I recall reading some time ago that the image we have of gladiators, shaped by cinema, is far from the reality, that their diet was different, and that although they trained many hours a day, they did not possess the sculpted bodies we have come to expect. Harry Sidebottom, professor of Ancient History and Classical Studies, knows this well, and in his latest work Those Who Are About to Die shifts from fiction to non‑fiction to take us on a journey through these well‑known figures, about whom we at the same time know so little.
The book is structured as a twenty‑four‑hour chronicle around the Colosseum and its surroundings, in which the author performs an immersive dive into Roman life and, in particular, that of its gladiators.
If you’re looking for an epic, a Gladiator or an Spartacus, this title isn’t for you.
Indeed, it contains many sections devoted to cracking and destroying that Hollywood image of gladiatorial combat, starting with their survival, calculating that fights ending in death occurred in about one out of eight bouts, so yes, life was hard, but surviving and rising through the ranks was potentially possible and, for some, a career in which survival could end with a better life. It also explains that the famous salute is more a modern attribution based on an anecdote than a faithfully corroborated historical fact. Everything in Those Who Are About to Die is anecdotal when it comes to these fighters, delighting the curious reader, who is surprised to discover that the Romans themselves admitted that the origin of these combats had been borrowed from another people, not because they did not want to be responsible for cruel entertainment, but because it was part of Roman identity to speak of borrowed elements, to show that they were an open people.
And there is a lot of Rome and its customs in Those Who Are About to Die.
As one moves through the different moments of the day, the reader realizes that this is less an exhaustive study and more of a portrait of the Roman people, in which the unifying thread that binds it all together is the gladiators, but one will learn about dinners, organizations and bets that go beyond the Colosseum’s stands. One cannot understand the existence of this spectacle unless one explains what kind of society can enable people to enjoy this entertainment. This also helps fill the gaps left by the absence of accurate documentation on the subject: a society in which the emperors compete to have the best games, that distributes bread during a bloody spectacle (hence the famous “bread and circuses”)… and that delights in violence in such a primal way that one wonders if it was also done outside the stands.
Those Who Are About to Die is an educational and demystifying work that is filled with anecdotes that, combined with a narrative in which the author remains close to a personal tone, make for a pleasant journey through a civilization that still has much to show us. Much to Hollywood’s dismay.
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Author: Harry Sidebottom. Title: Those Who Are About to Die. Translation: Albino Santos Mosquera. Publisher: Espasa. Availability: Todos tus libros.