The World of the Gladiator

By Susanna Shadrake and Shadrake

Book Overview

The gladiatorial contest was the high point of the bloody sports witnessed in Rome's Colosseum and in other amphitheatres throughout the Roman empire. This is the first popular book to explore all aspects of gladiatorial life--its beginnings under the Republic; the organization of the spectacle; the day-to-day-life of a gladiator; a typical show from start to finish; the equipment, weapons and armor used; the symbolic role of the gladiator in society; and the fascination of the gladiatorial spectacle within a 21st-century context.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 075243442X
• ISBN13: 9780752434421
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Tempus
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.8" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Explores all aspects of gladiators

Aimed at the general reader, this book delves into one of the most fascinating aspects of Roman life: gladiators. The Romans were mad for gladiator fights, and nearly every city the size of a speck boasted an amphitheater. Because gladiators, especially at first, were drawn from the condemned, Romans looked down upon them as a class. "It was a social stigma to be an actor, as it was to be a gladiator; no decent person would wish to perform in public, whether in the scaena or the arena, as it would expose them to contempt and derision. Strangely, the charioteer was exempted from this social leprosy. For this reason, most performers in Rome were outsiders, foreigners, or slaves; anything but Roman citizens" (p 31). Later some debt ridden, desperate Roman men did volunteer to be gladiators, however. The arena was drenched with blood. Gladiators did not always fight to the death--their lives were considered too valuable to be thrown away cheaply, but the arena saw plenty of death every day. Elephants were trained to crush condemned men underfoot "Christian noxii were a common sight in the area" (p 29), dragged there to be slaughtered. The book is rich in interesting anecdotes, such as the fact that the emperor Valentinian kept his favorite man-eating bears in cages right outside his bedroom. Must have made for happy dreams. Recommended. The book has plenty of pictures, also, some in color.