Strangely, fights to the death staged between gladiators weren't invented in Rome at all. It was an imported custom that was first launched in Rome in the year 264 BCE. That was when Brutus Pera, a powerful member of the Brutus family who ran the Roman Republic, died. His sons held a lavish wake, called a munus, where they distributed meat and wine to the public. They also had six slaves fight each other to the death for entertainment. That began a custom in which the funeral rites of prominent people often included a bloody battle that took more, although less important, lives.
These battles changed and evolved over time. They became so elaborate and popular that the excuse of a funeral became stretched and finally abandoned. The tradition was tweaked to make the fight more horrific, and slaves were trained for the fights. Read the origins of gladiator fights and what they led to at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Carole Raddato)