Meijer, Fik

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Uitgeverij Verloren, Correspondentie, Postbus 1741, 1200 BS Hilversum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

CAREER: University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, professor of ancient history.

WRITINGS:

Wrakken, ankers en amforen: Archeologisch onderzoek in de Middellandse Zee, Strengholt (Naarden, The Netherlands), 1976.

A History of Seafaring in the Classical World, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1986.

(Editor) A.B. Breebaart, Clio and Antiquity: History and Historiography of the Greek and Roman World, Verloren (Hilversum, The Netherlands), 1987.

Schipper, zeil de haven binnen, alles is al verkocht: Handel en transport in de oudheid, Ambo (Baarn, The Netherlands), 1990.

(With Onno van Nijf) Trade, Transport, and Society in the Ancient World: A Sourcebook, Routledge (New York, NY), 1992.

De oudheid van opzij: Oudhistorische notities, Ambo (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), 1997.

Paulus' zeereis naar Rome: Een reconstructie (title means "St. Paul's Voyage to Rome,"), Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), 2000.

Keizers sterven niet in bed: Van Caesar tot Romulus Augustulus, 44 v.Chr.-476 n.Chr., Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, 2002, translation by S.J. Leinbach published as Emperors Don't Die in Bed, Routledge (New York, NY), 2004.

Gladiatoren: Volksvermaak in het Colosseum, Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), 2003, translation by Liz Waters published as The Gladiators: History's Most Deadly Sport, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Vercingetorix: De mythe van Frankrijks oudste held, Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), 2004.

Translator into Dutch, with Marius West, of Josephus Flavius's Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War.

SIDELIGHTS: Over a course of three decades, Fik Meijer has published volumes on maritime travel in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as books on Roman history. Some of his work has been translated into English, including Emperors Don't Die in Bed and The Gladiators: History's Most Deadly Sport. The latter title offers a detailed view of the grisly Roman sport of pitting people against animals—and against each other—in battles to the death. A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that The Gladiators is a "superficial examination" that "fails to capture any of the excitement" of the mortal combat. Conversely, a Kirkus Reviews contributor liked Meijer's "unapologetic look at the blood-soaked rituals" that were part of life in Rome. The same critic praised The Gladiators as "a defiant, scholarly study."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2005, review of The Gladiators: History's Most Deadly Sport, p. 1065.

Publishers Weekly, August 1, 2005, review of The Gladiators, p. 51.