The great spectacles of ancient Rome have become proverbial for their cruelty, bloodlust & glory. In the Arena, the games were savage & brutal. Gladiators fought each other to the death, wild animals were put to fight each other & criminals were executed by barbaric means. Military victories were marked when generals paraded through the city, the defeated were sacrificed to the gods & food & wine was offered free of charge on a lavish scale. Meanwhile the citizens received free bread to prevent hunger & the riots it could provoke. This book looks at these savage spectacles & traces the development from entertainment to hysterical obsession until their eventual decline & disappearance, & explains how they still have influence on contemporary life. Ill.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fine introduction to the Roman world and oh yeah... gladiators too,
This review is from: The Age of the Gladiators: Savagery & Spectacle in Ancient Rome (Hardcover)
It's worth it for the reader of my review to also read the review below mine from Michael. His review is fair and touches on some good points about the book. However, I give this book a little more credit (maybe a lot more since I give it 5 stars).
I, too, discovered this book in Barnes and Noble at a decent bargain bin price around $6. I knew nothing about gladiators (having seen Spartacus or Gladiator still doesn't mean you know anything ;)), but I did have some general understanding of the basic Roman history. Well, when I started reading it, I found the author's writing style and his succinct chapters very pleasing. The chapters are short and to the point: Origin of the Games, Spartacus, Training the Gladiators, Varieties of Killer, Naval Battles, Wild Animal Hunts, Executions, The Colosseum... etc etc; chapters that focus on one aspect of the Roman games and everything that correlates with it. There is no meandering or pedantic scholarly side-steps into boring history. The book is small, too, so its 236 pages are more like reading 100, but that doesn't negate its impact as an educating book; think of the book as quality over quantity. Regarding the information on the gladiatorial games, I found this book immensely informative. I knew nothing about the gladiator styles, the murmillo and secutors, or the perversely creative ways of executing prisoners (you won't believe it; throwing Christians to the lions was just the beginning). Even more so, I had no idea just how many people AND animals were killed; thousands and thousands and thousands over years and years. When you read that actual animal species became extinct from all the imports of animals and slaughters in the arena, suddenly it seems not even the history of nature, with all the slain wildlife can even compete with Rome's insatiable lust for dead animals. PETA would go insane and kill themselves from the statistics. This is just one very enlightening highlight in this book and there's plenty more to be had. However, this book does not focus entirely on gladiators; it's not really meant to be that thorough of a project. It's more of an introduction to Roman entertainment in general. It does detail the Roman Triumphs (equivalent of our military parades), the Bread Doles and even touches on some of the debauched parties held by Caligula and Nero. By the end of the book, the gladiators are in the background and no longer under the spotlight. Depending on how fast you read the book, this may leave you wanting more about the gladiators. However, if you read fast, you'll still retain what you know about gladiators and not miss them when the last half of the book focuses on other things. But this is not a negative point to me. The book ends quite nicely with chapters touching on Cleopatra, the barbarians encroaching on Rome, and then the final fall. From the start of the book you feel like you're reading about an amazing race of people that we will never see again. And at the end, as Michael commented on below, you sadly read the fact that Rome becomes a joke, destroyed by its own corruption and ineptitude. Bottom line: If you would like a relatively quick and pleasing read on the underrated portions of Rome's history (the War in Sicily, Gladiatorial games, and even sex parties held by Caligula) this is a good book to start with. If you're somewhat of an aficionado on Roman history, you might not be all that impressed; it's an introduction to Rome, gladiators, the horse races, and the "Savagery and Spectacle in Ancient Rome" as the subtitle of the book suggests.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Less than I expected,
By
This review is from: The Age of the Gladiators: Savagery & Spectacle in Ancient Rome (Hardcover)
I was in a Barnes and Noble one day and I saw this book on the bargain table for about half the original price. I just discovered that Amazon has it for even a lower price than I paid.
Nevertheless, the book started off with what I thought it should; talking about Gladiators. From the origin, training, those who became Gladiators, to the different types of Gladiators, when they were used, how much the "games" meant to Roman society and how the Gladiators died, I found the information intriquing. A description of how they dressed during their arena battles was also included. All of this was great information. I gave this book three stars because only the first half talked about Gladiators. After that, the rest of the book included general Roman society. It was interesting and nice to know information but I didn't have my mind set for that. The rest of the book talked about the "Circuses" including chariot races, Roman festivals and riots. There was a section about Roman Triumphs, which were spectacles put on for returning conquering generals. Then there was a section about the food supply in Rome. The author managed to fit Cleopatra in this section. It just isn't why I bought the book. I found that there were some sections that repeated information, not in a "review" manner, but as if it was the first time introduced into the material. Overall, I suppose all of this stuff does fit into the title of the book, "The Age of the Gladiators." All of this stuff occurred during the age they existed. There are interesting pictures that lead each section and the front cover is a great picture. I found myself looking at it during the author's description of what a Gladiator wore. This was enough to whet my appetite for more Gladiator knowledge and Roman history, in general. It's sad the way Rome fell. So, if you want a book talking exclusively about Gladiators, there must be others out there. But if you don't mind reading tidbits of information about general Roman society, then this book isn't a bad one to start with.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great info, weak structure.,
This review is from: The Age of the Gladiators: Savagery & Spectacle in Ancient Rome (Hardcover)
Since I totally agree with all reviews below, I'll not repeat all the valid points written by previous readers.
I understand that such information can be obtained from researching many works and documents since there are no ancient writings on the gladiator subject. Must have been a tidy work to collect bits and pieces and organization such info. Unfortunately, although the info is great and objective, it is not integrated together in a well structured book at all. It seems that each little chapter was written in its own with disregard to the rest of the book. As a result a lot of info repeats many times during subsequent chapters. Consequently one can read about the gladiators and their games and then about the Circus and Triumphs etc and get the feeling that they did not have anything to do with each other. In fact all of them happened during the same time, over a thousand years, and were part of the same events. The second half of the book is very good info but does not belong under this title. The wars with Carthage, Cleopatra and her life (although I have to say that I had no idea she was the descendant of Ptolemy, Alexander's general), subject of free grain and bread etc had no relation with the main subject. Unfortunately I got so upset the book was not structure very well that I went and bought another book on Gladiators ... even more disappointing. Mark Anthony - good one! I did no get that :)
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