Discovery Channel Programs

[Anonymous]

I had recorded three shows this week and finally got a chance to play them.<br>
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Firts Colosseum a Gladiator's Story. Told from the point of view of Varus, a gladiator who fought in Titus' inaugural games for the Flavian Ampitheater it tells tthe story of this man captured, made a slave, forced to quarry for stones for the Colusseum construction, then turned gladiator. it takes him through his training and eventual achievements as a fighter. Containing information on different gladiatory types as well as training my only heartburn with it was the black Praetorian uniforms/armor brought over from the movie Gladiator. Balanced with archeological evidence and accounts of contemporary historians it is one of the best Gladiator/Colusseum programs.<br>
<br>
True Gladiator. The story of a provincial gladiator of the city of Ephesus, this is also a story of a real gladiator told from evidence gleaned from his tombstone and archeological evidence from the gladiator graveyard he was buried in. Also well done it adds to the information on gladiator training form the previous program.<br>
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Barbarians, Battle for Rome. This is the best documentary style program on barbarians I've seen. Far superior to the History Channel series that came out awhile ago. It starts out with the Cimbri & Teutons and follows through with the Varus disaster, the migrations of the Visigoths & Ostrogoths, the Huns, Vandals and Angles/Saxons. With good maps of the migrations it is also a marked improvement as far as the appearance of the Germanic warriors (particulalry given the horrible depictions of the History Channel series). It still has the usual improper depiction of Roman soldiers in segmented armor from the Marian era to the late empire but the Romans are an aside from the main story of the barbarians. Also containing archological/anthropology evidence the facial reconstructions are interesting for the ancient Germans and Huns as well as the bone analysis as scientists try to determine the average height compared to that of the Romans.<br>
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I highly recommend all three programs the Discovery Channel can be depended to show them again. enjoy. <p></p><i></i>

[Gashford]

Hello folks<br>
<br>
For my money the True Gladiator programme is about the best mainstream gladiator documentary out there at the moment.<br>
<br>
It was filled with the many of the usual mistakes but it managed to body swerve some of the others. The programme misidentified some gladiators on the screen calling them provocators when the costumes owed more to the costume department than they did history and for you military types the soldier/guards were a bit ropey.<br>
<br>
But the examination of the relationship between owner and gladiator was new for a documentary.<br>
<br>
If you have read a couple of books on gladiators there wouldn't be much new in there (unless it was the Osprey one) but many of these points where new for a documentary.<br>
<br>
Best of the pick at the moment.<br>
<br>
All the best <p>Graham Ashford
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[url=http://www.ludus.org.uk" target="_new]Ludus Gladiatorius[/url]<br>
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[Anonymous]

I'll third the recommendation for "True Gladiator".<br>
<br>
No TV program will come up to the authenticity standards of a forum like this, but this one does a pretty good job IMO.<br>
<br>
For one thing, they endeared themselves to me by coming right out and saying that the probability of a gladiator surviving a given fight was more than 80% (it was much higher than that IMO) ... something that most movies and TV shows slide right over. This is not news to this audience of course, but would be to the general public who wouldn't take the time to figure out that you can't put on good entertainment when you lose half your cast in each performance.<br>
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I also think they did a great job with "secondary" issues like socioeconomic conditions, diet, private performances, etc.<br>
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Recommended.<br>
<br>
Rich<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[Gashford]

Rich<br>
<br>
YOu raise a very good point about hegadiators being killed.<br>
<br>
I also agree that the frquency of death among skilled professionals would have been a lot lower than we are frequently lead to believe. Also the idea that the gladiators themselves fought to kill others in each fight bares re examination.<br>
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Imagine being a gladiators in a ludus with 12 kills to your name from a few years fighting, if you have killed men in combat from your own Ludus you would be costing your lanista a small fortune and unless your natural ability to kill other men was sanctioned by him, you might find a dagger in the night because of the money you are costing (this is guess work). But as you say, even 20% is quite a turn over in a school of professionally trained men.<br>
<br>
All the best <p>Graham Ashford
<hr />
[url=http://www.ludus.org.uk" target="_new]Ludus Gladiatorius[/url]<br>
[url=http://pub156.ezboard.com/bromancombatsports" target="_new]Roman Combat Sports Forum[/url]<br>
[url=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk" target="_new]Roman Army Talk Forum[/url]<br>
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[Vincula]

Quote:</em></strong><hr>For one thing, they endeared themselves to me by coming right out and saying that the probability of a gladiator surviving a given fight was more than 80%.<hr><br>
Has there been detailed research on this?<br>
Michael Grant says that <em>stans missus</em>, meaning a draw (no fatality), "is often recorded on inscriptions". <p></p><i></i>