Customer Reviews

Gladiators: 100 BC-AD 200 (Warrior)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gladiators 100BC-200AD is an excellent addition to the prolific Osprey series of military books. A nice summary of the superb (but a tad costlier) Gladiators and Ceasars, Gladiators 100Bc-200AD combines much of the latest information on these showmen of the arena with magnificent illustrations by the legendary Angus McBride. The descriptions of training and living conditions of the gladiators is nice and concise, with some good asides based on grafritti findings and written records. The descriptions of the various fighters are good, with the illustrations doing much to imprint the differences in the reader's mind. Probably the only real failing of the volume is the lack of photographs of either actual gladiatorial armour, especially the helmets, or the excellent reproductions done under Dr Marcus Junklemann's supervision. An image of the myrmillon helmet described with the "scale-like" pattern on the bowl would have been really appreciated. All-in-all, an excellent addition to my growing gladiator library. Now, if only someone would translate Junklemann's Das Spiel mit dem Todt into English and make it available to purchase.

This Osprey warrior title takes a look at the gladiators of the Roman Empire from the 1st Century BC (when Julius Caesar staged his great arena fights) to the 2nd Century AD (which saw the antics of Commodus, such as fighting gladiators armed with leaden weapons). Since Osprey Publishing focuses on military matters, it is slightly surprising that they would look at the gladiators. These were not military men, of course, though a few had military backgrounds.

Basically speaking, this book examines the whole career of a hypothetical gladiator named Danaos (taken from a 2nd Century gravestone in Eastern Europe) from his 'recruitment' to his retirement-assuming he lasts that long. Author Stephen Wisdom does reveal some surprising information, notably that more than a few gladiators willingly chose the career, and that for all except for true slaves and condemned criminals, it was a paid career, and a well-paid one at that. Overall, Wisdom makes arena fighting look more like a dangerous sport than a Hollywood slaughter-fest, but at the same time does not let us forget the ferocity and human tragedy of it.

The main reason for my giving this title 4 stars instead of 5 is that, in my opinion, it could have touched on the different styles of gladiator much better. All the well-known kinds, retiarii (the young warriors with a net and trident) and the various sword-wielding kinds like Thracians, Samnites, and Myrmillos are examined, as well as a couple more obscure kinds like the spear-armed hoplomachus (roughly how the gladiators in the Roman arena in the movie Gladiator are armed). On the other hand, the author makes little reference to the essendiarii, the charioteers, many of whom were women. Sagitarii, the archers, are only mentioned once, and scissores, lightly armored fighters fighting with double slashing knives, are not even mentioned, nor are the midgets that were forced to fight as gladiators.

The author briefly mentions female gladiators, basically enough to get you interested in them and then leave you hanging-besides a couple pictures and shadowy references, he makes no mention of them. Contemporary Latin writers make it plain that there were many female fighters, and they had their own cult and culture about them as much as the other gladiator types.

I also do not appreciate the lack of exact dates in this book-a gladiator named Astinax is mentioned several times, yet no where do we read when or where in the Empire he lived (in later research I learned that he lived in the 4th Century, 200 years after the book ends).

As always, Angus McBride's artwork is unequaled and fleshes the book out very well. He illustrates the major types of gladiators, as well as noxii at the Pompeii Arena. The noxii, who included Christians, Jews, barbarian captives, petty criminals, cripples, midgets, and women, were pretty much 'arena fodder'-their lives were far cheaper than those of the true gladiatores-trained, armored fighters who had to be paid for. The expendability of the noxii is reflected by the fact that they wore no armor, and most did not even have the luxury of purpose-made weapons.

Another interesting point the author reveals is that many gladiators did in deed have a decent chance of surviving their career. Most Emperors spared defeated fighters if they had fought valiantly (though a thumbs down meant 'weapons down', while thumbs up meant 'let him have it!'-the opposite of the Hollywood stereotype).

Overall, this book captures the humanity of this motley assortment of trained killers, taking an in depth look into the personal lives of their training, health care, their relationships with women and their families and religion, and their attitudes towards the bloody fate that could strike them any day. It is far from perfect, but for someone seeking to learn of the real men under those helmets, rather than just the antics and whims of the Emperors who threw their lives away with a flick of their thumbs, this is a worthy purchase.

As always with these pamphlet style books the artwork is excellent and in some of those drawings I could easily imagine the feeling of dread the Gladiator must have faced.Much like an Aztec about to be sacrificed to the Sun(and also occuring a hemishere away at the almost exact time period).
Before I read this book I could picture a bunch of uncivilized savage animals(far worse off than the animals in the arena)spectating at the gory show in sadistic pleasure. The author however, offers a brief but effective explanation of the Roman concept of sacrifice,that is the ultimate price of everything, and the more precious the object the higher the price. The Roman Peace or Pax Romana cost the empire blood and treasures unimaginable and the Gladiatorial contests were initially a celebration of life accented by brutal death? So as not to forget noone gets a free ride in the next life,a savage reminder that the best thing here in the present are not free either.
This is not to say and the author also brings this out,that eventually the games were probably seen as and became in fact a "carnal spectacle"and no longer a celebration of life. This is not to say that the games were ever in fact anything but murder,as were the Aztec sacrifices of the same period.There are also included,pictures and explanations of a type of a "water organ" that must have played some "sinister"? notes either during intermission or during the spectacle itself. At any rate for sure it wasn't playing,"Take Me Out To The Ballgame". It made me wonder also what type of music was playing during the Aztecian spectacles.
Anyway I believe this is a great short book as are all of the Osprey publication. And usually they give you a little "extra" to philophize about.After reading the book I realize that I may have more to rever the Gladiator for than I could imagine.Only once in history and hopefuly never,never,again anything like that!! The Gods must be the greatest of entertainers with limitless boundaries beyond the human imagination.All from a wafer thin book.

Every Osprey book that I have come across has been very good at giving a clear concise explanation of its topic and Gladiators was no exception. What is so good about these books is that all of the information is backed up by the archaeological evidence which the book includes with a bibliography of where the information came from. The middle of the books are filled with historically accurate illustration of the subjects being discussed. While these books may seem expensive for a thin paperback they are well worth the price.

This book is definately a classic text books. Not exciting but full of information. If you are a fan of ancient Rome and or Gladiators of ancient times then this book is full of excellent insights.