Along with movie stars and musicians, athletes are probably the most famous people walking the planet. Many people think that athletes have only recently become idols, but this is not the case. The first famous athletes date back to Rome, these athletes were gladiators. Now, watching films or reading stories about gladiators, it is easy to fall into the stereotype that sees them as bloodthirsty human beings who kill for fun. This belief is largely false and it is easy to forget where the gladiators came from. Most of them were forced to fight and didn't do it for fun. Gladiators trained hard to perform well in hopes of finally gaining freedom after a successful career. Gladiator games are misunderstood, so it's time to find out the truth about famous gladiators. Gladiators were not born athletes who had a mission in life to become warriors, most of them were ordinary men who lived normal lives on a farm located within the fringes of the Roman Empire, such as Moesia. These men had families and friends in their village and usually farmed to survive. They had little or no contact with people outside their town and kept to themselves. This made them easy targets for Roman armies to attack, which was extremely common. When the Romans began their attack, the men of a village usually sent their women and children away while they stayed behind to fight. Of course they had no chance and were forced to surrender to be taken as Roman slaves. They would be forced to undertake the journey to Italy which usually lasted more than fifty days. Immediately after reaching Italy the new slaves were taken to an auction where they would be sold to the highest bidder. Those who bid on slaves could use them for various t...... middle of paper ......ord representing a freed man at which point he could continue fighting on his own or return to where he came from. The inaugural games at the Colosseum were fascinating and like nothing people had ever seen before. Titus had managed to successfully carry out what he had originally planned, but unfortunately he died six months after the inaugural games due to a mysterious illness. Even this unfortunate did not change the fact that he will always be remembered as one of the greatest Roman emperors in history. The Colosseum and the gladiator games will always have a special place in history and although Titus was the one who orchestrated the greatest games of all time, it was the gladiators who made them happen. These men were not born different but trained hard to earn their freedom and it is for this reason that they will be remembered as some of the greatest warriors in history..