Types of Gladiators
The first meaning is that the bestiarii were men who fought animals in combat in the Colosseum, and not really gladiators, as that term typically refers to someone facing another man or woman opponent.
A cestus or caestus is an ancient battle glove, sometimes used in pankration. They were worn like today's boxing gloves, but were made with leather strips and sometimes filled with iron plates or fitted with blades or spikes, and used as weapons.
A gladiatorial fight would usually involve two gladiators but similar types of gladiators such as the Dimachaerus, would not normally fight each other. The first Roman Gladiators were prisoners of war and used the weapons and equipment characteristic of their people.
A Hoplomachus (pl. hoplomachi) (hoplon meaning "Equipment" in Greek) was a type of gladiator in ancient Rome, armed to resemble a Greek hoplite (soldier with heavy armor and helmet, a small, round, concave shield, a spear and a sword).
The murmillo (also sometimes spelled "mirmillo" or "myrmillo", pl. murmillones) was a type of gladiator during the Roman Imperial age. The murmillo-class gladiator was adopted in the early Imperial period to replace the earlier Gallus, named after the warriors of Gaul.
A retiarius (plural retiarii; literally, "net-man" or "net-fighter" in Latin) was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a weighted net (rete, hence the name), a three-pointed trident (fuscina or tridens), and a dagger .
A Samnite (Latin Samnis, plural Samnites) was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a warrior from Samnium: a short sword , a rectangular shield , a greave (ocrea), and a helmet.
A secutor (pl. secutores) was a class of gladiator in ancient Rome. Thought to have originated around 50 AD, the secutor ("follower" or "chaser", from sequor "I follow, come or go after") was armed similarly to the Murmillo gladiator and like the Murmillo, was protected by a heavy shield.
The Thraex (pl. thraeces), or Thracian, was a type of Roman gladiator, armed in the Thracian style with small rectangular, square or circular shield called a parmula (about 60 x 65 cm) and a very short sword with a slightly curved blade called a sica (like a small version of the Dacian falx), intended to maim an opponent's unarmoured back.