Image Details

Erich Lessing

Many gladiators survived long enough to win their freedom and become respectable citizens with wives and children. This second-century A.D. marble-relief funeral stela from Kyzikos, Turkey, was erected in honor of the prosperous gladiator Danaos. It depicts the aging warrior lying on his deathbed, surrounded by his devoted son, loving wife and faithful dog. The inscription at the bottom reads simply: “Dedicated to Danaos the gladiator, from his his wife Heorte and his son Asklepiades.”