Scissor (gladiator)

The scissor (pl. scissores) was a type of Roman gladiator.^[1][2][3] Very little is known about them^[4][5] and they were not mentioned after the first century BCE.^[3][1] The name, from the verb scindere ("to cut") means cleaver, carver, or slasher.^[6][1][7][4] Historian Marcus Junkelmann identified what he termed a scissor in a relief in the late 1980s. The figure, however, has also been identified as an arbelas by other historians.^[1][7][3] It is possible that the scissores went extinct or were later reclassed as arbelai.^[1][3] The scissores may have evolved from the secutor due to the similarity in armor, helmet, and gladius, as well as being "anti-retiarius."^[1]

Scissor gladiator actor.

Scissores wore a full-face helmet similar to that of the hoplomachi or the secutores, and wore heavy armor. They held a gladius in one hand and a "single-edged curved blade," similar to a mezzaluna or an arbelas blade, on his forearm.^[1][8][3] This semicircular blade was attached to a steel tube that spanned the arm. It served as a shield in addition to a weapon and a handle inside provided increased mobility.^[9]

See also

• List of Roman gladiator types