Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: cram on May 09, 2012, 12:53:49 PM
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Can anyone point me in the direction of a good book/s on gladiators please?
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Osprey has a good one, I have another book at home that I will post after work.
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Gladiators: Violence and Spectacle in Ancient Rome by Prof Roger Dunkle has been given 5 stars out of 5 on Amazon by one person. Anyone else read this book and have an opinion on it.
Will have to check out the Osprey, I see its illustrated by Angus McBride, so its worth getting for that alone, thanks.
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(if you speak german) - Das Spiel mit dem Tod. So kämpften Roms Gladiatoren by Marcus Junkelmann (probably the best one on the subject, I've got it and I actually don't need other books about gladiators now, it has everything)
Heard that this one should be good as well - Gladiators and Caesars: The Power and Spectacle of Rome by Eckart Kohne, Cornelia Ewigleben
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Cant speak German unfortunately. The Gladiators and Caesars has had plenty of good review though. I'll snap up a copy, thanks for mentioning it.
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Gladiator by Alan Baker, nice coverage, if a little waffly and sometimes voyeuristic, but tells the full story of the Contests from their start as part of the funeral rites to their demise with the arrival of Christianity.
Still have the GW rules on a shelf so unsure as to whether they have the Foundry treatment.
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Thanks Joroas.
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Depends a bit on what exactly you're looking for. I've got a collection of some 200+ books, articles and manuscripts on gladiatorial games and gladiators.
We keep getting new information so some of the older ones are now outdated.
One of the more recent (2009) is also one of the better ones. Good potted history and some really good info on the different types of gladiators.
Gladiator- Rome's Blood Spectacle by Konstantin Nossov. As far as I can tell the most accurate. Good illustrations and highly readable texts. Recommended.
Emperors and gladiators Thomas Wiedemann Good background info and good , but few illustrations
The Gladiator Alan Baker A bit too 'hollywood sensational style' but a good read.
Gladiatoren by Fik Meijer Alas, only in German or Flemish as far as I know.
Those About to Die by Daniel Mannix. Hope you can still find it.( 1960) Again very Hollywood style but superb background info on the games and more. Oddly enough much of the info appears to be correct. Keep away from young children as it is quite gruesome.
Gladiators, The Bloody Truth by Michael Grant. No illustrations but some really worthwhile (obscure) background info.
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I'll have to look into those thank you. I'm hoping that some of the books will also give some accounts however brief they may be of a few individuals and some accounts of actual fights.
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(if you speak german) - Das Spiel mit dem Tod. So kämpften Roms Gladiatoren by Marcus Heinzelmann (probably the best one on the subject, I've got it and I actually don't need other books about gladiators now, it has everything)
Have that book too and it's propably the best you can get (as long as you understand german ;))
Oh, and the name of the author is Junkelmann, by the way ;)
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This:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0500051674/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00
Is a superb book. Very good fun and very informative. Easy to read but not dumbed down by any means. Highly recommended.
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Oh, and the name of the author is Junkelmann, by the way ;)
sure, thanks, fixed :)
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Like the look of that book Gibby thanks, I'll have to check out his book on the Legionaries too!
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, I can see alot of interesting reading ahead of me :)
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Gladiator- Rome's Blood Spectacle by Konstantin Nossov. As far as I can tell the most accurate. Good illustrations and highly readable texts. Recommended.
I really love this book. It is very informative and has some nice illustrations.
This:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0500051674/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00
Is a superb book. Very good fun and very informative. Easy to read but not dumbed down by any means. Highly recommended.
I've got this one too and it is also great. It puts a lighter spin on things but is still very informative. There is also a great book on the Roman Army by the same author and written in the same way.
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The new Warhammer Historical book Gladiators is actually pretty good --- giving you some incite without "too much" detail. Gives you a pretty good briefing on all of the types, the time frames when they were popular, some historical reference etc. Typical of Warhammer Historical, a pretty quality book. I've only perused it for 10 minutes at a buddy's house.
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I have the Warhammer Historical rule book already, its a very attractive book, and I agree with you that its a pretty good read. I've yet to play a game using the rules but I do like the look of them, plenty of different gladiator types, animals and scenarios ect too. Worth noting the free DL for it also: http://www.warhammer-historical.com/PDF/GLAD_Barbarians.pdf
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For those who are interested by gladiatorial combats, the historians listed below have written many books and articles these past years wiht the most recent knowledges about gladiators. They are especially experimental archeologist who try to understand in a scientific and historical way the ancient combat techniques by re-creating this combats with professional sportsmen, martial arts specialists, doctors, historians, etc.... :
From Germany : Marcus Junkelmann
From Italy : Dario Battaglia
From France : Eric Teyssier & Brice Lopez.
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Gladiateurs - Des sources à l´experimentation
Éric Teyssier et Brice Lopez (Editions errance).
In french only with lots of reenactment pictures and nice text. A lovely study of combat techniques.
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Since this came back up, I have to put my money behind Nossov's work, and the Matyszak "Roman Fighter's Manual". I read about six different gladiator books back when I was considering creating a game. Nossov's book is not much genuine content but he very neatly wraps up Junkelmann's and other professionals work into a very readable form. It's concise but seems well accurate. Some great illustrations as well.
The Roman Fighter's Manual is nothing short of fantastic. It's a slightly goofy read but really nails down a lot of the bread and butter of running a ludus and being a gladiator. Both seem to agree on about 90% of the points of historical confusion. I'd definitely recommend those two from what I've read. They're the only two I bothered keeping after reading them. I had a few others which are far too lengthy or regurgitated the same information in a less enjoyable fashion.