A bas-relief found at Halicarnassus (in modern Turkey) has given historians and archaeologists compelling details about female combatants. On the carved stone, gladiatrices named Amazon and Achillea (probably their arena handles) were depicted wearing nearly 30 pounds of armor, including leg guards and rectangular shields, as they fought. Protection on one arm kept their sword arms from injury. The shields and huge visored helmets they wore were also lined with felt. These gladiatrices used short swords to slash opponents, which required finesse and quick, aggressive moves.
These gals in the arena caused plenty of buzz in their day. Much of that evidence is still around, from wall inscriptions in Pompeii and Ostia to the satirical writings of Roman writer Juvenal, who was particularly appalled at the thrill-seeking upper-class ladies who took to the arena. Still more proof about these bold working women continues to surface today, from archaeological finds in ancient graveyards to venerable works of Roman art.
Rock Me on the Water
But there were other professional women at work in the gladiatorial arena as well. You may find this hard to believe, but all that blood and gore was also accompanied by . . . live music! Guys grabbed all the hornplayer gigs but the real musical headliner was often a woman, rocking out on the great-granddaddy of the pipe organ.
Called a hydraulis or "water organ," the keyboardist did not tickle its ivories. Instead, she played several octaves of levers or keys to produce an awe-inspiring range of sound, from soft notes to sonorous harmonies. Hydraulis means "water (driven) pipe (instrument)." The first keyboard instrument, it used the energy generated by moving water into air pressure to drive the pipes.
Some hydraulic instruments had multiple rows of bronze pipes which could fill a huge arena with melody. Not only did that keep things lively, it also drowned out the more disagreeable noises from the combatants. It took musicality and stamina to do this job. Water organists had to keep their cool while standing at the instrument, the focus of all eyes. The water organ was parked right on the sands of the arena, within blood-spattering proximity of the fighters.
It's thought that she and the brass players provided musical cues to keep the avid audience revved up, an uncanny forerunner of the organist at our modern baseball stadiums.
Wouldn't you know it, that show-biz gloryhound Emperor Nero also got into the act. He went mad for the water-organ, feverishly practicing and then putting on endless public performances. Being more of a homicidal hobbyist than a musician, Nero played the hydraulis about as skillfully as he drove a 4-horse chariot. That is to say, not well at all.
By 66 A.D., failure to listen to the Imperial playing and singing, or failure to sacrifice to Nero's "heavenly" voice could actually bring a hapless citizen an indictment for disloyalty!
Nero aside, arenas and female water-organists who played them could be found all over the vast Roman Empire for centuries. In our time, a hydraulis inscribed with the date 228 A.D. was found in Hungary. Fortunately, its bronze innards were complete enough so that a working replica could be made. It now reposes in the Budapest Museum. In addition, you can hear an approximation of its intriguing, melodious sound here, letting you summon your inner gladiatrix and/or water-organist and enjoy them in shameless 21st Century safety.
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