainstream media has been compromised.
Report Post »Ookspay
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:00pmPretty frickin’ sad that The Blaze would link Al Jazzerra… Is Hillary the new editor?
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 8:31pmUnfortunately, there is more real unvarnished news here than on the MSM….disgusting as it may seem
Report Post »WHIZ
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:53pmHistory holds no secrets! 1700 years from now future generations will find similar structures where liberals were sent to receive training in Americanism right before their demise! The strange thing is the complexes were funded by George Soros!
Report Post »ShyMan
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:42pmWhiz said, “1700 years from now future generations will find similar structures where liberals were sent to receive training in Americanism right before their demise! The strange thing is the complexes were funded by George Soros!”
Actually, they are called “public schools.” And we the tax payers pay for them.
Report Post »Cat
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:47pmYear 3025.03.223.2567.Lt
Headline – Pluto ﻈ₪↨TV
Archeologists uncover a unique find on the solid ice rock once known as planet earth …
Report Post »The find was unique and closely resembled a common fruit known on 22 century earth as a Banana …
The Banana was found lodged in the lower “teeth” section of a skull thought to be human or possibly that of a monkey …
On 22 century earth, Bananas were used as brain food for people known as politicians …
Few artifacts were uncovered during the four-year expedition, but an object some archeologists believe to be a hamburger was close by …
More at 1546.8464.7865. o:clock
Mad_as_Hell...
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:42pmAll that excavation that will be required…Boy, talk about an opportunity for “Shover-Ready Jobs!!!
Report Post »flatbroke
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:21pmMust have been where “Arn-nold” was trained. hahahahahaha!
Report Post »go2gym
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:08pmMaybe that’s where James Hoffa wants to “take out the son of bitches”
Report Post »Hatedemdems
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 5:58pmHoffa under an excavated commode.
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 4:03pmFather Iuppiter please forgive the mockery of my fellow countrymen.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 5:46pm… there isn’t another news source covering this story besides Al JIZZERA? Muslims suck.
Report Post »AnAmerican111
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:34pmSounds like a good place to put the Union hack Hoffa under
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:54pmAl Jazeera decided to do a little fluff piece on ancient Rome. That is a refreshing diffference from their usual jew-baiting rant. Of course…we did not see it all. They probably blamed Israel for putting up the money to build the gladiator school and claims they used arabs as human dummies to practice on.
Report Post »GENEPAGLIARI
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:31pm…arabs as human dummies to practice on. Now, there’s a thought.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:51pmThey should excevate the ruins of Detroit…
Report Post »WELCOME TO HELL
Bernard
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:27pmThe Colosseum in those ruins rival the Colosseum in Rome. It is a wonder that during World War 2, When we carpet bombed that nation, this site did not get destroyed.
Report Post »teddlybar
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 4:32pmFirst of all, to the best of my knowledge, Vienna did not come in for the carpet bombing treatment that was directed at a number of the cities in Germany. I’ve only found references to strategic bombing against specific target sites.
Second, I realize that by modern standards, bombing accuracy in WWII wasn’t all that great, but I think that missing the target by 25+ miles stretches even second world war inaccuracy a bit. This site was probably safe from bombing attacks if it wasn‘t anywhere near any strategic targets and the only ones I’m aware of were in Vienna (25 miles to the West) Salzberg (even farther west) and Hinterbrühl (also southwest).
Report Post »DanWesson455
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:24pmMY GOD!! HOLY SMOKES!!! That out line, that skeleton looks exactly like Russell Crowe!!!
Report Post »UGrev
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:22pmWasn’t Beck on an anti jazzy rant today?
Report Post »TXWildfire
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:45pmYes. Yes he was…. hhhmmmmmm. I guess the writer missed that.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:21pmAren‘t we glad we have al Jazeera to tell us what America’s drive-by media refuses to tell us?
Report Post »staxmarshall
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:20pmThat’s a school with an incentive to not flunk out.
Report Post »Evil_Conservative
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:11pmAs soon as I saw the words “Al Jazeera” my eyes glazed over.
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:06pmReminders littered all over Europe and the Middle East of the FALL of the once-great Roman Empire.
Report Post »nelan72
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:06pmSounds like the lost location where Hollywood built a movie set and then found out that Matt Damon was going to star in it. So they decided to cut there losses and bury the site.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:49pmHa! I can’t stand the guy, either.
Report Post »Bullhorn Guy
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:01pmI am Sparticus!
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:15pmI Am Spartacus!
Report Post »spirited
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:58pmI’m Spartacus !
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:56pmI am Spartacus.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:59pmWhat’s really amazing is all the swords, shields and sandals they found have the Nike swoosh on them.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:05pmLOL — Gonzo, love your sense of humor on this one.
I do love archaeology and what it finds out about how we have lived. I wonder what archaeologists will say of us in a few centuries — if the Lord tarries.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:21pmIn the future, archaeologist will mostly find beer cans,television sets and diapers from our generation.
Report Post »Kara_ite
Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:26pm@ Gonzo – Those would be worn by the Greek gladiators…I don’t think Greece had gladiators, but they did have the winged goddess Nike
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