The Gladiator: The Secret History of Rome's Warrior Slaves

This is a tremendous book for anyone interested in the gladitorial contests of Ancient Rome. The Romans used to treat the games as a holiday and they were so immune to the sight of death, and human life was held in such disregard that they would cheer and shout at the demise of a fallen warrior, just as modern day people would at the scoring of a goal at a football match. The gladiators life was inevitably short and violent, but not all contests were fought to the death, it took a tremendous amount of time and money to train a fighter and their "managers" did not like to see their investment terminated. Even free men chose to take of the life of a gladiator. They could gain great wealth if they were successful and were much beloved by many of the women of Rome. There were many different types of gladiators, some using a short sword and shield, others a net and a trident. They are all named and described in the book. Man was not always pitted against man, sometimes a gladiator would be paired against a wild animal or a pack of animals. The book gives you a real feel of what it would really be like to stride out of the dark into the bright sunshine and burning sand of the arena. Possibly with a slave with a red hot iron egging you on if you were a bit hesitant, and the loser would certainly be marked with the hot iron to ensure that he was dead.

History books written for the layman can be exceptionally rich and full of easily digestible material and this book by Alan Baker matches that comment perfectly-a book packed with information that he presents in a superb, non-specialist manner. If any reader has paused in their traverse of Roman history from the Republic through the Empire they they must surely ask some very pertinent questions about this peculiar Roman culture of public death in the arena. I know of no other civilization or culture that needed this public bloodletting and Baker offers some cogent reasons why it should have happened. Beyond this theorizing, Baker gives us-through ample contemporary quotes from the period-an excellent picture of who gladiators were, why they were, how they fought, with whom they fought, the environment of the combat and finally what happened to both the victors and the defeated. In short, I would be surprised if anyone not an expert would have any unanswered questions lying around after reading this book. He speculates on questions about the reasons why the Mediterranean basin is denuded of so many animals that are now found only south of the Sahara and why the Roman's would divert so many resources just to provide entertainment for the masses. I recommend this wonderful readable book to any person looking for some answers to a world wide question about a supposedly superior civilization that used the worst blood-sports in human history. As he writes, don't judge them by our standards-I guess?

A very readable if sometimes stomach turning telling of the history of gladiators. The writing is fast paced and the book is as much a page turner as something that is going under the title of a history book has a right to be. Baker makes no glossy finish for his history of bloodsport. It's nasty, dirty and disgusting in every way possible. While he doesn't give the ancient Romans an excuse for their behavior, he does give an explaination. Each chapter tells a different part of gladiatoral combat from executions to the actual hand to hand fighting, culminating in a fictional telling of a day at the games. While the book is enjoyable and interesting, it is still hard to swallow. Baker doesn't sugar coat his history, which gives a very vivid picture of a very bloody portion of history.

For a readable book with no footnotes, Baker's THE GLADIATOR is surprisingly detailed. Pretty much everything you could want to know about the Roman gladiators - who they were, why they fought, how they were perceived by others, what kinds of weapons and fighting styles they used, what kinds of elaborate setups they fought in, where the whole practice came from and how it developed - is contained within this book, as well as a little more information than you probably wanted to know about Roman public executions. The finale of THE GLADIATOR is a horrifying fictional chapter describing what a typical day at the Roman games might have been like - definitely not for the faint-hearted, but it makes one very happy to be living in better times.