This is already his thirtieth work and for the occasion, the historian and academic Éric Teyssier, who lives in Poulx, returns to his favorite subject, gladiators.
In 2009, he was already writing Death in the face at Actes sud, then The True Story of Gladiatorsa children’s book in 2018, without forgetting in 2017, the scenario of a famous comic strip, Alix’s Travels, put into vignettes by Jacques Martin.
Today, Éric Teyssier has just published a book with Glénat that will be a landmark in its particularly rich and comprehensive content.
Return to the origins of gladiatorial
To be classified in the category of beautiful books, there are no less than 192 pages, 180 illustrations for 1.2 kg which are devoted to a popular but little-known subject in the history of Rome.
For the author, “it was first necessary to return to the origins of gladiatorial which is not Roman but which covers 1,000 years of the history of Rome. It was also necessary to go beyond the clichés that we find in all the peplums where the fights are reduced to butchery, thumbs down If the gladiators are at first slaves, after the revolt of Spartacus, they are no longer, they are trained athletes, both outcasts and. idols, adored by the crowd, true pros of show fighting In these conditions, death is not the final objective, the services are expensive and it is a real economy which lives thanks to them. marketing of today which we then found in Syria, Turkey, Morocco, Greece and as far as Brittany, present-day England. In total, there were 250 arenas in the Roman world, most of which were in. woods that have disappeared”.
It is also this story that the screenwriter and director of the original version of the Great Roman Games told on Wednesday November 20 in the show History secrets of France 2 presented by Stéphane Bern.
The Gladiatorspreface Virginie Girod, éditions Glénat, a good idea to place under the tree.
Midi Libre correspondent: 06 72 96 11 52
