The brutal arena sports of Ancient Rome are one of the most iconic images we have of this ancient culture. Gladiatorial combats and beast hunts have come to epitomise popular perceptions of ancient Rome, thanks to famous sword and sandal epics such as Spartacus and Gladiator. To sort the fact from the fiction about these arena sports I am joined by Christopher Epplett, a leading authority on gladiatorial combat and the beast hunt in antiquity.