The book is a comprehensive study of such a phenomenon of ancient Roman civilization as gladiatorial games. Based on a wide range of written, epigraphic and archaeological sources, the author considers the origin of gladiatorial games and related structures, their professional organization, training and arming of gladiators, as well as the participation of gladiators in military-political events of the 1st century. BC - IV century. AD, in particular the uprising of Spartacus. For the first time in Russian historiography, graphic materials relating to the holding of gladiatorial games on the territory of the Bosporus Kingdom, and their specifics in comparison with traditional forms of this kind of spectacle in the Roman Empire, are considered and analyzed in detail. The illustrated popular science publication is designed for a wide range of readers interested in military affairs and the military-political history of the ancient world.