Gladiators: A Day in the Life
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 October 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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”?
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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
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Transcript
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| 0:32.0 | Hey guys, I hope you're doing well. |
| 0:34.6 | I'm all good here. |
| 0:35.3 | I'm just back in from a quick food shop. |
| 0:37.9 | I'm about to sit down and start putting forward some ideas for the rest of the team regarding upcoming |
| 0:44.4 | ancient episodes going into early 2026. I've had a look at the stats. I've seen what episodes |
| 0:50.0 | have been really popular with you and comments and feedback what you've really enjoyed and also |
| 0:54.8 | certain suggestions that you've been sending in over the past few months what you'd really like |
| 0:59.0 | to see on the podcast so we're going to be taking all of that into consideration when we plan |
| 1:03.6 | out what we're going to be releasing on the podcast in the coming months into 2026 and I cannot |
| 1:08.9 | wait to share them with you in the meantime today episode, we're going back to ancient Rome, |
| 1:13.5 | and we're exploring a day in the life of a gladiator who was set to fight in one of those big |
| 1:18.3 | spectacles of ancient Rome in an arena like of the Colosseum, a gladiatorial fight, |
| 1:23.1 | a day at the Games. |
| 1:24.6 | We're exploring all of that. |
| 1:25.9 | What do we know about our day at the games from the |
| 1:28.2 | viewpoint of a gladiator with our guest, Dr. Harry Sidebottom? He is a lecturer in ancient |
| 1:34.7 | history at Lincoln College, Oxford. He's also a prolific writer of historical fiction. He's a |
| 1:40.1 | best-selling author. And, as you're about to hear, he's a lot of fun. I loved recording this |
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