There aren't Jewish fighters in Ridley Scott's ' Gladiator II.' But what about in ancient Rome?

Part I

(JTA) - In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted in southern Italy, burying the nearby Roman city of Pompeii in scalding stone and ash. The catastrophe famously entombed, and preserved, the city's villas, workshops, and a gladiator barracks known as the Caserma dei Gladiatori.

Excavators first unearthed the barracks in the late 1700s. Among the ruins they found a bronze helmet, with a circular brim, a griffin rising from its crest, and on its forehead, a palm tree - then a symbol tied to Jews in the Roman province of Judea.

But was the helmet worn by a Jewish gladiator? Did Jewish gladiators even exist? 

It's at least as likely that Jews took to the arena in ancient Rome as it was that gladiators fought sharks, a key plot point of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II," the hotly anticipated action movie that landed in theaters last weekend. A sequel to 2000's "Gladiator," which ended with the death of Maximus (Russell Crowe), "Gladiator II" casts no light on the possible history of Jewish gladiators; its strongest Jewish connections are the presence of Jewish actors, including Israelis Lior Raz and Yuval Gonen and former "Great British Baking Show" host Matt Lucas, in its cast. They join Kirk Douglas, who starred in 1960's "Spartacus," in the ranks of Jews who have portrayed gladiators on screen.

But many have occupied themselves with questions about the role of Jews in ancient Rome's famous bloodsport, including whether fights took place in ancient Israel and what Jews thought about the activity, whether or not they participated. Here's what the scholars and evidence have to say.

Did gladiator battles take place in ancient Israel?

Public spectacles, including games and gladiatorial battles, were a central part of Roman life. Rome's Jewish client king of Judea, Herod the Great, built several amphitheaters to host games in the province during his reign in the 1st century BCE, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, writing around a century after Herod's reign. Two of the amphitheaters were in the area of Jerusalem, and have not been located by archaeologists, but the third, in Caesarea, still exists.

The amphitheaters in Jerusalem hosted games including foot-races, boxing and discus throwing, according to researcher Loren Spielman, an associate professor in Judaic studies at Portland State University who has written about Jewish entertainment in the ancient world and published a book in 2020 on the subject.

Josephus said Herod's Jerusalem events also included "live beast shows" and public executions, but gladiators are "conspicuously absent" in Josephus' account, Spielman said in a 2012 paper. Josephus criticized the spectacles, saying they were unwelcome with the Jewish audience, "foreign to Jewish custom," and "a glaring impiety to throw men to wild beasts."

"The omission of armed battle between single gladiators at Herod's games may have been a concession to the delicate sensibilities of Herod's Jewish subjects, though it is difficult to say this with any certainty," Spielman wrote.

Spielman said that, despite Josephus' disgust at the violence, Jewish attitudes toward Roman entertainment was "probably more complex." Julius Caesar gave Jewish high priest Hyrcanus II, and his sons and ambassadors, the right to sit with Roman senators at gladiator bouts and beast shows, he wrote.

Despite the lack of evidence for gladiators in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, there were gladiator bouts, according to Lawrence Schiffman of New York University. Schiffman is a professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies focused on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jews in the Greco-Roman world who recently finished a three-year project on Caesarea.

"It's pretty clear from Josephus and from the archaeology" that gladiators fought in Caesarea, Schiffman said. Caesarea had a more pagan population than Jerusalem, but was still home to a sizable Jewish community, he said, adding that he doubts many Jews attend gladiatorial fights there.

"I think anyone who believes large numbers of Jews went to a game to watch people killed, as opposed to sports games where they did pagan rituals, something like that, I think it's got to be small, and I admit to you that that's a judgment call," he said.

What did Jews think about gladiator bouts?

Jews had a complex and rocky relationship with ancient Rome, which went through several iterations in its rise and fall, from the early republic to its later schism between east and west. The Romans dominated Judea from 63 BCE, resulting in two Jewish rebellions. Most salient to Jews is the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

Schiffman said the Jewish religious practice was generally tolerated in the empire, however, and that the rebellions were more political, related to issues like taxation, incompetent governance and insensitivity. Estimates of the Jewish population in the empire range from 4.5 to 10 million.

Jews likely had more compunctions about witnessing bloodshed for entertainment than their pagan neighbors due to religious morals, Schiffman said, adding that gaps between monotheistic religions and pagans were wider than gaps between different religious groups today.

"Jews valued life as something very sacred and that's why Josephus reports that people were horrified by seeing people thrown to wild beasts for entertainment," said Richard Hidary, a Yeshiva University professor who published a book on rabbis and the Talmud in the Roman world. 

Many gladiators were not actually killed in combat due to their value as entertainers, however, potentially making the games more palatable for ancient Jews. 

"If you had gladiatorial combat when no one was getting killed, you can say, 'Why not go?" Schiffman said.

The games also featured other contests, such as chariot races. Jews likely attended these games, although their attendance was complicated by pagan rituals that took place at the arena. The rituals were looked down on by Jewish religious authorities, but that did not rule out Jewish spectators.

"For a person to go to the arena to watch chariot races when there's going to be pagan rituals done at the beginning, he sits there and talks to his friends while it's going on," Schiffman said. "If Yankee stadium had prayers mentioning Jesus at the beginning of the game, of course Jews would go."

Hidary said rabbis debated watching the games in the Jerusalem Talmud. One rabbi held that watching the games was prohibited due to idolatry because of sacrifices and pagan prayers at the beginning. Another said it was fine to attend if "you come late and skip that part," while another held that paying for an entrance fee contributed to bloodshed, Hidary said.

Other rabbis saw benefits in attending the games. The spectacles gave the public a forum to air grievances to officials in attendance, and if Jews partook, they could benefit the community by joining calls for better treatment or lower taxes. Another rabbi said it was permitted to attend because "you can cry out to save the life of the loser," Hidary said. 

"If the Jew goes and he tries to save someone's life, that's a good thing," Hidary said.

If a combatant was killed, witnesses were also needed to attest to that fact that he was dead so his wife could remarry, so witnessing the death could be construed as fulfilling a mitzvah, or religious commandment.

While there was no straight answer on whether it was permissible to attend, the discourse indicates Jews were going.

"What you do see is, for sure, many Jews were going to the stadium. And so they were going no matter what. This was entertainment and the rabbis are trying to deal with this, like should we prohibit it? Discourage it? Are they even going to listen?" Hidary said.

A large Jewish population lived in the empire outside Judea, and Jews in the diaspora also likely attended games, in Rome, for example, although there is no direct evidence, Hidary said. 

"You can probably assume that they were doing whatever most people were doing," he said. "If Jews in Israel are going to games, even all the more so Jews in Rome, who are probably more assimilated."

But were there Jewish gladiators? Find out in Part II in next week's issue.