Giftware & Lifestyle - Gladiator Figurine - Roman Retiarius with Net & Trident

A retiarius is a Roman gladiator. The word means something like ‘net-man’ (from the Latin rete, ‘net’).

The retiarius always fought without a helmet. He used a net to throw his opponent off balance (made possible by heavy weights attached to his net) and thereby, as it were, ‘catch’ him. He also carried a large trident (tridens) and often a dagger.

On the shoulder near the upper arm on the side where he wields his trident, he wears a large, upright protective plate (galerus).