GLADIATORS

With 150 objects on display, the tour takes visitors to discover how complex the organization implied by the games was and how deeply it permeated many aspects of public and private life. The success of gladiatorial games and the popularity of their protagonists were not only an extraordinary political propaganda tool, but also a well rooted theme in ordinary people’s minds, as it is testified by the decoration and the furniture of many domus represented in the exhibition, both from Pompeii, and from other towns of the empire, like the transalpine ones. Indeed the display is conceived as to create constant comparisons between more well-known contexts, such as Pompeii, the Colosseum, and the amphitheatres of Pozzuoli and Santa Maria Capua Vetere, with Swiss sites, such as Avenches and Augusta Rarica, which yelded precious and interesting materials, like the floor mosaic with gladiators, exhibited here for the first time outside Switzerland, after a recent restoration. Another fundamental attraction of the exhibition is constituted by the armours found in the gladiators’ barracks at Pompeii, unearthed during historical excavations in 1700s, counterbalanced by a series of sections, supported by the results of more recent research, which are dedicated to the preparatory aspects of gladiatorial combat, such as nutrition, training and medical treatment. The display is enriched by numerous multimedia resources, including the virtual reconstruction of the series of paintings, already lost, which decorated the parapet of the amphitheatre at Pompeii. The exhibition is curated by Valeria Sampaolo and originated from a network built with the Antikenmuseum und Sammlung Ludwig of Basel and from a synergy created with the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. It has been financially supported by Regione Campania and by Intesa Sanpaolo.