Secutor (Latin secutor — pursuer) - an ancient Roman gladiator armed with a shield and gladius.
The secutor was also referred to as a contraretiarius - "opponent of the retiarius" or contrarete — "against the net", since the secutor most often performed in the arena against the retiarius -a gladiator armed with a net and trident. Sometimes historians refer to secutors as a type of murmillon, since they were equipped in a similar way and significantly differed only in the type of helmet.
The helmet covered the entire face of the secutor and had two holes for the eyes. Unlike the Murmillon helmet, there were no eye nets, but that was enough, especially for protection from Retiarius ' trident. The helmet was almost round and smooth, so that the net of the retiarius could not catch on it.
Up until the late Empire, the secutor was the most popular type of gladiator. The Emperor Commodus acted as secutor. Suetonius has a story about how under Caligula "five gladiators-retiarii in tunics fought against five secutors, gave in without a struggle and was already waiting for death, when suddenly one of the vanquished grabbed his trident and killed all the winners." The most famous secutor is Flamma (Latin: Flamma - flame). He was originally from Syria and went down in history thanks to a huge number of fights in the arena: 34 fights as a secutor, he won 21 fights, drew 9 and suffered 4 defeats. Four times Flamm became a rudiarius (awarded the wooden sword of rudus and received freedom). At the same time, each time he voluntarily returned to the arena, serving as an example of an already free man fighting as a gladiator. Flamm died in the arena at the age of thirty.
The tactics of the secutor were diametrically different from those of the retiarius. He copied Murmillon in many ways, but acted more aggressively. During the duel, the secutor tried to get as close to the retiarius as possible in order to take advantage of his equipment and its weight in close combat. Retiarius tried either to wrap the net around the enemy and knock them to the ground, or to stall for time and wait for the secutor to tire under the weight of his armor.
Battle scene between Secutor and retiarius. Ephesus Museum. Selçuk, Turkey. 1-3 century AD
Traditionally, gladiators fought on sand, but when reconstructing the battle on a hard surface, it is recommended to use authentic shoes, such as kaligs.
Gladiator, Helmet, Manika, Okrea, Balteus, Subligaculum, Gladius, Full name, Retiary, Murmillon