Damnatio ad ferrum

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The damnatio ad ferrum ( Latin = condemnation to iron ) means the "condemnation to fight with iron without prospect of salvation" and was the generic term for a form of the death penalty in ancient Rome . This type of execution was usually carried out as a separate part of the program as part of circus games . Those condemned in this way competed against one another without any body protection, armed with a cutting and thrusting weapon. The victor, who was still fit for battle, had to face the next condemned opponent until his own death. A pardon for the last surviving participant was fundamentally excluded. This was ultimately judged by the sword or in some other way. A couple unwilling to fight was forced to take up fighting with the whip or fire.

A secondary variant was the “sentencing to fight a gladiator with no prospect of rescue”, namely the damnatio ad gladium . This punishment forced the person concerned into a hopeless meeting with a regular gladiator.

One perspective on saving the delinquent, on the other hand, was his “condemnation to the gladiatorial existence”, the damnatio ad ludum gladiatorium . Here the convict could hope for a pardon after several victorious fights in the course of his career as a trained gladiator.

literature

  • Karl Binding : Outline of German criminal law. General part . 8th with the 7th identical edition. Verlag Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1913 (reprint: Scientia Verlag, Aalen 1975, ISBN 3-511-09010-5 ).
  • Rolf Rilinger : Life in Ancient Rome. A reader . 2nd Edition. Piper, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-492-11005-3 ( Piper 1005 Lust an der Geschichte ).
  • Helmut Höfling: Romans - slaves - gladiators. The Spartacus Uprising . Carl Habel Verlag 1987, Munich-Breitbrunn, ISBN 3-87179-247-0

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rolf Rilinger: Life in Ancient Rome . Piper; P. 366; Seneca : Seneca critical of circus games, letters to Lucilius I 7.2-7.6
  2. ↑ Helmut Höfling: Roman-slave-gladiators . Habel; P. 28; Sentenced to fight in the arena
  3. ^ Karl Binding, Outline of the German Criminal Law General Part , p. 23, cf. also Helmut Höfling: Roman slave gladiators . Habel; P. 29; Sentenced to fight in the arena