Gladiators. Courage in the Face of Death (2024).

This fall, the second part of a mythical film on so many levels such as Gladiator, by Ridley Scott, will be released... And also, whit such a happy timing, the project to which I have been lucky enough to dedicate my last few months as illustrator will see the light: Gladiators. Courage in the Face of Death, with Desperta Ferro Ediciones team behind this fantastic project.

And as they say themselves:

«Hail Caesar! We who are about to die salute you. Perhaps there is no more well-known phrase about Roman gladiature… And none so loaded with myths, misunderstandings and falsehoods. A sentence that was never uttered, the result of the distorted image of gladiators that historical novel and cinema have propagated. Gladiators. Courage in the Face of Death, by Fernando Lillo Redonet and María Engracia Muñoz-Santos, it’s based on the evidence that archeology, epigraphy and classical texts have left about these spectacles, to show their reality and explain them within the cultural and mental context of Roman society. Throughout its pages, filled with numerous and spectacular illustrations by Sandra Delgado, we will accompany the men who became gladiators, we will share their life in the ludus, we will eat their ranch, we will sweat in their training and experience the fear and pain, but also the glory of the supreme moment of the fight, when they could become idols of the public or fall —figuratively but also literally— into oblivion. We will witness the various combats and pairings, understand their fame and popularity, and also their relationship with power, even the emperors, some of whom were enthusiastic fans. Because gladiature tells us a lot about Rome, about its conceptions and its morals, about its way of understanding life and facing the grim reaper, we will understand, thus, that one does not go to the arena to die, but to show courage in the face of death».