Coming straight from the Museum in Nîmes, France where there is an arena :

You could become a gladiator in one of several ways. Many gladiators had been taken prisoner in one of the numerous wars waged by the Romans. They gave the spectacles a multi-ethric character. Others were ordinary slaves whose owner had sold them to a gladiator manager. Some had been found guilty of a serious crime. None of these people had any rights Free men also became gladiators. These so-called auctorati elected to become gladiators of their on free will. They signed a contract relinquishing their civil rights for a given period. Mary hoped it would make them rich or bring eternal fame and glory. Among them were a number of high-placed officials, such as senators. Emperor Commodus even liked to appear as a gladiator. Gladiators lived in ludi, a cross between a training centre and barracks. Each was trained to become a certain type of gladiator. Life was tough. As a rule gladiators fought twice a year. Few fought more than twenty battles in their career. Many didn't survive beyond the age of thirty.

A gladiator was trained in the ludus by experienced former gladiators. They trained both in the morning and in the afternoon using heavy wooden weapons and a reed shield. Corporal punishment was common practice. Research into the bones of gladiator corpses reveals that they were fed a muscle-enhancing diet consisting largely of barley and beans and rich in minerals.

>But they were trained nonetheless, and could compete with modern american athletes in activities that require strength and resistance.

Nutritional/sports science has come so far in the past few decades, check the world records of any sport to see the progress... There's absolutely no chance that a Roman age athlete could compete in speed or strength fields. Look at people like Hafthor Bjornsson, steroid fueled giants. These people could not exist in the Roman age

> check the world records of any sport to see the progress..

Again, I've specifically mentioned strength and resistance

most records you are referring to were broken thanks to better overall conditions

Bolt can't run as fast as he does today on a dusty track made of pressed clay wearing leather sandals...

> These people could not exist in the Roman age

they would have also probably died before puberty

also: in ancient times sport competition was much more important than today and it was a very serious matter

https://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/february/ancient-athlete...

On the other hand, some Greek wrestlers trained by going into the wild and wrestling with wild animals including lions.

Different times.

They might have said that they did such things, but i just dont believe the lion myth. Anyone who has been up close to a non-caged lion realizes the absurdity of the concept. Like all cats, lions are infintely more flexible than us. There is no wrestling hold that would keep them from ripping a human attacker to shreds within seconds. You would have better luck wrestling jaws.

Even if you survived, those claws are not sterile. The inevitable infections would kill you.

It's about two steps away from telling people Atlas really carried the earth. The strongest man alive would be destroyed by a lion. 4 paws and a set of incredibly sharp teeth all perfectly capable of lacerating any of your INCREDIBLY ACCESSIBLE major arteries in your neck, wrists, upper arms etc...

And, far more often than not, lions have friends within earshot. Jaws at least hunted alone. Nobody has ever ene boasted about wrestling a pride of lions.

You mean African lions? There were smaller lions in the Mediterranean I believe, which are now extinct.