(Image source: LiveScience)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource world video news analysis from Newsy.

The memorial stone for a gladiator who died 1800 years ago in Turkey is giving researchers a unique glimpse into the gladiators’ rules of combat.

The stone shows one gladiator standing over another, holding two swords. He has apparently won the fight. But the inscription at the bottom says otherwise. (Image source: LiveScience)

“It is something you see all the time: Athletes and fans blaming the refs for a blown call. But now it appears it’s been happening for nearly 2,000 years.” (Video source: KNBC)

The National Post has the translation: “Here I lie victorious, Diodorus the wretched. After breaking my opponent Demetrius, I did not kill him immediately. But murderous Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me, and leaving the light I have gone to Hades.”

What does it all mean? A writer for io9 gives some background.

“For those not up on their gladiator terminology, the summa rudis was the referee, who might himself be a veteran gladiator. This means that those who prepared the tombstone for Diodorus -- most likely his family or friends -- felt that he had died as a direct result of crappy refereeing...”

A combatant had to fall by the hand of his opponent. If the ref believed the fall was accidental, he could stop the fight. The researcher who translated the stone told LiveScience how the fight seems to have played out.

“‘Demetrius signals surrender, Diodorus doesn't kill him; he backs off expecting that he's going to win the fight... What the summa rudis has obviously done is stepped in, stopped the fight, allowed Demetrius to get back up again, take back his shield, take back his sword, and then resume the fight.’ This time Diodorus was in trouble...”

Adding insult to injury -- NBC’s Daily Connection digs up something else...

“What’s more, the gladiator was born in the same city meaning the guy didn't get a hometown call. (That’s not fair.) No word whether his opponent thanked his family and the gods for the win.”

Demetrius took his second chance to win the fight, a chance Diodorus’s side thought he should never have gotten. This makes the stone the oldest complaint about bad officiating on record. A writer for Pajamas Media writes...

“The gladiatorial games needed an instant replay booth. As for that summa rudis, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen his descendants working international soccer matches.”

Transcript by Newsy.