American Gladiators is making a comeback this weekend on NBC. The show, which originally aired in the late '80s and early '90s, pits regular folks (although regular folks who are somewhat more fit than me) against the show's cast of gladiators. So what does this have to do with the gladiators of ancient Rome? Well, not a lot, but there is one surprising way the show is true to ancient history: Both American Gladiators and Roman gladiators were given set tasks.

Sure, the tasks are a bit different. In the NBC series, which debuts Sunday at 9, there's one called "Earthquake," in which the contestant and gladiator battle on a tilting platform, and an "Assault" task, in which contestants have to "avoid getting pelted by tennis balls being shot at them ... by navigating a course filled with counterstrike weaponry like air cannons and cross bows." Real gladiators of yore fought in set pairs, under strict rules--for example, a retiarius, who used a net and trident, would fight against a secutor, armed with short sword and shield. And like (I hope) the show, fights rarely ended in death.

Like the show's regulars, ancient gladiators were well-trained. A study of remains from a mass gladiator grave in Ephesus found that they exercised rigorously and ate little meat. Many other things have changed for the better: The ancient gladiators were slaves, although some successful fighters were able to win their freedom. While death wasn't always part of the bouts, some did end that way; one skull in the Ephesus study had two holes spaced at the same distance as the prongs of a trident found at a nearby site. And the ancient audience had to sit in the hot sun, not at home on the couch with a bucket of caramel corn. Also, I'm pretty sure Lycra hadn't been invented yet.

For an accurate movie portrayal of gladiators, experts say you should skip Gladiator. That film was both wildly popular and wildly annoying to experts in Roman culture. Instead of getting intense training and meeting set opponents, Russell Crowe was sent into the arena to confront all manner of weirdness, including tigers. Instead, rent the 1960 Stanley Kubrick movie Spartacus, which shows the gladiators training together and fighting in pairs.

—Helen Fields

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