On May 31, visitors to the Roman city of Carnuntum will have the opportunity to take a special journey into the past and experience the fascination of real gladiator fights up close. The city's own gladiator troupe, the Familia Gladiatoria Carnuntina, shows off its skills in impressive demonstrations in the amphitheater of the military city.

It is particularly important to us to convey that gladiator fights in ancient times were by no means merely brutal “slaughterings” for the entertainment of the public. Rather, they were clearly structured competitions by highly trained professionals - similar to today's top-class sport. Even though such fights could sometimes end fatally, the focus was usually on athletic performance.

The fights shown are real and not arranged. The fights are fought with wooden weapons, just as they were used in ancient training and in the morning warm-up fights. In addition to the fighting action, there is a lot of exciting information on the subject of gladiatorial sport - a phenomenon that often seems bloody and archaic to us, but whose similarities to modern professional sport are quite remarkable.