Stadt der Gladiatoren - Carnuntum

SYNOPSIS

Archaeologist Wolfgang Neubauer is captivated by an aerial photo from 1981: you can see a spot in the middle of the greenery. With the help of new technologies, he discovers a barracks-like facility. There is a small training arena, housing, kitchens, bathrooms and a graveyard. What Neubauer and his team found here exceeded the researchers' greatest expectations: it is the first gladiator school ever discovered outside of Rome. And indeed: during excavations they find the hole in which the palus was anchored - a wooden pole, the most important training device in gladiator training, plus a metal scale from a gladiator's armor, poultry bones and a grave with a valuable burial object.
Franz Humer, the director of the Carnuntum Archaeological Park, had the training arena of the gladiator school rebuilt using original tools and materials from Roman times. Now the training methods of the gladiators can be studied in detail - how they fought, how they lived and how they were trained into deadly fighting machines. The historian Marcus Junkelmann does away with many common clichés: although gladiators were excluded from bourgeois society, they were still the stars of their time. Their performances were not wild carnage, but strictly regulated martial arts. Not all gladiators were captives or slaves, some volunteered. A tough apprenticeship awaited them, possibly death, but also the hope of fame, honor and money.
The gladiators were instructed by their own trainers and had the best medical care. There was a spa at the gladiator school, and the fighters were on a strict diet. Bone finds from Ephesus bring new insights. Fabian Kanz from the Department of Forensic Anthropology at the Medical University of Vienna sees them as a valuable archive in which a great deal of information about the way of life of the gladiators is stored. For example, that gladiators mainly ate legumes or barley. From all these pieces of the puzzle grows the fictional image of Atticus, a North African who receives his training as a gladiator in Carnuntum under the strict eyes of the Lanistas, the head of the gladiator school.
Atticus goes through all stages of training, proves himself and advances to become an admired star who gathers both male and female fans around him. Now he's a prized possession of his Lanista, a "cash cow" in the gladiator circuit. His fights now take place in the great arena in Carnuntum - to the cheers of the crowds. But he does not survive his last fight. It could be his tomb, which was discovered next to the gladiator school - paid for by a wealthy admirer who laid a valuable gold-plated fibula in his grave as a farewell gift for the gods. The film team of Klaus Feichtenberger, Heinrich Mayer-Moroni and Klaus T. Steindl, who also directed it, developed a gripping story that combines the sensational find of the gladiator school with fictional elements.
The story of Atticus and his comrades touches and gets under your skin. The film was shot at original locations in Carnuntum, in the reconstructed training arena. Here, the camera, costume, make-up, equipment and above all the actors were able to capture the spirit of the fighters directly. The elaborate re-enactments and animations bring Carnuntum back to life. Weapons, equipment and fighting styles of the gladiators have been reconstructed down to the last detail. The French troupe Acta has been researching and testing gladiator fights for years. They worked "without a network" during the shooting - the fights in front of the camera were real, if not fought with sharp blades, and give an insight into the fighting techniques of the gladiators in slow motion