Medusa

So here are my top five books on gladiators: Junkelmann, Marcus Gladiatoren - Das Spiel mit dem Tod,Philip von Zabern, Mainz 2008 This is the "bible" when it comes to gladiators. It is very detailed with many pictures and covers nearly everything from the origins, to the development of armor and weapons, fighting techniques, appendix with a catalog of helmets and greaves found at Pompei. The edition from 2008 has an extra chapter on the latest news regarding the world of the arena. Unfortunately this opus is still not translated into English. Battaglia, Dario; Ventura, Luca De Rebvs Gladiatoriis - Dal gymnasion al ludus attraverso i sepolcri, Associazione Ars Dimicandi, Milano 2010 Junkelmann reformed with his first edition of above mentioned book the classification of gladiator types. Battaglia sticks to the old classification but not of ignorance of Junkelmann's work but due to having a different opinion. It is equally extensive in writing but with fewer photos and these unfortunately only in black and white. Unfortunately so far this is only available in Italian, but a German and an English translation should also be published. Teyssier, Eric La Mort en Face - Le Dossier Gladiateurs, Actes Sud, Arles 2009 This is the third scholar who's not only in theory knowledgable about the topic but who has also a reenactment group which which he tried out the fighting techniques and the specific armor of gladiators. He follows in some points the Junkelmann classification, in others Battaglia's. The book contains a very detailed chapter about the helmets and greaves found in Pompeii, describing every details of the artefacts. Many black and white pictures accompany the text. He also mentioned the effects of gladiators on the Roman society, how they were seen by them. Available unfortunately only in French. Shadrake, Susanna The World of the Gladiator, Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2005 Her husband is member of the gladiator group Britannica so this book also contains some nice photos of reconstructed gladiatorial armor. It even has some explosion drawings and sketches of reconstructed pieces which I found very helpful for my own group. Though a bit shorter than the Junkelmann book it does cover every aspect of the gladiatorial theme and could be seen as a good substitute for Junkelmann for the English speaking reader. Matyszak, Philip Gladiator - The Roman Fighter's (Unofficial) Manual, Thames & Hudson, London 2011 As already in his books Rome on Five Denarii a Day and Legionary - The Roman Soldier's (Unofficial) Manual the author takes on a trip back in time, in this case to the time of Emperor Commodus who was a great admirer of gladiatorial shows. Taking you from there he describes in a humorous way what might be the reasons to become a gladiator in the first place, differences of Imperial and local gladiator school, some examples of amphitheaters where one might fight in the time of Commodus, the different gladiator types (following the Junkelmann classification), the event of a gladiatorial show, gladiators outside the arena e.g. as soldiers, what would be options for a gladiator after active life in the arena. A good and amusing read.

Thanks for pointing this out so I could do the same. And I also uploaded today a new post on my blog. Although my blog is only in German, at least the new post has loads of pictures :-)

This was mentioned also on RAT and when I asked if it is available for Android also they said so far it is only available for iPhone. Maybe you should write to the musum to ask if they will publish it for Android also.

Finally I see new topics marked in bold letters. With the old forum I could see only the posts within the last 24 hours but sometimes I couldn't check the forum for more than a day and then I got lost what's new and what not.

Interesting interview. I was delighted to see something new again on the starting page. And good to see you are back, Viggen

The text next to the video translates as follows: It was for sure that such a prestigeous building such as the Colosseum must have been splendidly decorated the more it is great that they found now traces of these decorations, esp. when taking the general bad state of this building in consideration.

Unfortunately I only have pics of the yard, not from the remains of the amphitheater. I guess it wasn't allowed to take pictures there and I had to put my backpack including the photo camara in a locker.

FELIX ANNVS NOVVS MMXIII!!! Everyone here may have a good 2013 with lots of Roman things!!!

