Tag Archives: gladiators

by Kevin Blood When we watch the trials of the fictional Roman General Maximus in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning film Gladiator, the arena fights that we see make for vivid, nail-biting spectacle, but how close to the truth is Scott’s depiction of professional gladiatorial combat? Films like Gladiator become part of our cultural memory, and inaccuracies

Written by Jacek Czarnecki, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom  Fearless warriors battling each other to the death while providing entertainment to a blood-thirsty audience: that’s how most people envision the Roman gladiators. However, this image is shaped more by film than historical reality.  The first gladiator games took place in 264 BCE, although the origins go

The problem with being a perennial expat is that annual events up north can really catch you off guard. Take Sunday, for instance… We were casually having a roast pork lunch which came out quite close to dinner, which resulted in a long ‘sobre mesa’ (the discussion that takes place after a meal)… And before