Training Was the Real Trial
The Hidden Arena The public saw combat. The real battles happened long before the arena gate opened. Training was not interlude—it was…
Real-world history informing the fiction
Gladiatorial culture, power, class, violence, honor
Explicit separation between fact and fiction
The Hidden Arena The public saw combat. The real battles happened long before the arena gate opened. Training was not interlude—it was…
Survival as a Beginning Survival was never the goal. It was the beginning of another trial. In the ancient arena, survival was…