| Contents |
Chronology -- Introduction -- How the gladiator games evolved -- Chariot races and plays -- Early gladiator fights -- Spartacus -- Gladiator games under the early emperors -- The gladiators -- Their prestige -- Their backgrounds -- Their training -- Their life expectancy -- Their love life -- Female gladiators -- What did it all cost? -- Types of gladiator -- The scene of action -- The building of the Colosseum -- Safety -- Comfort -- Copies of the Colosseum -- The animals -- A day at the Colosseum -- The morning programme : hunting and animal fights -- The interval attractions : executions -- The afternoon programme : gladiator fights -- Sea battles (naumachiae) -- Dead meat -- Gladiator burials -- Carcasses : disposed of or eaten? -- The end of gladiator shows -- Objections to gladiator fights -- The demise of gladiator shows -- The decline and fall of the Colosseum -- Gladiator films -- Spartacus -- Gladiator -- Epilogue -- Glossary -- List of amphitheatres. |
| Abstract |
An analysis of the lives of ancient Rome's gladiators explores how they were both despised and hero-worshipped, chronicling how tens of thousands of gladiators perished publicly over the course of six hundred years. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-254) and index. |
| LCCN | 2005049380 |
| ISBN | 0312348746 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 9780312348748 (hardcover) |
