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Those Who Are About to Die: A Day in the Life of a Roman Gladiator
Not yet published
Expected 14 Apr 26See ancient Rome, and peer into the Roman mind, through the eyes of a gladiator—from the evening before the games at the Colosseum to the evening after
"A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman Amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible." —Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History
What did a gladiator feel when he stepped out onto the sand of the Colosseum, his life in the balance? What ran through the minds of the masses there to witness his likely execution? And how did this bloodthirsty ritual come to exist in the first place?
In Those Who Are About to Die, Harry Sidebottom—an internationally bestselling novelist and professor of classical history at Oxford—pulls us into the arena, and into the homes and forums of ancient Rome, taking the listener on an eye-opening, twenty-four-hour tour through Roman life at the height of the gladiatorial games, from the first century BC to the second century AD.
We follow the gladiators through the schools (ludi) where they trained, watch in awe as the massive event unfolds—from the gambling at the pre-festival dinner, to the dawn rush to get a seat at the arena, to the resounding music, the elaborate stage sets, and, yes, the public executions that served as lunch-break entertainment—and we unlearn all the bogus movie tropes (no, alas, gladiators did not have ripped bods, they were kept fleshy so they’d bleed more).
Broken down by time of day—Vesper, Prima Vigilia, Secunda Vigilia, up through the following sunset (Solis Occasus)—Those Who Are About to Die offers illuminating insights into every aspect of the life and mind of ancient Romans, their social mores and hierarchies, their thoughts on death and sex and violence, and the myths and dreams that fueled the spectacle.
With wit and authority, Those Who Are About to Die gives us the truth behind a figure we can’t stop imagining.
"A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman Amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible." —Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History
What did a gladiator feel when he stepped out onto the sand of the Colosseum, his life in the balance? What ran through the minds of the masses there to witness his likely execution? And how did this bloodthirsty ritual come to exist in the first place?
In Those Who Are About to Die, Harry Sidebottom—an internationally bestselling novelist and professor of classical history at Oxford—pulls us into the arena, and into the homes and forums of ancient Rome, taking the listener on an eye-opening, twenty-four-hour tour through Roman life at the height of the gladiatorial games, from the first century BC to the second century AD.
We follow the gladiators through the schools (ludi) where they trained, watch in awe as the massive event unfolds—from the gambling at the pre-festival dinner, to the dawn rush to get a seat at the arena, to the resounding music, the elaborate stage sets, and, yes, the public executions that served as lunch-break entertainment—and we unlearn all the bogus movie tropes (no, alas, gladiators did not have ripped bods, they were kept fleshy so they’d bleed more).
Broken down by time of day—Vesper, Prima Vigilia, Secunda Vigilia, up through the following sunset (Solis Occasus)—Those Who Are About to Die offers illuminating insights into every aspect of the life and mind of ancient Romans, their social mores and hierarchies, their thoughts on death and sex and violence, and the myths and dreams that fueled the spectacle.
With wit and authority, Those Who Are About to Die gives us the truth behind a figure we can’t stop imagining.
416 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 14, 2026
24 people are currently reading
4209 people want to read
About the author
Harry Sidebottom
43 books527 followersHarry Sidebottom is Lecturer in Ancient History at Merton College, Oxford, and part-time lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. He has written for and contributed to many publications, including Classical Review, Journal of Roman Studies, and War and Society in the Roman World.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 8, 2025
Definitely did not click for me. Compared to other books on the subject or Ancient Rome in general, author seems to jump from around with details about gladiators as the main glue but not the subject… which is supposed to be what the book is about.
Feels like someone reading an article on a webpage and then clicking a link or a reference, then perhaps another reference from within a reference and then coming back to the main article only to click on again in a bit.
Was too happy to see this book in Waterstones and too eager to buy it… :(
Feels like someone reading an article on a webpage and then clicking a link or a reference, then perhaps another reference from within a reference and then coming back to the main article only to click on again in a bit.
Was too happy to see this book in Waterstones and too eager to buy it… :(
November 11, 2025
wow. so good. didn't just learn a lot about gladiators. but about the day to day life of the roman people
highly recommended
highly recommended
January 4, 2026
This is a remarkably great read. It takes as a construct 24 hours in the life of a gladiator, and thereby takes a theme by theme approach which covers every conceivable aspect of both the life and death of gladiators and the concept of the games themselves. It is meticulously backed up and researched but written in the most accessible manner, with plenty of dry wit and tongue in cheek asides by the author. It really is a one-stop shop in gladiators, the games and the entire world within which they existed.
My one gripe is that he used the term pleb as a synonym for poor/lower class - often using them as a social class below “equestrians”. In fact all a pleb was was a non-patrician, and there were very few patricians, so there were many, many rich and distinguished plebs (Pompey and Antony to name only two) and indeed a lot of the equestrians were themselves plebs. Pleb was not a class. I know he must know this and used it as convenience and using the modern understanding of pleb but it did annoy me!
