2025-09-08 12:06:22

Roman Gladiators fought against bears.

New fossil evidence has suggested that the warriors in Ancient Rome went into battle with a variety of wild animals, even though film director Ridley Scott was mocked for portraying them riding rhinos and fighting sharks in the movie Gladiator II.

Experts in Serbia have presented the first fossil evidence of a brown bear that went up against human fighters in the Roman amphitheatre.

The mammal’s preserved skull suggests that it suffered a blow to the head which likely caused its death.

Study author Nemanja Markovic, from Belgrade’s Institute of Archaeology, told Live Science: “We cannot say with certainty whether the bear died directly in the arena.

“But the evidence suggests the trauma occurred during spectacles and the subsequent infection likely contributed significantly to its death.”

The researchers added: “It remains possible that civilians (and) professional hunters… were involved in capturing beasts for games.”

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