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Those Who Are About To Die
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  • Published: 25 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529154016
  • Imprint: Hutchinson Heinemann
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $40.00
Categories:

Those Who Are About To Die

Gladiators and the Roman Mind

  • Harry Sidebottom
Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
25 Nov 2025
EBook
28 Aug 2025
Audiobook
28 Aug 2025
Hardback
28 Sept 2025
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Bestselling author Harry Sidebottom takes readers on a thrilling journey through a day in the life of the best-known figure of the ancient world: the Roman gladiator

Bestselling author Harry Sidebottom takes readers on a thrilling journey through a day in the life of the most iconic figure of the ancient world: the Roman gladiator

‘Magnificent… Was I not entertained? I absolutely was’
Dominic Sandbrook, Times Books of the Year

'Wonderfully panoramic … endlessly informative, rich with unexpected detail but never heavy to read' Literary Review

'Grippingly original'
Tom Holland

'Blends extensive research with a talent for vivid storytelling to distil 700 years of gladiator history into the 24 hours around match day'
The Times

*A TIMES AND ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR*

Dressed in armour and clutching a bloody sword, the Roman gladiator is the most iconic figure of the ancient world. Both fascinating and repulsive to us now, he was in his own time a deeply controversial character, by turns hated and idealized – and always at the heart of Roman culture. But what did he really mean to the Romans? What did they see in the gladiator and the spectacle of the games? And what does he reveal to us today about the Roman way of life?

Brilliantly written and meticulously researched, this book tells the stories of the gladiators and those who observed them – from grand emperors to lowly slaves – illuminating and analysing the all-consuming passion of the Roman Empire for the spectacle of mortal combat. In doing so, it reveals Roman ideas about everything from freedom and servitude to sex and desire, from courage and cowardice to death and the afterlife.

Taking readers on an unforgettable twenty-four-hour adventure – beginning the night before the games and ending the evening after – Those Who Are About To Die gives a blow-by-blow account of what life was really like in the brutally unforgiving arena of the ancient world.
  • Published: 25 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529154016
  • Imprint: Hutchinson Heinemann
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $40.00
Categories:

Praise for Those Who Are About To Die

‘Magnificent… Was I not entertained? I absolutely was’

Dominic Sandbrook, Times Books of the Year

Harry Sidebottom manages to break out of a crowded field... a vivid portrayal of the mindscape that created these fighting entertainers

Times Literary Supplement

Vivid [and] gripping... a detailed chronicle of what a gladiator's life was actually like

Economist

Wonderfully panoramic … as an account of the games and the lives of the gladiators alone it is endlessly informative, rich with unexpected detail but never heavy to read

Literary Review

A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible

Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History and Sunday Times bestselling author of Rubicon

A masterful journey which takes the reader into the heart of Roman culture by exploring the lives of its gladiators. Sidebottom combines meticulous scholarship with electrifying storytelling, revealing how the arenas shaped Roman ideals of courage and freedom. A vivid window into the ancient mind

Donald J. Robertson, author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

A most enjoyable book. Ingeniously, Sidebottom uses twenty-four hours in the life of a gladiator as a springboard for a fascinating exploration of Roman ways and the Roman mind

Matthew Kneale, Sunday Times bestselling author of Rome: A History in Seven Sackings

Ancient history was never less dry than in Harry Sidebottom’s superbly entertaining and always scholarly account of the reign of Heliogabalus... There is something for every reader: sex, politics, scandals and a compelling portrait of imperial society and culture

Financial Times on The Mad Emperor

Blends extensive research with a talent for vivid storytelling to distil 700 years of gladiator history into the 24 hours around match day, from eve-of-fight rituals to stripping the corpses

The Times

Buy the book; it's very entertaining

David Aaronovitch, The Times on The Mad Emperor

Packed with wit, scholarship and gripping storytelling

Aspects of History

Prepare yourselves to enter the arena! Once again, Sidebottom brings the ancient world vividly and dazzlingly to life. A thrilling book... every page sizzles

Alice Loxton, Sunday Times bestselling author of Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives

The decadence, debauchery and sexual promiscuity that marked the adolescent’s time on the imperial throne make for a rollicking read.

Daily Mail on The Mad Emperor

This book is two splendid things at once. It is the most readable and up-to-date scholarly account of the ancient Roman gladiatorial games, and it is also a fine introduction to Roman culture in general

Ronald Hutton, author of Oliver Cromwell