Death of a Gladiatrix
Original novel Death of a Gladiatrix: Trajan-era Rome — the arena, the order of empire, and the fate of women. Five acts, about 52,000 characters.
The fourth long-form project of The Song of Inanna.
Trajan-era Rome, where the empire’s fervour and its shadow reach their height at the same moment. The sacred fire of the Vestalia, the sand of the arena, a prisoner of war carried down from the North Sea — around the death of one woman fighter, the story opens into five acts on imperial order, collapsing faith and what the age does to women.
Five acts, about 52,000 Chinese characters. It is also the project with the most complete visual life: a one-person feature film cut from it runs just under an hour.
Watch
One-person feature film (about 1 hour)
Script, storyboard, imagery, dialogue, voice, score and edit all done by one person, with colour grading by aki. This is the fullest crossing the story has made from page to screen.
Full audiobook film (about 3 h 15 min)
Act One: Beginning — The Reflection of Fate
Act Two: Rising — The Caged Beast and the Open Sea
Act Three: The Blood of the Empire
Act Four: A Cruel Closed Circle
Act Five: The Sacrifice to the Sea Monster
All of these films are also on the YouTube channel.
Read
All five acts can be read in English. Each chapter links back to the Chinese original, which remains the definitive text. The novel is told in the second person: “you” are Aelia, the senator’s daughter.
- Act One: Beginning — The Reflection of Fate
- Act Two: Rising — The Caged Beast and the Open Sea
- Act Three: The Blood of the Empire
- Act Four: A Cruel Closed Circle
- Act Five: The Sacrifice to the Sea Monster
The translation is AI-assisted and reviewed by the author. Names and recurring lines follow the English subtitles of the film. For the history behind the story, see the research notes on the gladiatrix, the Vestal Virgins and the women of the North Sea.