Also less known are these facts:
* Only about half of gladiators were slaves or criminals. The rest were actually willing participants and were paid or did it for the fame and/or women (of which they got plenty).
* Gladiators got the best medical care of the time.
* Most gladiatorial combats didn't involve the death of any gladiators. Being expensive to train, they weren't just thrown away. Being a blood sport it was dangerous of course, but only where politics interfered would fights to the death usually be necessary.
* Gladiator blood was once famed to be a cure for epilepsy.
* Gladiators had "unions" with which they could negotiate with the owners for pay and conditions and collected money between them to pay for their burials if they were killed.
