re: #409 sagehen

For however many months it lasted…

After five years fighting, if a gladiator survived he could retire or become and instructor in the Roman army. “They were much sought after, afraid of nothing, and everyone was afraid of them,” says Grosschmidt.

Even though gladiators could retire after five years, the evidence shows that very few of them lived beyond the age of 30. The bones from Ephesus show one gladiator, out of almost 70 bodies, was able to survive the carnage and lived to old age.

cosmosmagazine.com