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!”
Order The Colosseum from Powell’s
Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 0674018958