Fik Meijer teaches Ancient History in the University of Amsterdam and he truly wrote a wonderful book where almost every chapter is extremely well thought. Not only the subjects are displayed in a competent succession, the images are inserted in the relevant parts of the text and have been exquisitely picked to maximize the learning factor and illustrate the points of view the author is conveying (contrary to most recent publications, which prefer to insert a central block of images, saving in costs and being able to print them in different higher quality paper, but losing something much more valuable – the insertion of images and maps in the relevant section).
The author discusses many issues including the origins of gladiatorial combat, the evolution of their popularity and dimension, all facets of the life and death of a gladiator (including their recruitment, backgrounds, training and types of gladiator, gladiatrixes, life expectancy and even career opportunities after leaving gladiatorial combat…if you’re lucky).
The author uses modern investigation and ancient testimonies in a remarkable way which makes this book one of the most interesting regarding this subject. The author also delves into a typical game day in the colosseum, the history of the Amphitheatrum Flavium and the spread of other buildings dedicated to gladiatorial combat through all the Roman Empire and also the gradual decline of those shows. Among other subjects abridged you will also find the various methods of executing a criminal in the arena, naumachiae, hunts and combats between bestiarii and wild animals, etc.
And this leads me to some small remarks about this book. The English title is “The Gladiators – History’s most deadly sport”, but an enormous amount of the book isn’t dedicated to them but to other roman entertainment or judicial systems that had nothing to do with proper gladiatorial combat or lives. Possibly the Dutch version has a different title and the author had absolutely no say regarding this slight mistake. There are other small issues that need correction such as the mention that Vestal’s must be virgins for life (untrue, only while they remained vestals; although it was considered a bad match marrying an ex-vestal) or the translation of the Graffiti of the fight between Marcus Attilius against Hilarus, which the author states that the latter had 14 wins which is incorrect; he fought 14 times and won 12.
With a good glossary of Latin terminology, a fair list of amphitheaters and their dimensions, very good black and white pictures this is truly a fascinating book regarding the Roman games.