The Roman Empire produced countless achievements in the arts, literature, philosophy, law and government, without which much of our civilization today would not exist. Yet at it's heart was also unbelievable cruelty, epitomized by the bloody history of the gladiators: human beings set in an arena to fight to the death, watched by crowds of thousands. "Gladiators" is an introduction to understanding this disturbing and brutal phenomenon. The bloodthirsty spectacle of gladiatorial combat has inspired countless films and fictions, yet here Michael Grant shows that the truth is no less strange and savage. He tells us who the gladiators were, how they fought and died, how they were idolized by their public and feared by emperors, and how the most barbaric blood sport ever invented finally came to an end.