My one gripe is that he used the term pleb as a synonym for poor/lower class - often using them as a social class below “equestrians”. In fact all a pleb was was a non-patrician, and there were very few patricians, so there were many, many rich and distinguished plebs (Pompey and Antony to name only two) and indeed a lot of the equestrians were themselves plebs. Pleb was not a class. I know he must know this and used it as convenience and using the modern understanding of pleb but it did annoy me!
September 27, 2025
Just finished the audio version, I've enjoyed many of Harry Sidebottom's fiction works. I used to play a lot of Rome Total War.
This was a well-written and well-read audiobook; there has clearly been a huge amount of research into the subject. The style was entertaining and flowed well.
It combines enough descriptions of action to avoid becoming a dry textbook.
For fans of Rome: Total War, it's worth a read.
This was a well-written and well-read audiobook; there has clearly been a huge amount of research into the subject. The style was entertaining and flowed well.
It combines enough descriptions of action to avoid becoming a dry textbook.
For fans of Rome: Total War, it's worth a read.
November 5, 2025
Very informative, but if like me you are expecting and hoping for a blood soaked tour through the colosseum, then think again. The bit underneath the title should be the real title. This is more of a deep dive into how the Romans thought about themselves which he ties to gladiators rather than a Russell Crowe epic. He also gets a bit snotty at one point about what he describes as amateur historians, i.e - the people who have just read his book. It was a good book but not really what I thought I was getting.
October 12, 2025
Loved finding out more about gladiators, their day to day lives, how they fit within the Roman world. The book is rich with research and interesting facts. It did however read too much like a textbook and I found it a bit laborious in parts.
January 5, 2026
Lots of good information but presented poorly in my opinion which makes the book hard to read.
Ostensibly the book is laid out as a fictional story of 24 hours in the lives of two gladiators, Demetrius and Diodorus. Each chapter begins or ends with a short snapshot of what they are doing at that time and then follows much interesting information in the chapter itself.
This can be a bit weird—for example the first chapter obviously begins at midnight and is largely devoted to how Romans slept and how they told the time and so on—extremely interesting but not exactly what I was expecting.
Most of the book is like that; it jumps around from topic to topic covering a huge amount of detail about how Romans lived and always with gladiators as the focus but looping away from the gladiators and back again as the facts and explanations and tangents that arise lead the way rather than being marshalled and controlled by the author. The structure is very loose. So much so that every time Demetrius and Diodorus were mentioned I found myself surprised and had to remind myself who they were.
All in all very enjoyable and I learned a lot but the structure made this harder to read than it should have been.
Overall: recommended.
Ostensibly the book is laid out as a fictional story of 24 hours in the lives of two gladiators, Demetrius and Diodorus. Each chapter begins or ends with a short snapshot of what they are doing at that time and then follows much interesting information in the chapter itself.
This can be a bit weird—for example the first chapter obviously begins at midnight and is largely devoted to how Romans slept and how they told the time and so on—extremely interesting but not exactly what I was expecting.
Most of the book is like that; it jumps around from topic to topic covering a huge amount of detail about how Romans lived and always with gladiators as the focus but looping away from the gladiators and back again as the facts and explanations and tangents that arise lead the way rather than being marshalled and controlled by the author. The structure is very loose. So much so that every time Demetrius and Diodorus were mentioned I found myself surprised and had to remind myself who they were.
All in all very enjoyable and I learned a lot but the structure made this harder to read than it should have been.
Overall: recommended.
December 29, 2025
This is a good book to get information on a subject that really has little information to go by. It's well reasearched and put together as a day in the life of a gladiator which i enjoyed. You could imagine the day and all of the little side stories, histories etc that went along with being a gladiator. It is not a widely known subject because of the lack in archeological evidence, however there is enough to glean from murals, mosaics and written stories to put together a relative coherent history of how these mostly men and some women lived and spent their days and moments leading up to the contests on the sand of the arenas whether against other opponents or animals ( which I actually found quite appalling considering the number of animals which were slaughtered for sport and entertainment).
The spector of death hung in these "games" and the people seemed to love it though most combats with people did not end in death as has been the way of hollywood. Nevertheless, they were not bloodless events by any stretch of the imagination.
All in all a very good read. Well written and referenced in endnotes and bibliography.
The spector of death hung in these "games" and the people seemed to love it though most combats with people did not end in death as has been the way of hollywood. Nevertheless, they were not bloodless events by any stretch of the imagination.
All in all a very good read. Well written and referenced in endnotes and bibliography.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
The was a very intriguing book about Roman gladiators. It is labeled as “a day in the life of a Roman gladiator” but it much more than that. It is more of an entire historic look of the society as a whole at the time of gladiators. The author draws his conclusions from many different sources, and you can tell extensive research has been done prior to the making of this book. It was interesting to see how the people thought, what they did, and how it was completely different from our society today. For instance, reading about the bathrooms and bath houses and how everything was so public peaked my curiosity. It was a very different from the privacy that is the norm today. The book is full of very fascinating information from everything going on at the time. If you are into Roman history or if you are interested in what it would be like to live in those days, this is a book I think you would enjoy.
I want to thank #NetGalley and #Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing a copy for me to give my honest review, of which all my options are my own.
