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 examines the origins of gladiator games and associated structures, their professional organization, training and armament of gladiators, as well as the participation of gladiators in the military-political events of the 1st century. BC e. — IV century. n. e., in particular the uprising of Spartacus. For the first time in Russian historiography, visual materials related to the holding of gladiatorial games on the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom, and their specificity in comparison with the traditional forms of this kind of spectacle in the Roman Empire are examined and analyzed in detail. The illustrated popular science publication is designed for a wide range of readers interested in military affairs and military-political history of the ancient world.