The Colosseum

In the year 1999, the movie Gladiator reminded millions of people just how spectacular a place Rome’s Colosseum is. It had been decades since the last swords and sandals flick, but Russell Crowe, in the role of a fictional gladiator, Maximus, dramatically won our hearts.

Yet, one wonders. Did it really happen that way? Did the movie provide an accurate portrayal of the gladiatorial games? And was its computer-generated rendition of the Colosseum worth the time (and money) it took to produce it? Now you can judge for yourself.

Classical scholars Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard have just published a pocket-sized history of the Colosseum and the spectacles it hosted. This is a book that shouldn’t be missed by anyone who has found themselves standing in the Colosseum and trying to imagine what it was like to attend the gladiatorial games. Nor should the book be overlooked by those who have shivered with horror when thinking of the carnage and violence that took place in the largest amphitheater in the Roman world.

Beard and Hopkins write for a general audience and their book addresses many aspects of the gladiatorial games and the Colosseum itself. They have chapters that examine the staging of the games, the building of the Colosseum, the careers of gladiators, the social rituals of which the gladiatorial games were a part, and the uncanny attraction that generations of travelers have had to this monument.

Far from dry, this book is an enjoyable and quick read - the perfect length for the plane ride to Rome. “We who are about to die, salute this lovely little book!”