I Am Spartacus - From Threat to TV

I was recently lent the complete series of the Spartacus TV series. Firstly let me just say that the Spartacus tv series is terrible. Just terrible. So terrible that I watched it from beginning to end within a fortnight and enjoyed every single moment of it. The cartoon hyper-violence. The unnecessary sex and nudity to the plot. The underlying message of freedom against tyranny.

Spartacus - TV Show

It was about a week after I finished the show, that I realised what my problem with the show was. The reason why, even though I enjoyed the show from start to finish, there was always something bothering me a the back of my brain. I was and have always been pro-Roman.

"Spartacus, a Thracian of Nomadic stock, possessed not only of great courage and strength, but also in sagacity and culture"

Plutarch Life of Crassus Chapter 8

Spartacus was the leader of the slave army during the Third Serville War, a captured Thracian who famously ended up as a gladiator near Capua in a Ludus belonging to Lentulus Batiatus. Trained in the art of the Murmilo, a gladiator armed with a scutum oblong shield and gladius sword, Spartacus was among a group of seventy slaves who escaped. Armed with kitchen utensils and taking gladiator weapons, the escaped slaves plundered the surrounding region, recruiting more slaves and beating the small force sent after them.

Finally being trapped on Mount Vesuvius, the slave force fought there way out by scaling there way down the sheer cliff using vines and defeated the forces of Tribune Glaber. All of which takes you to the end of the second series of Spartacus.

"After this greater numbers flocked to Spartacus till his army numbered 70,000. For these he manufactured weapons and collected equipment"

Appian Civil War Book 1 Chapter 116

Kirk Douglas - Spartacus

Come 72 BC the forces of Spartacus defeated the two consular armies of Publicola and Clodianus. A huge shame to the might of the Roman Republic. Worried by this unstoppable Slave rebellion, the Senate invested Marcus Crassus (the man famed for his wealth in the later Republic and only volunteer) with the power of tribune to take Spartacus and his army out.

Betrayed by Cilician pirates, who abandoned his army in the south of Italy, a final decisive battle was fought. Falling in battle, six thousand of Spartacus's army were captured alive and crucified lining the Appian Way from Rome to Capua.

"Spartacus was wounded in the thigh with a spear and sank upon his knee, holding his shield in front of him and contending in this way against his assailants until he and the great mass of those with him were surrounded and slain"

Appian Civil War Book 1 Chapter 120

The Spartacus of the TV show fell in battle a glorious leader; fighting for freedom, the rights of man and slaves everywhere. The problem is, I don't agree with it. I'm purely 100% on the side of the Romans. I don't condone the slavery, the stealing of people from there lands, the forcing people to fight as Gladiators. However, the same way I cheered when the Romans beat Hannibal, when Mithridates of Pontus was defeated, when Pyrrhus was kicked out of the Italian peninsular, I cheered for the Romans when they defeated the slave uprising.

Statue of Spartacus from the Louvre

At this point I think I'm so inculcated by the ancient writers and the power of Rome that I support them regardless. That being said I don't think that Spartacus's rebellion is the great rebellion of freedom against slavery. He wasn't seeking to change the slavery system that the Republic was built upon. It seems like Spartacus's objective was merely to escape the Italian peninsular and return his army and himself to their homes.

If you are interested in your Ancient History (and if your reading this you probably are) then I would recommend Spartacus. It's sword and sandals excitement with slow-mo fighting and yelling, however that doesn't change the fact, that for me Rome is the hero. The hero that fights foreign enemies, saves the day and puts down slave revolts against the power of the Roman Republic. Which is why two weeks after finishing the Spartacus TV show, I realised why I didn't completely support Spartacus. I was on the Roman's side, the villains of the TV show.


Thanks for Reading
James