num_pages: 288
description: Superfit, muscled, and macho, gladiators were hero-worshipped for their skills and courage as they fought to the death, yet despised for their humble status. For over six cruel centuries, tens of thousands died in the blood soaked arenas of Rome and its colonies, watched by enthralled crowds screaming for violence. Professor Fik Meijer has ingeniously pieced together their true stories from contemporary evidence, describing the gladiators' origins, daily life, training, and the odds of their survival pitted against their legions of fans' lust for blood and spectacle.
language: English
title: The Gladiators: History's Most Deadly Sport
titlecomplete: The Gladiators: History's Most Deadly Sport
characters: Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, Augustus, Spartacus
genres: Historical, History, Adult, Ancient History, Ancient, Sports, Nonfiction, Politics
ratings_count: 430
publisher: St. Martin's Griffin