Gladiators: A Day in the Life
The Ancients5 Loka 2025

Gladiators: A Day in the Life

The Colosseum packed with roaring crowds, the sand stained with sweat and blood. But today, you’re not watching - you’re fighting. Welcome to a day in the life of a Roman gladiator.


In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by historian and author Dr Harry Sidebottom to uncover the brutal reality behind Rome’s most iconic fighters. From their training regimes and daily routines to the myths of gladiatorial combat, discover what it really meant to step into the arena. Were these warriors condemned slaves or celebrities of the ancient world? And did they really salute the emperor with the famous words: “We who are about to die salute you”?


MORE

The Roman Gladiator

Roman Beast Hunts


Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Tomos Delargy, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.


Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


You can take part in our listener survey here:

https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(593)

The Permian Extinction: When Life Nearly Died

The Permian Extinction: When Life Nearly Died

It was the biggest mass extinction event in Earth’s history. 250 million years ago, a 252 million years ago, Earth faced its deadliest crisis. 97% of all life was wiped out in the Permian Extinction –...

18 Syys 202558min

541 AD: The Worst Year in History

541 AD: The Worst Year in History

Was this the worst year in human history? Bubonic plague sweeps across the Mediterranean. The sun vanishes behind volcanic ash. Crops fail, famine bites, and the Roman empire lurches towards collapse....

14 Syys 20251h 4min

Fall of the Sumerians

Fall of the Sumerians

Tristan Hughes continues our special series on Great Disasters, journeying back to ancient Mesopotamia with Dr Paul Collins to explore the fall of the Sumerians.4,000 years ago, the great cities of Su...

11 Syys 20251h 1min

The Minoan Eruption: Bronze Age Cataclysm

The Minoan Eruption: Bronze Age Cataclysm

More than 3,500 years ago, a massive volcanic eruption devastated Thera - modern day Santorini - engulfing the Bronze Age world in ash and fire. Entire landscapes were buried, ash darkened the skies, ...

7 Syys 202555min

How Greece Shaped Rome with Mary Beard

How Greece Shaped Rome with Mary Beard

Professor Mary Beard and Charlotte Higgins join Tristan in this episode all about Greece and Rome - the two greatest civilisations of classical antiquity.How did the Romans borrow, adapt, and sometime...

4 Syys 202553min

The Sumerians

The Sumerians

More than 5,000 years ago, in what is today southern Iraq, one of the world’s first civilisations emerged. A civilisation often credited with the invention of writing, the wheel and cities. The Sumeri...

31 Elo 202550min

The Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples

Tristan Hughes sits down with Professor Eric Cline to explore the enigmatic Sea Peoples, often blamed for the catastrophic Bronze Age collapse over 3,000 years ago.Together they explore surviving sour...

28 Elo 20251h 11min

Origins of Homo Sapiens

Origins of Homo Sapiens

Where do we come from? The origins of modern humans stretch back hundreds of thousands of years, and new discoveries are reshaping how we understand our species’ story. In this episode, recorded on lo...

24 Elo 202541min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
tsunami
rss-ikiuni
konginkangas
totuus-vai-salaliitto
rouva-diktaattori
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-iltanuotiolla
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
maailmanpuu
rss-outoja-uutisia-pohjois-suomesta
rss-antiikki-nyt