Gladiators

Thracian Notes

"Caladus, the Thracian, makes all the girls sigh."
(Slogan scrawled on a wall at Pompeii. Gladiators were often sex symbols)

http://www.murphsplace.com/gladiator/glads.html
the Thracian (so named because he resembled fighters from Thrace, a region of northern Greece), was not as elaborately armed. He wielded a curved short sword, the sica, and a small round shield, the parma.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/warriorchallenge/gladiators/profile2.html
Thracian gladiators were modeled after fighters from the northern Greece region of Thrace. Lightly armored, they would do battle with the Samnite or Murmillo gladiators. Their strategy focused on their sword, which was fashioned to snake past heavier opponents' shields. The armor and dash with which Thracians performed their fights made these among the most popular of gladiators. An inscription on a wall in Pompeii describes the champion Thracian gladiator Celadus as suspirum et decus puellarum or "the sigh and glory of girls." The rebel commander Spartacus had fought as a Thracian gladiator before going on to lead an uprising of gladiators and peasants in 73-71 BC that would consume most of southern Italy.

http://www.gladiatorschool.tv/thracian.htm
The gladiator Thracian was considered lightly armored. He carried a very small round or square shield called Parma and a very curved sword called Sica. He wore a metal helmet with a large crest representing a mithological beast called Grifone.
He wore leg guards on both legs and these guards they were very tall, covering up to the tops of his thighs.
For contrast, the Thracian used to combat against an heavy armored gladiator as the Hoplomacus.

http://fc.nbsc.org/~nbsc7/01/ctwhatwere.htm
Thracians wore a chest covering and had a shield, protective band, greaves and used scimitars for weapons.

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/gladiators/thracian.html
The Thracian was a lightly armored gladiator that carried a very small or square shield called a parma and a curved sword called a sica. His helmet had a large crest in the shape of a griffin. He wore leg guards. They were very tall, covering up to the top of the thighs. Thracians always fought heavily armored gladiators.

http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/gladiator3.html
A Thracian - wore ocrea on both legs, carried a small square shield, wore either a full visored helmet or an open faced helmet with a wide brim, and carried a curved Thracian sword with an angled bend in the blade;

The murmillo sometimes fought a thraex ('Thracian').3 These fighters were similar in appearance but can be differentiated by their shields. The thraex has a smallish rectangular shield in comparison with the typical oblong shield of the murmillo.
3. "Thracian," along with "Gaul" and "Samnite," originally referred to prisoners of war from Thrace, Gaul, and Samnium (in southern Italy), who in the republican period were forced to fight as gladiators and naturally used the weapons and equipment characteristic of their people. In time these terms ceased to indicate the actual ethnicity of the fighter, but simply designated a particular type of gladiator using particular armor and fighting equipment. "Thracian" remained as category until late antiquity, while "Gaul" and "Samnite" disappeared, but the former may have been the model for the later secutor and murmillo

http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/arena.html
Thracian: Wide-brimmed crested helmet with visor, high greaves on both legs, arm protector, very small shield, and short, curved sword (similar to Spartacus); the victorious gladiator in this mosaic is a Thracian.

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/gladiators/thracian.html
The Thracian was a lightly armored gladiator that carried a very small or square shield called a parma and a curved sword called a sica. His helmet had a large crest in the shape of a griffin. He wore leg guards. They were very tall, covering up to the top of the thighs. Thracians always fought heavily armored gladiators.

