Did gladiators really fight lions?
Absolutely. Many gladiators and lions did die in the ring. The Romans created all types of fights, not only between gladiators, but between different animals, between humans and animals, and often just fed prisoners to animals as “sport.” They killed so many animals that they caused several species to go extinct. And many of the gladiators were slaves, so they were not seen as being as important as Roman citizens. Some gladiators were able to survive, some to the point that they were able to finally buy their freedom.
