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Title: Gladiatrix: The True Story of History's Unknown Woman Warrior by Amy Zoll ISBN: 0-425-18610-5 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Pop for the Masses
Comment: For what it is, this is not a bad work. It's clearly intended as popular history, no more and no less. And on that level it succeeds. Anybody who already has more than passing knowledge of Ancient Rome would do well to skip it, however. "As seen on the Discovery Channel" sums it up - you can hear the narrative voice-over just before each commercial break: "Coming up next, the life of a gladiator was a cruel one. Could this woman found outside London have voluntarily subjected herself to it, or was she a slave captive forced to fight to entertain her captors? Find out after this word from Avon."
Strike two is the lack of photographs. So much of this book depends on the items found in the tomb of the mystery woman, yet nowhere are we shown what they look like. Whether this is the fault of the author, the editor, or the publisher is unknown, but it rankles, regardless of where the blame lies.
Strike three: the conclusion that the mystery woman was a "gladiatrix" is almost ludicrous. The evidence does not even rise to the level of probable cause; it's a scintilla at most. There was an object depicting a gladiator in her tomb. There were lots of other things in the tomb. Ergo, a gladiator! Balderdash. (And how convenient that the pelvic bones have been "lost," preventing an accurate, independent analysis of the body's gender. No, I don't blame the author, but it seems like somebody's trying to make a quick buck at the expense of an unsuspecting public.)
Three strikes, it's out.
Rating: 1
Summary: good fiction - but that's all
Comment: Like one of the other reviewers, I too am an archaeologist (of the Classical sort) but from the statements in the book and the descriptions of the objects (they were displayed on the London Museum website a little while ago - I too wish that there could have been illustrations) I just cannot see how anyone could be so sure that these remains were of a female gladiator. Throughout, the English curators and other academics emphasised caution and even suggested other interpretations (such as the 'incriminating objects' found with her remains being related to her faith or funerary ritual and not her profession - both eminently sensible, I would think) but Zoll seems fixated on a sensationalist approach which has little to do with archaeology and more, I suspect, to do with box-office and book sales. Archaeology is full of good, honest stories so it shouldn't be necessary to tell tall tales!!!
Rating: 5
Summary: Entertaining and Fascinating Read
Comment: Boy, did I love this book. A little-known piece of history really comes alive. The author vividly recreates the ancient Roman world and takes you on amazing ride through the life of women warriors. Fun and enlightening; I wish my history teachers had been half this interesting.
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Title: On the Trail of the Women Warriors : The Amazons in Myth and History by Lyn Webster Wilde ISBN: 0312262132 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 24 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines by Mona Behan, Jeannine Davis-Kimball ISBN: 0446679836 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Warrior Queens by ANTONIA FRASER ISBN: 0679728163 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 14 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Boudica's War : by Margaret Cotton, Tristan M Armstrong ISBN: 0595148050 Publisher: Writer's Showcase Press Pub. Date: 09 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Islands of Women and Amazons : Representations and Realities by Batya Weinbaum ISBN: 0292791275 Publisher: Univ of Texas Press Pub. Date: 2000 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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