Who was Spartacus?

[IndianaGreen]

Who was Spartacus?

The gladiators decided to "strike for their own freedom rather than for the amusement of spectators," according to the Roman historian Appian.

January 15, 2010

MANY OF us have heard the name Spartacus, if only because of the famous scene in the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film by that name, where the Roman General Marcus Lucinius Crassus, played by Lawrence Olivier, demands that the bedraggled remnants of the defeated slave army hand over Spartacus. As Spartacus, played by Kirk Douglas, stands up to say, "I'm Spartacus," his best friend Antoninus (Tony Curtis) jumps up, along with dozens of others, all exclaiming, "I'm Spartacus."

Who was the real Spartacus? He was a Thracian soldier who was captured and sold into slavery by the Romans, and forced to train as a gladiator. There, he led a slave rebellion in 73 B.C.

In the whole of history, there have been only four recorded slave revolts on the scale of a genuine war: Two in Sicily (135-132 B.C. and 104-100 B.C.), one in Italy (73-70 B.C.), and one in Haiti in 1804. Only Haiti's slave rebellion--the one Pat Robertson disgustingly claims was the result of a "pact with the devil"--was successful.

Slaves were drawn from different places, spoke different languages and shared different cultures. The punishment for revolt was death, and slaves had no legal means or the right to organize. They therefore had to plot in complete secrecy--for detection at any time before the revolt meant certain failure.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/15/who-was-spartacus

[11 Bravo]

1. Robin Williams and Nathan Lane's houseboy. (His first name was Agador.)

[roguevalley]

11. Apparently, they were heading north out of Italy when they turned and

went south again where they were defeated. No one knows why they did that when they were on their way to freedom but some postulate that they didn't want to go into obscurity in regions with less amenities. Corrupted by civilization perhaps. I like Spartacus.

[FBaggins]

2. I am Spartacus!

n/t

[verges]

22. No! I am Spartacus!! nt

[GinaMaria]

31. I'm Spatacus and so's my wife

[OswegoAtheist]

37. I AM SPORTACUS!

Oswego "You gotta do the cooking by the book..." Atheist

[Make7]

3. I am Spartacus! ( n/t )

[midnight]

4. So that is the pact with the devil..... Breaking out of slavery. Pat R. an evil man.

[Raster]

5. I am Agador Spartacus!

Fuck you, Pat Robertson!

[bertman]

6. Thanks for posting that, IndianaGreen. Rec.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. The Haitian Slave Rebellion was known to southern slaveowners and they

were petrified of history repeating itself. It explains why such repressive laws were passed to ensure that slaves would never be free, e.g., illegal to be able to read, to travel without a pass, to challenge an order, to prevent their children from being removed from them to be sold, etc. Every law was to prevent slaves from getting together to plan an uprising.

[InkAddict]

8. HaHa - and I'm Jean Simmons because behind every great man

there's a virtuous woman.

[Aristus]

9. Colleen McCullough has speculated in her "Masters Of Rome" series of novels that Spartacus

was actually a well-known Roman Army officer who had been disgraced somehow, stripped of his citizenship, and then sold into slavery. I don't necessarily buy that view, if for no other reason than because it's a little too chauvinistically Roman. As in: 'Only a trained Roman officer could fight and lead the way Spartacus did.'

But the screenwriters of "Gladiator" seem to have taken it as their premise...

[Betty Karlson]

13. Ehm, "Gladiator" was situated in the imperial era.

Spartacus was a little earlier (a couple of centuries).

[Aristus]

17. Yes, I know. I was talking about the basic premise: Army officer is disgraced, loses

citizenship, becomes a slave and then a gladiator who exacts revenge against his captors.

[TheWraith]

34. Did she specify he was Roman?

The Roman legions contained plenty of soldiers and officers who weren't "Roman" by birth but were from the Roman-held provinces. The rumor that Spartacus was ex-military has been around for a long time, and makes a kind of sense given that he knew how to counter Roman battle tactics.

[bemildred]

10. And Haiti has never been forgiven for kicking French Ass.

The fear of other "slave revolts" continues to this day.

[Demeter]

12. As Well As It Should Be Feared

but as recent events have shown, our masters are now foolishly fearless.

I'd postulate that the French Revolution was the next best thing to a slave revolt. Most of the "masters": nobility, church and government, were put out of the people's misery. The country has never been the same.

