I didn't know the gladiator games had spectator shows of animals (from drunken chimpanzees, zebras, baboons to wild boars) raping condemned women as part of their entertainment in the arena, until I read this book. There were actually men (the bestiarii) who trained wild beast to not only kill and eat people, but sexually violate them too! Author Daniel P. Mannix offers up a lot of shocking events in this absorbing read, which you probably never learned about in ancient history class. Example: condemned men were put on seesaws in the arena and then hungry lions & other wild beast were let loose. The men seesawed desperately back and forth trying to stay on the up-side so they wouldn't be eaten. Can you imagine? - must have been the fastest seesawing ever seen. This provided great amusement for the arena crowd as did other countless sadistic pre-game shows.

Of course the main focus is about the gladiators. A lot of fascinating information about the day to day lives of the gladiators, Romans, and the political power house behind the scenes - but some of the other spectacles going on during the games was just as interesting, if not more interesting. I couldn't put the book down.

Daniel P. Mannix's historically fictionalized book (The Way of the Gladiator) weaves a tapestry of engaging and often horrific images of the arena games that came to be a dominant element in Roman civilization. Rome, at this time, was steadily expanding her influence over the various regions of the west, and as the Empire grew, so did dissolution and corruption within its infrastructure. The Games ignited an excited rhythm in the mundane lives of the mob, and as the games evolved from events of competition and skill to pointless spectacles of sadistic murder, their excitement turned into a frenzied obsession that all but consumed their lives.Mannix's graphic accounts of the brutal history and evolution of the Roman Games provides a revealing glimpse into the Roman mob's obsession with violence and how the emperors used the games as a means of maintaining social stability and control of their crumbling Empire. Mannix delivers all the drama and violence that has come to symbolize the Roman Games through his poignant portrayals of the savage brutality of its many participants, and the unfortunate outcome of its countless victims. And while Mannix's prose tends to stray from historical accuracy, he nontheless achieves the goal of painting a uniquely vivid portrayal of Roman civilization,thus providing the reader with a clearer perspective of the developement and evolution of the Gladitorial Games. I personally enjoyed reading this book and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in ancient world history and Roman society.