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/annatar/sica.html
The sica was a brutal gladiator weapon. This was the standard weapon of the Thracian gladiator. The Thracian was a light gladiator, and the sica he carried was designed to get around his heavier opponents shield. It would be about the size of a gladius, however the almost 90 degree bend in the weapon shortens it's actual length. As already stated this bend was to get around an opponents shield, however, it had an even more cruel use. If the Thracian where to slash up with the weapon, with the bend pointed up, the point of the sica, tended to catch under his foes helmet, and bury itself in his chin. The Thracian would continue the thrust, lifting the helmet off, and slicing his enemies face open, killing him instantly. A strong slashing weapon, espicially if used like a scythe, it is next to worthless for jabs, though the entire weapon edge is sharpened so a jab will do some damage, the sica's primary weakness is in fact it's main advantage. The 90 degree hook in the weapon makes the sica easily blockable by a trained opponent, not only that but the hook also makes the weapon easier to disarm.

http://www.romans-latin.net/gladi1.htm
Thracian: The Thracian wore ocrea on both legs and carried a small square shield. On his head he wore either a full visored helmet or an open faced helmet with a wide brim. His weapon was a curved scimitar (sica) or the Thracian sword which had an angled bend in the blade.

http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-gladiators.php
Thraces: The Thracian was equipped with a broad-rimmed helmet that enclosed the entire head, a small round or square-shaped shield, and two thigh-length greaves. His weapon was the Thracian curved sword, or the sica. They commonly fought mirmillones or hoplomachi.

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/people_n2/ppersons2_n2/spartacus.html
SPARTACUS
c.109 - 71 BC
Thracian Gladiator
Spartacus was born in Thrace, became a soldier, and was captured by the Romans. He was sold as a slave to be made a gladiator. With 70 comrades, he escaped, hid on Mount Vesuvius, and raised a large army of rebel slaves. With his army he defeated two Roman legions. Spartacus intended to lead the slaves over the Alps and out of Italy, but the slaves forced him to march on Rome. A fresh Roman army under Crassus finally defeated Spartacus and his men. After his defeat, 6000 men were crucified along the Via Appia as a warning to other slaves.

http://www.polytropos.org/web/gladiator.html
the Samnite was actually the republican-era predecessor to the Thracian and Myrmillon

http://www.ludus.org.uk/r/essayglossary.html
thracian: A gladiator type typically paired against the Hoplomachus or later more frequently against the myrmillo. Also called a Thraex.

http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-013.html
Thracian:
helmet with decorated crest of a relief head of a gryphon; curved sword (sica); tall shin guard; manica (a type of mantel draped over his arm used against the opponent) on the right arm; small rectangular shield

http://www.legionxxiv.org/gladiatorarena/
THRACIAN "Light and Fast" These fighters depended on being more lightly armored and therefore more agile and faster in evading their adversary. Thracians utilized an unusual "Sica" curved style sword and a small round "parma" shield, along with large greaves on both legs which extended above the knees. They had no chest armor; but did have full right arm protection and a crested helmet. Some of the helmet crests were shaped like a Griffin, alluding to a mythological bird of prey.

http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel/html/amphiglad.html
Different gladiators had different tools and weapons: A Samnite wore a helmet with a visor, a thick sleeve on his right arm, a greave on his let leg, a belt, a short sword, and carried a long shield. Under the empire the Samnites, eventually lost their name which was derived from Rome's ancient enemies. They were called the hoplomachi, heavy-armed, when they fought the Thracians, and secutores when they fought the net-men. A Thracian was armed in much the same manner as a Samnite, but had a small shield and carried a curved sword. They had greaves on both legs rather than one.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Thracians
The Thracians were an Indo-European culture.
Indo-European is a collective name for cultures speaking related languages, being of related traditional religions and sharing a similar geographical origin. A patriarchal system and patrilineal inheritance, along with other cultural similarities, appear to be fundamental to the general scope. Hypothetically, these cultures arose from the expansion of an ancient people, the Proto-Indo-Europeans, c. 4000 B.C., somewhere around the Black Sea region.
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in south-east Europe spread over north-eastern Greece, southern Bulgaria, and European Turkey. Thrace borders on three seas the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
History
Thrace has been under the control of many different rulers. The first Greek colonies in Thrace were founded in the 6th century BC. The indigenous population was an Indo-European people called Thracians.
They spoke Thracian language Thracian language was the Indo-European language spoken in ancient times by the Thracians.
As non-Greek speakers, they were viewed as barbarians by the Greeks.