I have a friend by the name of Farah who happens to be an archaeologist. Recently she called me via facetime and I could see she was very excited.
-“I found something that will interest you!” she said.
I was surprised because, the last time we spoke she was going to work on the ruins of an ancient library in Rome and I could not see what she could find there that would be of interest to yours truly, AKA : the Masked Writer.
-You found something for me in old Roman ruins ? I said, clueless.
She smiled (she has a very beautiful smile, just a bit mischievous).
-Yes it is an old manuscript. It was kept in a jar. One of my colleague translated it from the Latin and, when I read it, I immediately thought about you ! I scanned the translation and I will send it to you via email.
Iwas more and more dumbfounded. And old Roman manuscript ? What could there be in it that could interest me specifically ?
-What is it ? I mean what is written in it that could possibly be of interest for me ?
She answered : It is probably a letter written by an unknown Roman citizen, obviously well-read and educated, upper class guy, to one of his friend which he calls “Flavius” but who we don’t know otherwise. It seems to be dating from 180 to 200 A.D.. That would be under the reign of Emperor Commodius. Some parts are missing but it is fascinating just the same. I have to go back to work but I will send you the email immediately. Bye !
The screen went black. “Back to work” ?. Of course, it was 6 PM here which mean 12 noon in Italy.
Then I saw the notification that I had received a email. I opened my mailbox and saw her message, with an attached pdf document, which I opened. It was the mysterious text. I started to read and soon I could see why she thought it would interest me.
And she was damn right it did.
The first part of the text was missing, as the original parchment was partly deteriorated.
So the part that was left begam with :
… and so those were the biggest games ever organized in Rome by any of the Caesars. What is more, my dear Flavius, it included something rarely seen before : a fight between two women ! What a time of decadence we live in, I tell you ! Men won’t go in the army but women go down in the arena ! There must have been at least 40 000 people in the colosseum that day, may driven by curiosity because this novelty had been announced before on all street corners. It was, one must add, a beautiful day, warm and sunny.
The crowd, as you can guess, was pretty excited when the moment finally arrived for those two female fighter to enter the arena and tread the blood-soaked sand with their sandaled feet.
(here part of the text is missing due to a hole in the original papyrus) … women are both nobles of a sort. There is a slave, captured during one of the late emperor’s campaigns. She is a Sarmatian, and apparently was a kind of princess among her people. Tamura is the name of that barbarian Amazon. She is very tall, more so than many men and very muscular. It seems that among these barbarians who roam the steppes north of the Black Sea, women ride horse, shoot arrows and fight just like men. That is why the legend say that they descend from the fabulous Amazons. One must admit, though, that this one is rather beautiful, in spite of her fierce looks and her face is quite handsome under a bright blond mane.
But the woman that the crowd really want to see is her opponent, a Roman noble girl by the name of Lucrecia. She is the daughter of Senator Lucretius of the gens Horatia. Everybody was astounded that a girl of such high birth would disgrace herself by getting down to fight in the sand of the arena. Rumor has it that she repeatedly refused to marry the men her father had chosen for her and that, out of anger, he denied her as his daughter and throwed her out of the house. So it would be out of a vengeance that she decided to bring shame on her family and become a gladiatrix. So she went to see the famous lanistae* Brutus and asked him to train her. At first he refused but then, at the slave market, he bought the Sarmatian princess and then, thought it would be a sure way to attract the crowd to have a fight between two women. So he accepted to train Lucrecia.
So, when she entered the arena, the crowd roared. She is a beautiful girl, just a bit shorter than her Sarmatian opponent and slimmer. She had her brown hair put in a pony tail, which allows to all to see her handsome face. Nevertheless the roman people root for the Barbarian, for this girl is a shame for her family.
( Here a small part of the text is missing). The Sarmatian wears a short tunic, which reveals her tanned and muscular arms and legs. She holds a short cutlass and a small shield, about the size of a diner place. Bronze plates protect her breast. Our roman patrician wears only the garment known as duapartes* which some women wear to exercise. She is armed with a short sword similar to that of our soldiers and her left arm is protected by a sort of long glove made of chainmail.
Both women are now face to face. Figure this, my dear Flavius : A barbarian warrioress and a noble Roman woman, ready to fight each other to the death for the amusement of the crowd. The Sarmatian Tamura is a battle-harden fighter and she hold her cutlass as someone familiar with weapons. Her younger opponent (Lucecia is at most 19 years old, while the Barbarian is most likely in her thirties) has been trained and holds firm her sword but one can see by all her attitude that she is not so sure of herself. To her, even the hard training of the gladiatorial school must have been a game, so far. But now she has a real opponent and the possibility of being wounded or killed comes down on her. The small garment she is wearing allows everybody see the slim body of a young girl which contrast with the muscular limbs of her opponent.
