Facts city Fun Facts and Trivia

 Gladiator Pollice Verso ("With a Turned Thumb"), an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme gladiator, professional combatant in ancient Rome. The gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, no doubt with intent to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world; hence the fights were usually to the death. At shows in Rome these exhibitions became wildly popular and increased in size from three pairs at the first known exhibition in 264 bce (at the funeral of a Brutus) to 300 pairs in the time of Julius Caesar (died 44 bce). Hence the shows extended from one day to as many as a hundred, under the emperor Titus, and the emperor Trajan in his triumph (107 ce) had 5,000 pairs of gladiators. Shows were also given in other towns of the Roman Empire, as can be seen from the traces of amphitheatres. Ave Caesar! Morituri Te Salutant (Hail Caesar! We Who Are About to Die Salute You), oil on canvas by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1859 There were various classes of gladiators, distinguis...

 Knight knight, French chevalier, German Ritter, now a title of honour bestowed for a variety of services, but originally in the European Middle Ages a formally professed cavalryman. The first medieval knights were professional cavalry warriors, some of whom were vassals holding lands as fiefs from the lords in whose armies they served, while others were not enfeoffed with land. The process of entering knighthood often became formalized. A youth destined for the profession of arms might from the age of 7 or so serve his father as a page before joining the household of his father’s suzerain, perhaps at the age of 12, for more advanced instruction not only in military subjects but also in the ways of the world. During this period of his apprenticeship he would be known as a damoiseau (literally “lordling”), or varlet, or valet (German: Knappe), until he followed his patron on a campaign as his shield bearer, écuyer, or esquire, or as the bearer of his weapons (armiger). When he was a...

 Samurai     (Japanese warrior) samurai, member of the Japanese warrior caste. The term samurai was originally used to denote the aristocratic warriors (bushi), but it came to apply to all the members of the warrior class that rose to power in the 12th century and dominated the Japanese government until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Emerging from provincial warrior bands, the samurai of the Kamakura period (1192–1333), with their military skills and deep pride in their stoicism, developed a disciplined culture distinct from the earlier, quiet refinement of the imperial court. During the Muromachi period (1338–1573) under the growing influence of Zen Buddhism, the samurai culture produced many such uniquely Japanese arts as the tea ceremony and flower arranging that continue today. The ideal samurai was supposed to be a stoic warrior who followed an unwritten code of conduct, later formalized as Bushidō, which held bravery, honour, and personal loyalty above life its...