El día de Gloria (Arte escénico)

by Francisco Ors

Spanish

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Sports

88 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2015

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but fun.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone whose read a lot of books on Roman History, I think the subject matter for this one fills a gap, especially in regards to beast hunts. While gladiators are something pretty much everyone has some familiarity with, this book does a nice job of clearing up myths that people might have about them. Partly due the lack of ancient sources, this book mostly focuses on how gladiator shows both evolved and lost popularity as the Roman Empire waned. If you hope to see detailed anecdotes or bios of gladiators from this time, they unfortunately do not exist. While the gladiator parts were interesting, I was more curious about beast hunts which are mentioned in ancient sources quite often and sound pretty extravagant (and a bit cruel to the animals if I'm being honest) so I was hoping and thankfully, did learn quite a bit about them and why they were popular among the Roman people. It is easy to see now why people would really flock to seeing exotic animals fighting each other, Romans, and eventually, meet their demise.

While the book is a bit wordy and academic at times, I thought it was pretty readable and I enjoyed the whole 150 pages. If you have interest in this topic, there aren't a lot of options out there as it is, but I'd still say this one is worth your time.

[William T. Divale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Missing important material

Ok book and good discussion of animal fights and the whole business of animals in the arena. Very little discussion of Gladiators. Nothing about their training and daily life. Also needs a chapter on the aftermath of the Empire and the arena. Modern football stadiums would be a familiar site to an ancient Roman. While we don’t have gladiators fighting we have platoons making war without weapons, e.g., modern football (American). The social functions are similar. As to the animal hunts, Spain kept its Roman culture long after the empire was gone. Even when ruled by the Visigoths and the ostrogoths, the rulers adopted Roman culture and it was predominant until the moorish conquest. The modern bullfight is, in my opinion, a direct evolution of the Roman arena hunts and animal fights. We are not so different and a chapter on this would have greatly helped the book.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of the Roman Empire told through the lens of the gladiator and beast exhibitions the Romans loved to stage and watch.

Epplett traces the exhibitions from the early Etruscans, through the Republic, to the late Republic to early Empire as the gladiator fights went from a religious event to secular event and highly political, to their height in popularity during height of the Roman Empire, to their demise as the Empire dissolved.

The gladiator fights and use of animals to kill people and watch them be killed were an important part of the Roman Empire - politically, culturally, economically, and more. To study these deadly games is a great way to study the rise and fall of Rome.

The book itself was a little dry and academic in tone for my tastes. I got annoyed at how many times Epplett said "as we have seen" or "as we shall see" instead of letting the narrative just flow. Great subject matter, but could have been presented a little better.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well-researched, in-depth look at the development of gladiators arena fighting in ancient Rome. Epplett examines the different kinds of gladiators, their weapons and costumes, their possible origin in terms of Roman psychology (from using prisoners of war from different conquered areas of Rome to gladiators merely dressing in ways that remind Romans of those conquered warriors), and their place in Rome's social strata. The variety of animal fights in the arenas are also examined, along with their popularity even outstripping those of gladiator fights. Epplett has a tendency to repeat himself, and phrases like "as we shall see" or "as we have seen" get used with far too much frequency, but overall the book is carefully researched and presented with scholarly thoroughness.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering the title, I assumed this book would focus more on the actual training & discipline of gladiators. The information given was interesting, but the subtitle is much more accurate as a description of the book itself, "Deadly Arena Sports of Ancient Rome." I wanted to learn about all of the different arena sports, but I thought gladiators would have been the mean focus. The writing was horribly dry. I had high hopes for a book on this subject, but it was less-thrilling-than-a-textbook boring at best, and coma-inducing the rest of the time.

[Stephen Antczak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of gladiator and staged "beast hunts" in ancient Rome. A cross between an academic book and a popular history book that doesn't always succeed in straddling that fence. Read it to research an idea I have for a novel. Had set it aside for a while, and finally picked it up to finish it last week.

[Tom Sells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting

Spectacle events are always popular. People love the opportunity to view dangerous activity and feel their participation in the event. The thrill of the adventure consumes the spectator. Nothing is more exciting then an event were participants are in danger..