She seems taken aback by the hostility of the crowd. All absorbed by her training in the last months, she obviously did not realize that the scandal is known in all the city. Nevertheless, she put on a brave face and places herself in a combat stance, sword forward, ready to face her savage adversary.
From my position I could see a smile on the face of Tamura the Barbarian when she saw Lucrecia ready to fight. She took her fighting position as well and slowly walk toward her young opponent. Sure of herself, seeing the young Roman's lack of experience, she launches into a feigned attack. Lucrecia steps back, surprised, and almost drops her sword. The crowd bursts out laughing and makes fun of this poor fighter.
But then, this anger Lucrecia who regains control of herself and, with a cry of rage, impetuously charges her adversary, sword forward, to stab her with a thrust.
But the Sarmatian, as an experienced fighter, has foreseen the gesture and easily dodge the point of the sword, with a simple side step.
Carried away by her momentum, Lucrecia stumbles. With a trip, Tamura knocks her face down in the sand. Then, to add insult to injury, she prick her lightly in the buttock with her cutlass, snatching a sharp cry of pain from her downed opponent who clumsily jump back on her feet.
She puts her hand to her wound and withdraws it stained with blood, which makes her cry out in horror, which makes the crowd laugh even more.
Tamura laughs and mocks Lucrecia’s weakness. That infuriates the young maid. She charges again but, this time, with more method. She doesn’t blindly rush but attacks with precision and control. She delivers a deluge of blows with her sword and Tamura, this time, needs all her mastery of the art of combat to protect herself. She even takes a few steps back, visibly surprised.
She fends off furious blows with her shield and her cutlass. Lucrecia attacks with such ardor that she tires and her blows become less precise, carried by an arm which becomes heavy. After a while, Tamura's strength and skill allow her to regain the advantage. With a vigorous thrust of her shield, she pushes back her young adversary who has to take several steps back, nearly losing his balance.
Tamura sweeps the air with the blade of his cutlass, which grazes the delicate skin of the young Roman's face, causing her to cry out in pain. Frightened, she backs up again, stumbles and falls flat in the arena’s sand.
Tamura rushes toward her fallen opponent and puts her feet on Lucrecia’s right wrist, so that she can’t use her sword. She points her blade at Lucrecia’s throat, looking at he crowd as a winner but her young opponent has this chainmail glove on her left arm, which she uses to grab the swords blade without hurting her hand. Then she kicks her savage adversary in a part of the feminine body which I don’t dare to mention. Tamura gasps and takes a step back, releasing Lucrecia’s wrist.
This times the crowd cheers Lucricia, surprised to see her holding her own so well in front a superior opponent.
The young Roman sweeps the air with her sword, trying to reach the Sarmatian who must retreat. Lucrecia then rushes forward, aiming for Tamura's stomach. The later blocks the attack with her shield and tries to strike with her cutlass. The blades collide and a test of strength ensues between the two fighters and, as one can guess, Lucrica quickly is on the losing side. She bends the knee, holding her sword in both hand, her beautiful face twisted by the effort.
Suddenly, she changes tactics and, dropping the hilt of her sword from her iron-gloved hand, punches Tamura in the face.
She doesn’t have the muscle of her opponent and must not hit that hard but the shock of iron on flesh is devastating. Tamura staggers, loses her footing and falls on her buttocks. She drops her cutlass.
(Here another hole in the parchment. One or two sentences are missing)
The two combattants are struggling on the ground, covered in blood and rolling in the dust. Lucrecia
Lucrecia clings to her sword, which Tamura tries to snatch from her by squeezing her wrist. The Barbarian's superior strength eventually gives her the advantage and Lucrecia ends up dropping her weapon. Tamura then throws Lucrecia aside and rushes to grab the weapon.
The young Roman wants to rush to stop her but she has no more strength, her moves are slow and clumsy. She grabs the arm of her adversary who pushes her away with a brutal punch.
Lucrecia, lying on the ground, exhausted, then sees Tamura grabbing the sword and walking towards her. She touches the tender throat of her adversary with the point of her weapon and raises her eyes to the crowd, then to Caesar's box.
The crowd gives thousands of thumbs up, asking that this brave fighter be spared to allow her to fight again, another day. Caesar seems to hesitate, he stretches out his hand and, finally, gives a thumbs up. The girl is spared, the crowd cheers and Tamura, victorious, reaches out to the prone girl to help her up.
And so ends this remarkable event we saw in the colosseum, my dear Flavius…
(The manuscripts ends here, the last part is missing)
And yours truly, the Maskedwriter, must admit his archaeologist friends was right : it did interest me !
*A lanistae is a gladiator trainer and promoter
*Note from the translator : here I must admit I am not quite sure what this garment is. The word duaparte (two-pieces) suggest it could be the small clothing similar to our modern bikinis, worn by women doing sports on the famous “bikini frescoe”.
See : Roman girls in “bikinis” - A mosaic from the Villa Romana del Casale - Josho Brouwers
