Historical Event

Filmmakers have long understood the interest viewers have in true stories; thus, they often use historical events to stir the crowd's interest. In this case, the filmmakers take a literary license with the life and death of Spartacus.

In 73 B.C. the real Spartacus and other gladiators at a gladiatorial school escaped using knives from the kitchen and camped on Mount Vesuvius. When Roman soldiers attacked the group, Spartacus led his men down another way and attacked the Romans from behind.

Spartacus eventually had at least 70,000 slaves in his army. Although they won a battle, they were eventually barely defeated by Crassus' men. Spartacus is believed to have died during the battle, but because there were so many dead, his body was never found.

Life of Slaves

The life of the slaves is a difficult and thankless one. Most of the slaves viewers meet have been in...