>It is worth noting that many gladiators, and Olympic competitors, were in fact not slaves and many were actually quite wealthy. Hence my qualifier gladiatoria

>It is worth noting that many gladiators, and Olympic competitors, were in fact not slaves and many were actually quite wealthy. Hence my qualifier gladiatorial slave. Yes presumably a free gladiator had more choice than a gladiatorial slave. Your use of “many”, doesn’t shed much light on the subject, by all accounts most were slaves, free gladiators were definitely the exception not the rule. But yes some were the superstar athletes of their day and the wealth (women) that goes along with that status.