Gladiators in the Greek World

Greeks embraced gladiators as a dramatic, athletic expression that redefined cultural imagination. It was once assumed that the sophisticated ancient Greeks rejected Roman gladiators as the most barbaric cultural import possible. Surely Greeks who loved philosophy and theatre wouldn‘t approve of men fighting to the death? The Romans must have forced Greeks to watch against their will, surely? As Alexandra Sills demonstrates in this groundbreaking new study, the truth could not be more different; Greeks across the eastern Mediterranean adored gladiators on an unprecedented scale. Having first explained the political and ideological function of gladiators in Rome, the author reveals why the Greeks ditched all of the boring imperialism for their own, very Greek take on gladiatorial entertainment. The Greeks saw gladiators as the perfect amalgamation of everything they loved best: the drama of mythical duels, the brutal contact sports of the Olympic Games, and the visual perfection of a honed physique. Readers will discover how a very famous Roman was beaten to introducing gladiators to the Greeks by a whole century, by a Hellenistic king once held hostage in Rome, and how another famous Roman kept a troop of gladiators in Turkey to impress his Egyptian girlfriend. There are more commemorative monuments to Greek gladiators than the rest of Europe combined, and they provide a fascinating glimpse into the lives and deaths of these ancient combatants. Gladiators in Greece, unlike anywhere else in the Empire, tell us their stories in their own words. The Greeks under Roman rule took a foreign sport and moulded it into the ultimate celebration of Greekness, with more drama and flair than Rome could ever imagine.