The Way of the Gladiator [Paperback]

Daniel P. Mannix (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2001

"Hail Caesar, we who are about to dic salute you"! And die the gladiators did. In a vast marble Colosseum larger than the Yankee Stadium, the people of Rome, patrician and commoner, flocked to see gladiators mangled beneath the hoofs and wheels of horses and chariots, slaughtered by half-starved wild beasts and butchered by well-armed and armoured professionals. With the Empire in decline, death and torture became the only spectacles that satisfied the decadent Romans' longing. The Emperor Trajan gave one set of games that lasted 122 days; at its end, 11 000 people and 10 000 animals had been killed. The people of Rome loved it- and they wanted more. This is the extraordinary and true account of the Roman Games and the gladiators who fought and died in the cruelest, costliest spectacles of all time!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you can imagine a superior American sports writer suddenly being transported back in time to cover the ancient Roman games, you will have some idea of the flavor and zest of The Way of the Gladiator..."

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: I Books (February 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743413032
• ISBN-13: 978-0743413039
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #922,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fictionalized History, October 21, 2001

By 

George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Way of the Gladiator (Paperback)

This book is a reprint of "Those About to Die," which was published back in the late 50's, when Mannix was in his heyday as a writer. I came to know Daniel P. Mannix through his many articles for the 50's publication "True: The Man's Magazine." He was a competent writer on many subjects, and his stories were always entertaining. "The Way of the Gladiator" is nothing if it is not entertaining. But it is NOT a piece of sober history.

The book is not so much historical fiction as it is fictionalized history. Historical fiction is a make believe story told against the backdrop of historical events. Mannix takes historical events and relates them in "documentary" fashion, but unabashedly invents details and descriptions which, if they are accurate, are accurate only by accident.

If you understand from the outset what you are dealing with, "The Way of the Gladiator" can be great reading. If you're looking for a well researched, scholarly study of gladiators, check out Michael Grant's "Gladiators."

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes you right to the Coliseum!, April 18, 2001

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way of the Gladiator (Paperback)

In this short and easy to read work, the author introduces the Roman gladiatorial games in all of their glory and terror. Relying heavily on primary sources, the author takes genuine stories from the games, and weaves them together to create stories that take the reader back to what the games were really like. Along the way, Mannix shows the evolution of the games, from challenges of skill and courage to mere orgies of carnage and destruction.

Warning: this book is NOT for the faint of heart! The author presents the full spectrum of events, which includes the in-depth description of events of extreme sadism. However, if you are interested in really understanding what the gladiatorial games were like, then this is the book for you. Not academic in style, this book takes you right to the Coliseum!

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ugly, but informative, July 10, 2001

By 

H. F. Gibbard "Noir Guy" (Dark City, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Way of the Gladiator (Paperback)

I picked up this book looking for an accurate historical account of the gladitorial games in ancient Rome. It was not quite what I expected. While the author does make some effort to identify his sources, this is not a scholarly study.

This book is full of the kind of shadowy, ugly stuff that Edward Gibbon only hinted at in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Whereas Gibbon usually states that modern decency forbids him to give you the details, Mannix has no such compunctions. He luridly describes the horrors of the arena, leaving no graphic detail untouched. This makes the book fascinating, in a morbid sort of way, even as it gives the reader a sense of moral superiority over the wretches that delighted in such spectacles.

That said, the book left me with a bad taste in my mouth at times. My problem with books like this, that seek to entertain the reader with stories of true-life atrocities, is that no matter how much they villify the perpetrators, they are always written in a way to make the reader identify with the sadists rather than their victims. Am I supposed to find it entertaining to read about people being torn limb from limb? Shouldn't I rather empathize with these poor wretched human beings, who had feelings just like I do and suffered so needlessly? To hear about their sufferings from any perspective but their own puts me (psychologically speaking) on the side of the perpetrators rather than the victims.

Despite these misgivings, I think the book does have some value, precisely because it shows the reader just how far ethical standards have developed since the time of the Roman Empire. It has a cathartic value by reinforcing the reader's disgust at unbounded cruelty. For people like me who have an interest in Christian origins, it also shows just what the early Christians were revolting against (and perhaps also why their religion of love contains a violent dark side, represented by a hell full of tortures).

For people interested in a more scholarly study of the psychological aspects of the gladitorial games, I recommend "The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans" by Carlin A. Barton.