#Knopf #Doubleday #Pantheon #Vintage
I want to thank #NetGalley and #Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing a copy for me to give my honest review, of which all my options are my own.
#Knopf #Doubleday #Pantheon #Vintage
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Ah. I wish I would have liked this one more than I did. I REALLY enjoyed the information presented in this book. I learned so much about the ancient Gladiator world. I have a few new party facts I can whip out if needed- but I will say I got lost in all the information. The book is supposed to be sharing a day in the life of a gladiator- from morning, noon, and night. While this story follows that trajectory, there is a lot of side tangents that made me really frustrated. Like can we just focus on breakfast? Do I need to know ALL of these side tangents? And I mean, I get it. I am an academic and in archaeology and am used to content like this. I just thought that the book would be much more accessible and managable if it was more narrowly focused as I expected it to be. The flow of this book needed some reworking and some editing.
I would recommend if you are a die hard Roman history fan or familiar with the pop culture around the topic. I would not recommend if you are not new to Roman history- you will get lost.
A special thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for my ARC!
I would recommend if you are a die hard Roman history fan or familiar with the pop culture around the topic. I would not recommend if you are not new to Roman history- you will get lost.
A special thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for my ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Didn't really work for me.
It bills itself as a day in the life a Roman gladiator, with the fictional gladiators Diodorus and Demetrius as our guides. But I guess there just isn't enough in the historical record to fill out the whole day, so it becomes more of a day in the life of a Roman, with an overview on Roman attitudes to death, food, philosophy, sex, empire, and more. The fictional gladiators barely factor into it at all.
Don't get me wrong, it's interesting and well written. You will certainly come away from the book understanding how Romans from all walks of life--from emperors and senators to gladiators, soldiers, and slaves--lived all those centuries ago. It's more of "a day in the life of a Roman, with a special focus on gladiators" than "a day in the life of a gladiator."
I received an ARC from NetGalley. What I read may differ from the final copy that hits shelves in April.
It bills itself as a day in the life a Roman gladiator, with the fictional gladiators Diodorus and Demetrius as our guides. But I guess there just isn't enough in the historical record to fill out the whole day, so it becomes more of a day in the life of a Roman, with an overview on Roman attitudes to death, food, philosophy, sex, empire, and more. The fictional gladiators barely factor into it at all.
Don't get me wrong, it's interesting and well written. You will certainly come away from the book understanding how Romans from all walks of life--from emperors and senators to gladiators, soldiers, and slaves--lived all those centuries ago. It's more of "a day in the life of a Roman, with a special focus on gladiators" than "a day in the life of a gladiator."
I received an ARC from NetGalley. What I read may differ from the final copy that hits shelves in April.
Review of advance copy
This book reads less like a gladiator-focused narrative and more like a general snapshot of Roman daily life. While gladiators and the arena are present, they feel secondary to broader descriptions of the city, crowds, and social atmosphere. The title suggests a much tighter focus than the book actually delivers.
The historical context is solid, but it often comes at the expense of momentum. Long stretches feel more like scene-setting than storytelling, and if you’re picking this up for insight into gladiators themselves — their training, lives, or experiences — you may find it lacking.
I appreciate that source material on gladiators is limited, but the balance here leans too far toward background and not enough toward the subject the book is marketed around.
Well-researched, but ultimately misleading in emphasis and less engaging than expected.
The historical context is solid, but it often comes at the expense of momentum. Long stretches feel more like scene-setting than storytelling, and if you’re picking this up for insight into gladiators themselves — their training, lives, or experiences — you may find it lacking.
I appreciate that source material on gladiators is limited, but the balance here leans too far toward background and not enough toward the subject the book is marketed around.
Well-researched, but ultimately misleading in emphasis and less engaging than expected.
October 13, 2025
This is a detailed account of the lives of Gladiators in the Roman period, but covers so much more as well, about the daily life of people in the Roman Empire across a 700+ year period from early times, through the Republic and then under the Emperors. It's packed full of the evidence from historical and archaeological sources and is presented across a 24 hour period from the last meal the evening before combat, through the early hours, the beast hunts,and executions up to the gladiatorial combat and then possible death. It covers the perspectives of those who watched the games, those who put them on and those who objected.
A comprehensive account of everything gladiatorial, with much more thrown in.
A comprehensive account of everything gladiatorial, with much more thrown in.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy!
A fascinating look at the Roman Empire, from its origins to its fall, all through the lens of the gladiator games. The frame of the book follows typical gladiators throughout a single day, showing the big dinner the night before a fight, the morning animals hunts, the midday executions, and the afternoon games, and then the cleanup of the bloody aftermath. As Sidebottom walks us through the day, he also explores all sorts of avenues of the empire, from the salves to the emperors, and how the games were such an important part of solidifying a stratified society. Excellently well researched and well presented, highly recommend for anyone interested in more about the Roman Empire.
Review of advance copy
Artfully blends history, archeology and sociology in an engaging narrative.
January 10, 2026
I love Harry's style of writing and can honestly say, this is one of his best! It gives a great explanation of the life of a gladiator. The endnotes and bibliography finish the book off perfectly.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews