Step into the Colosseum for gladiator match day
A richly detailed look at gladiatorial combat through the 24 hours around a fight, from the eve-of-games feast to the arena’s brutal choreography. Grounded in ancient sources, it opens a vivid window onto Roman life, death, and spectacle.
Online Price
A Day In The Life Of A Gladiator: An Alternative History Of Ancient Rome
Collect 41 Reward Points
- Free Delivery from
- Order by 6pm for Same Day Dispatch
Step into the Colosseum for gladiator match day
A richly detailed look at gladiatorial combat through the 24 hours around a fight, from the eve-of-games feast to the arena’s brutal choreography. Grounded in ancient sources, it opens a vivid window onto Roman life, death, and spectacle.
- Book Synopsis
-
'You will love Harry Sidebottom's magnificent, blood-drenched study of the life of a gladiator … Was I not entertained? I absolutely was.' Dominic Sandbrook, The Times
'Grippingly original' Tom Holland
***A TIMES AND ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR***
In ancient Rome, a single day could decide a gladiator's fate. Follow in their footsteps with bestselling author Harry Sidebottom. Take a seat at the feast on the eve of the games and watch as the men marked for combat enjoy their final meal.
At dawn, Roman citizens rush to the Colosseum to see the spectacles: wild-beast hunts, public executions and carefully choreographed violence - all part of a good day's entertainment. Watch as the gladiators enter the arena - armour gleaming, shields locked, they step into the light, fighting not just for survival but for the favour of the crowd. Gripping, immersive and grounded in ancient sources, A Day in the Life of a Gladiator illuminates the reality of Roman life and death in all its glory.
This is history as it happened - not in the marble halls of emperors, but on the blood-darkened sand of the arena. Previously published in hardback as Those Who Are About to Die.
Ideal for readers who…
- want Ancient Rome non-fiction focused on everyday experience, not just emperors and politics.
- are fascinated by gladiators, the Colosseum, and how Roman spectacles really worked.
- enjoy narrative history built around a single day to bring a world to life.
- like military and sport history that sticks closely to sources and lived detail.
- are buying for history fans drawn to Rome’s grit, ritual, and public entertainment.
- About The Author
- Harry Sidebottom teaches classical history at Oxford University, and is the bestselling author of fifteen novels. His debut trade non-fiction book, The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome, was published in 2022 and was a Book of the Year in the Spectator, the Financial Times and BBC History.
- Product Details
-
- ISBN
- 9781804948521
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Penguin Books, (11 June 2026)
- Number of Pages
- 416
- Weight
- 308 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 197 x 128 x 28 mm
- Categories: