Was Reish Lakish a Gladiator?

Abstract

It is often mentioned that Reish Lakish (Shim’on ben Lakish), one of the most important rabbis in the land of Israel during the 3rd century AD, had been a gladiator before he became a rabbi. They all base their opinion on one legend in the Babylonian Talmud, and especially one sentence in it. The current article wishes to revisit this issue and to prove that there is no concrete basis for this assumption.