Essay - The Success of the Movie Gladiator Made A Number of...

The success of the movie Gladiator made a number of people turn their ********** to what might be called the Ur Roman History Movie - Spartacus. But while most ***** us know the film for Charlton Heston's lean, pre-NRA president look or f***** the fact that it enjoys a cult standing among gay men of a certain age, very few of us have probably thought much about the real history that lies behind ***** movie. Indeed many people may well not even know that there was a real person named Spartacus who did in fact lead the Gladiatorial War aga*****st Rome in the years 73 to 71 BCE.

While some of the facts about Spartacus's life are relatively well known, others can only be guessed at. It is known that he was born ***** Thrace, a region of the Southeastern Balkans ***** now ***** partly in Turkey, partly in Greece and partly in Bulgaria.

It is also known that Spartacus served in the Roman Army, a not uncommon c*****reer path for an ambitious m***** fro***** the (*****) outer prov*****ces. While the position one held at birth mattered a gre*****t deal more in Rome than it does *****day in the United States (or at least ********** m*****e) it rema*****ed true at this period ***** Roman ***** th***** a person could substantially improve - or lower - ********** ***** through their own actions. (Although it should ***** noted that this was substantially less true for wo*****n ***** for men.)

Had Spartacus not deserted the army, his career in public service to Rome might well have netted him lifelong f*****ancial security if ***** wealth and a respectable place in any ***** ga*****r*****g.

However, he did desert the army and is known to have led bandit raids against Roman **********. It was because of these raids that he ***** captured and sold as a slave. And it was as a slave that he became a gladiator. The custom ***** *****ial fights seems to stem from the Etrus*****s (an Italian people ***** were absorbed into ***** Roman Empire). Gladiators would fight at funerals with the purpose of killing or dying: Those who died served as companions in the afterlife to the one be*****g interred. This hist*****ical source of gladiatorial conflict ***** part of a fune***** ceremony ***** no doubt responsible for ***** tradition of mortal combat in the arena.

After they became incorporated ***** Roman public life, ***** fights grew in popularity - and elaborateness.

At shows ***** ***** these exhibitions became wildly popular and increased in size from three pairs at the first ***** exhibition ***** 264 BC (at the funeral of a Brutus) to 300 ***** in the time ***** Julius Caesar (d. 44 BC). Hence the shows exten*****ed from one day to as many as a hundred, under the emperor Titus; while the emperor Trajan ***** his triumph (ad 107) had 5,000 pairs of gladia*****rs. Shows were also given in other towns ***** the ***** Empire, as can be seen from *****