04-28-2009, 02:32 PM
OK, I just finnished reading Dunkle's book. Excelent stuff indeed.
The book is jam-packed with detailed information regarding pretty much every aspect of gladiatorial studies. The author draws heavily from Ville's "La Gladiature en Occident des Origines a la Mort de Domitien" and from Robert's " Les Gladiateurs dans l'Orient grec". Since the book came out in late 2008 it is also the most up-to-date book on the subject, drawing info from the most significant work done on the subject do far (including Junkleman's work, Coleman's, etc).
He also descriminates pretty well between diferent practices during diferent timelines, avoiding giving the idea that everything worked the same way no matter what time period, and he also gives a good idea of how things worked in the provinces of the empire too.
This is a heavily quoted book. At times it even becomes a pain to go back a forth between end-notes and main text. But such is the price of a carefully schoolarly researched work.
There are however a few downsides. The book is not as detailed when it comes to gladiatorial equipment and it's evolution through time period, although he presents some information not present in other sources that are quite enlightening. But for more in-depth discussions of equipment you'll still need to get Shadrake's and/or Junkleman's book.
Another aspect not so well covered is the origins of gladiators. He only spends a few paragraphs on the matter. If you are interested on that particular aspect it's better to search elsewhere for a more in-depth discussion.
But as for everything else this book is very probably the best overall treatment of the subject (and the more up-to-date). He's conclusions and personal opinions are also for the most part very sane and plausible and I tend to agree with him on most aspects when there is some divergence among authors.
As conclusion, I'd say this is very probably the best general book on the subject available in english language. For the equipment and origins of gladiators just add Shadrake and/or Junkleman to the mix and you get pretty much the best of both worlds.
The book is jam-packed with detailed information regarding pretty much every aspect of gladiatorial studies. The author draws heavily from Ville's "La Gladiature en Occident des Origines a la Mort de Domitien" and from Robert's " Les Gladiateurs dans l'Orient grec". Since the book came out in late 2008 it is also the most up-to-date book on the subject, drawing info from the most significant work done on the subject do far (including Junkleman's work, Coleman's, etc).
He also descriminates pretty well between diferent practices during diferent timelines, avoiding giving the idea that everything worked the same way no matter what time period, and he also gives a good idea of how things worked in the provinces of the empire too.
This is a heavily quoted book. At times it even becomes a pain to go back a forth between end-notes and main text. But such is the price of a carefully schoolarly researched work.
There are however a few downsides. The book is not as detailed when it comes to gladiatorial equipment and it's evolution through time period, although he presents some information not present in other sources that are quite enlightening. But for more in-depth discussions of equipment you'll still need to get Shadrake's and/or Junkleman's book.
Another aspect not so well covered is the origins of gladiators. He only spends a few paragraphs on the matter. If you are interested on that particular aspect it's better to search elsewhere for a more in-depth discussion.
But as for everything else this book is very probably the best overall treatment of the subject (and the more up-to-date). He's conclusions and personal opinions are also for the most part very sane and plausible and I tend to agree with him on most aspects when there is some divergence among authors.
As conclusion, I'd say this is very probably the best general book on the subject available in english language. For the equipment and origins of gladiators just add Shadrake and/or Junkleman to the mix and you get pretty much the best of both worlds.
Pedro Pereira