The remains of the amphitheater can be seen in the basement of the Guildhall. If I recall it correctly I could get a ticket just to see the amphitheater without having entrance to the Art Gallery, but I'm not too sure about. I just see that the entrance to the amphitheater is free. On the yard of the Guildhall is pavement in black stones which outline the amphitheater. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visiting-the-city/attractions-museums-and-galleries/guildhall-art-gallery-and-roman-amphitheatre/Pages/Guildhall%20Art%20Gallery%20default.aspx

Is that a B-movie??? I look on the poster tells me that this is a pure fantasy film, except for the helmet nothing reminds the fighter on the left hand of the poster of a gladiator. Holding a mace as a weapon *aaarggghhhh* But maybe the mace is the only weapon with which you could kill a werewolf

I, too, doubt that this statue depicts a gladiatrix. It reminds me more of the Bikini girls from the mosaic of Piazza Armerina on Sicily. They are doing gymnastics, and this stauette reminds me of a woman cleaning herself after having performed gymnastics. But gladiatura sells, gymnastics don't

FELICES DIES NATALIS !!!

Ornatrices were specialized slaves and I guess very costly so only the rich could have afforded one. The lower classes had to go with simpler hairstyles I assume which they could make themselves like braiding etc. The French group PAX AUGUSTA shows some reconstructions of various hairstyles in their book "La Femme Romaine - au d

I can't recommend a translation of the Apicius cookbook but I could recommend a cookbook which contains some of Apicius recipes tried out and modified in a way that you could cook it yourself, i.e. measurements are mentioned etc. Sally Grainger, Andrew Dalby "The Classical Cookbook" In Germany there are several reenactors who tried to cook the Ancient recipes, e.g. Marcus Junkelmann, Edgar Comes etc. but these books are available in German only. But I love to cook Roman food and had last year in November friends over and we have had a nice Roman meal. And instead of bringing tzatziki or some salad to a barbecue party I bring moretum and everybody likes it. It goes well with modern barbecue.

What I knew so far is that the bronze sculpture of the she-wolf is Roman but that the twins were added during the Medieval ages.

What a pity I could choose only one answer, because besides the Germans (which I ticked) I'd also like to discuss the following: * Egypt * The Celts

I made a round trip through Turkey in 2005 and we stayed at the following places: Selcuk(Ephesos) - In Selcuk itself is an interesting museum, but also Roman remains as such of an aquaeduct. Ephesos is only 3 km away, so it's possible to walk there from Selcuk. Dalyan (Kaunos) - Greek tombs in the mountains right across the river. Roman city of Kaunos with many remains. Antalya - visits to Perge and Aspendos (guided tour though).

All books I can think of at the moment are not the latest but the might have what you are looking for: For Austria: Herwig Friesinger/Fritz Krinzinger "Der R

A nice link in English to the find matching nearly the link of Der Standard: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2011/gladiator-school-discovered-in-carnuntum What fascinates me about this is that this is the first ludus North of the Alps which has been discovered. So far the scholars assumed that only itinerant gladiator troupes traveled the provinces to get gigs.

I recently read "Die R

I love that book as well as its sequel "The Fight for Rome". It's the most authentic description of gladiators I've read in a novel so far and still the story is thrilling which for me is a proof that it doesn't need to be Hollywood gladiators to have a thrilling story. Actually James Duffy had planed three books but unfortunately sales of the first two volumes weren't as high as the publisher had expected so they dumped the series which is really a pitty I think. Maybe I should convince him to continue writing and publish it by book-on-demand.

Salve Viggen, Many thanks for these interesting news. I've heard about three amphitheaters so far and browsed my book to find where I got this info from. It's from the book "Carnuntum - R

I just read an article on the Gracchi in the latest issue of GEO Epoche (German history magazine) which recommends the following book for further reading: Bernhard Linke "Die r

When I heard about the earthquake I phoned up my friend who lives near Philadelphia, PA. She said that she was sitting on a couch in the den and it was shaking akwardly. It was kinda scary experience esp. since she wasn't aware at that moment that it was an earthquake. Her three year old daugther was playing in the living room and didn't notice anything and wasn't scared. Luckily no damage to the house happened, no mugs fell from the shelves, all pictures stayed on the wall. Hope that there will be no more earthquakes esp. since I'm going to the States to visit her for Halloween.

I used the word "regular" to distinct it from bodyguards because you've said in your post that gladiators were used as bodyguards only and I just wanted to point out to you that they were indeed used as "real" soldiers and NOT bodyguards.