Sparta comes from thrace, which is a territory that we would now pin point in the area of northeast greece. He was captured along with his wife and brought to rome to be sold as a slave. But before that could happen, he was asold as a gladiator to be trained in the school in capua. We would imagine that going to be a gladiator for no good reason, but simply the cruelty of your owner, would have had some impact on his plans for revolt.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Spartacus, the gladiator who led a major slave rebellion against the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. He was an accomplished military leader, and the campaign he led contributed significantly to the instability of the Roman state in this period. Spartacus was celebrated by some ancient historians and reviled by others, and became a hero to revolutionaries in 19th-century Europe. Modern perceptions of his character have been influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film - but ancient sources give a rather more complex picture of Spartacus and the aims of his rebellion.
With:
Mary Beard
Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge
Maria Wyke
Professor of Latin at University College, London
Theresa Urbainczyk
Associate Professor of Classics at University College, Dublin.
Producer: Victoria Brignell.