Unlike society in ancient Egypt, Rome did not regard women as equal to men before the ... from ladies’ maids to farm workers, and even gladiators. Wealthy widows, subject to no man’s authority ...

Successful gladiators were the ... be so keen on watching men and women fight to the death. Ritualized, public violence had been a favorite entertainment of the Romans for centuries.

These were more than life-and-death entertainment bouts: gladiators weren’t simply celebrities of ancient Rome. Instead, they were that most rare of figures: someone who could change their life ...

Roman historian Suetonius records that the emperor Domitian made female gladiators fight at night and by torchlight, while poet Juvenal describes women who decide to fight in unflattering terms.