Superfit, muscled, macho, the gladiator was hero-worshipped for his skill and courage as he fought to the death, yet despised for his humble status. For over six cruel centuries, tens of thousands died in the bloodsoaked arenas of Rome and its colonies, watched by enthralled crowds, screaming for violence. Drawn from prisoners of war, slaves, convicts and in later centuries, Roman citizens fighting for money and excitement, the gladiators lived inside gladiator schools where they trained in special fighting techniques: the retiarius with net and trident, the thraex with short sword and round shield, the secutor, the murmillo, the hoplomachus. Few lived to old age or found freedom again. Fewer still lived to tell their tale. Professor Fik Meijer has ingeniously pieced together their true stories from grave epitaphs, graffiti, mosaics, frescoes and engravings, from artifacts found...
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