I do wonder whether they just stumbled onto the slavery stuff while they thought they were talking about objectification in a celebrity kind of context -- since gladiators (a century later, granted) were major celebrities in their way, which is why we see them sexually objectified the way they are here. Gladiator semen is the kind of thing that ends up included in Roman potions and medicines, for example. And Juvenal goes on and on about how aristocratic women pant after gladiators and have them brought up for sex sessions. (Just because Juvenal talks about it doesn't mean it actually happened, obviously, but it's the the kind fo thing people liked to think.)
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I do wonder whether they just stumbled onto the slavery stuff while they thought they were talking about objectification in a celebrity kind of context -- since gladiators (a century later, granted) were major celebrities in their way, which is why we see them sexually objectified the way they are here. Gladiator semen is the kind of thing that ends up included in Roman potions and medicines, for example. And Juvenal goes on and on about how aristocratic women pant after gladiators and have them brought up for sex sessions. (Just because Juvenal talks about it doesn't mean it actually happened, obviously, but it's the the kind fo thing people liked to think.)