The depiction of gladiators and their combats is one of the key topics in the visual theatre of the Roman Imperial period. By examining its iconography and narrative, this study is the first to comprehensively analyse the origin and development of the visual appearance of gladiatorial scenes as well as their function and message in the Late Republic and during the Principate. Employing avenues of socio- and art-historical analysis, the study centres upon the analysis of reliefs that would have been part of funerary structures for municipal officials in Italy. In this function, most of the scenes depicted on these funerary monuments represented specific events in the lives of the individuals concerned and highlighted their role as providers of munera gladiatoria. Other archaeological artefacts such as Roman relief ware, oil lamps and graffiti corroborate the changes in the contemporary visual culture in different contexts, times and spaces as evidenced in the development of gladiatorial imagery.