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ROMANS GRIPPED BY GLADIATOR FEVER
By Bruce Johnston in Rome

Friday 28 July 2000

Bank clerks, accountants and traffic wardens have turned to a gladiators' school on the old Appian Way, along which several thousand rebellious slaves, led by the gladiator Spartacus, were crucified, providing the climax of an earlier hit film.

Courses by the Gruppo Storico Romano, a club for lovers of ancient Roman combat, last two months and cost £75. After two beginners' sessions on gladiators and their culture, students learn how to use a gladius, the sword of ancient Rome.

Three types of combat are taught: one, a classic form known as secutor involves two people, each armed with two swords and a shield. Another version, for women only and called Amazon, gives the combatants one sword each. In the third form, a gladiator wearing a helmet topped by a fin and wielding a gladius and a shield pretends to be a murma, a kind of fish. The other fighter represents the fisherman, and is armed with a trident and thick net.

The courses have been running for six years, but since Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, was released, the school has been flooded with applicants.

Sergio Iacomoni, who runs the school but works as a bank teller by day, said: "It was the film that gave us our real boost. Now we get all sorts of people turning up. Everyone is encouraged to join, provided that they are over 18 and can prove they are in good health. The reason is that, while blunted, the lookalike Roman weapons we use can still do a fair bit of old harm."

Students are given the names of real Romans from the period of the Emperor Nero, such as Tigellino, Poppea and Agrippina, based on an identification with the 11th Claudia Legion. Mr Iacomoni is Nero. He said: "The film has created gladiator fever in Rome. If we were to stand outside cinemas selling ancient Roman weapons, we could become millionaires."