[Betty Karlson]

14. That's not the whole picture.

The French revolution was a combination of three smaller revolts:
1. A progressive revolt (quickly sidetracked by Napoleon and co.), which ended with the guillotine spree.
2. A peasants' revolt (which the "progressives" violently suppressed as soon as the peasants found that their demands were not going to be met by the new powers that be.)
3. A bourgeois revolt, granting the financially privileged a way to promote their policies that did not require the nobility's agreement. Of the three revolts, this was the only one to actually succeed in its aims. (Although some of the progress was undone between 1815 and 1830.)

[bemildred]

15. She is quite correct about it as a source of fear in the "elites".

It spooked them good, and while it is true that the peasant's paradise did not come into being, the French Revolution(s) did have a very large effect on European history and politics, and it changed France permanently. The same could be said of the Russian Revolution, which also can be said to have failed to bring about the workers paradise, but nevertheless had a huge historical effect, spooked European "elites" but good, and changed Russia permanently.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Didn't the pukes at Goldman Sachs begin to arm themselves

so fearful they became of the "slaves" of capitalism striking back at them?

They all fear slave rebellions!

[Dr.Phool]

18. I am Fartacus!

A little gassy today.

[AnneD]

20. DrPhool.....

you are such a little shit.:evilgrin:

Lay off the oysters, or is it snails? :smoke:

[Dr.Phool]

25. Just a little inspiration from the Post Office.

I brought the mail in this morning, and my wife had a catalogue. On the front cover was a T-shirt that said, " So, this Irishman walks out of a bar....No, really it can happen". The next item down was a shirt that said, "Behold Fartacus".

Then I sat down and saw this thread.

A sick mind is a terrible thing to waste.

:crazy: :silly: :crazy:

[AnneD]

26. Your sick mind....

is not wasted around here. :smoke:

[Uncle Joe]

19. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, IndianaGreen.:thumbsup:

[KoKo]

21. Nice Post...thanks...Makes folks want to Google more about Slave Revolts...and

that's a "Good Thing."

Good on you....

[bemildred]

23. I'd like to buy a clue, Alex. nt

[KoKo]

24. I scarmbled through my old drawer of "Taped Movies" VHS and found Spartacus..

I've got my popcorn popping and going to revisit this one. I know "Hollywood" doesn't ever do history justice..and going back in time...I do remember reading the original book this was based on...but it's all faded and Movies often (even though History is trashed for Spectacle) manage to get to the "common person and implant some meme of whatever their real/original views of life are) I think it was (in my memory a POWERFUL MOVIE) that these days could at leas lead DU'er's who are Younger to do a GOOGLE and get more INFO.

Ahhh...the POWER OF THE INTERNETS....RESEARCH...and the POWER OF MOVIES.

Thanks Much, IG....for starting the View.

Popcorn is ready to go...we found the Movie we Taped in our VHS Drawer. I'm sure that other DU'er's could get it on Netflix or Hulu or other sources.

Definite "Long Weekend" view! Better than watching CNN Preview and Make a Saint of Dr. Gupta? No? :shrug:

[AnneD]

27. Spartacus.....

was one of Stanley Kubrick's few studio movies.

[IndianaGreen]

28. The DVD version of Spartacus has some cut scenes between Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier

that strongly hinted at Crassus sexual propensity.

Stanley Kubrick salvaged Spartacus for the studio after Anthony Mann was fired by producer Kirk Douglas. It is a great film!

My favorite character is the one played by Peter Ustinov.

Enjoy!

[AnneD]

30. He was my favorite too....

Although George Sand was great (the senator that freed his slaves before he committed suicide).

[IndianaGreen]

29. 'Spartacus’ series hits the sand

For those interested in the Spartacus story, STARZ is premiering a new series:

Did you like "Gladiator" and "300"? Then you may be interested in "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," the new gladiator epic from Starz. Andy Whitfield plays the famed gladiator, and the show looks both bloody and violent, though some fans are hoping for the character development of HBO's "Rome." Things sound promising — although not one episode has aired yet, the show has already been renewed for a second season. (Series premiere Jan. 22, 10 p.m., Starz.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33495998/ns/entertainment/

[Canuckistanian]

32. Long-time DUer, tombstoned for dissing Kerry in 2004?

Ok, I'm just guessing here.

[IndianaGreen]

33. Nyet!

No balloon and no cigar.

[h9socialist]

35. Modern times produced a Revolutionary more admirable than Spartacus

His name was Ernesto Guevara de la Serna -- better known the the world as CHE!!!!

[h9socialist]

36. I'm Spartacus!

[Blue_Tires]

38. ttt