Harry Sidebottom has written an invaluable work for scholars and storytellers alike. Those Who Are About To Die is a masterclass in how to both educate and entertain the reader simultaneously.
Although the overall narrative deals with one day in the life of a Roman gladiator, Sidebottom uses this premise as a springboard to cover all manner of issues and aspects of life and attitudes in Ancient Rome – including sex, diet, literature, sleep, dreams, death, slavery and governance. Various emperors get name-checked and discussed too. If you didn’t know already, those who wore the purple could prove cruel and capricious. There’s even toilet humour, so to speak, in the book.
Sidebottom dispels a number of myths about gladiators (there were fewer fights to the death than one might suppose – and the seemingly ubiquitous gladiatorial salute was not as ubiquitous as we might think), but we still can’t help but admire their bravery and endurance in the face of a far from enviable existence.
Akin to Tom Holland’s Rubicon, Those Who Are About To Die fascinates due to highlighting the relevance and remoteness of Roman Empire compared to the world today. The past is both a foreign and familiar country. I dare say that Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer might have enjoyed Ancient Rome, given that politicians were granted special VIP seats in the arena. Those of a sensitive sensibility might be upset to find out that, although there didn’t seem to be any dwarf tossing for sport in Rome, they were pitted against one another in gladiatorial combat.
The author, a successful novelist as well as academic historian, wears his scholarship lightly. Sidebottom may be an informed tour guide, in and outside of the arena, but he is also a fun and funny one. There are plenty of manners and morals in Ancient Rome that are ripe for satire and humour, as the likes of Juvenal and Martial could attest.
As expansive as the book is Sidebottom is always mindful to return to his principal subject, like a guitar riff. There is plenty of cut and thrust in the story in relation to the colour and brutality of combat. It was, quite literally, a bloody business – with plenty of exotic beasts, as well as men, being slain in the name of mass entertainment.
Those Who Are About To Die is a more than diverting one stop shop for those interested in the subject. My only selfish regret is that the title was not available when I wrote my own fiction set in the arena, featuring gladiators. Nevertheless, I can heartily give the book a thumbs up rather than thumbs down.
Richard Foreman is the author of Sword of Rome: Gladiator and Spies of Rome: Gladiator.
