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Spartacus

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Spartacus, a Roman gladiator who was involved in a series of slave uprisings against the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.

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.

Available now

43 minutes

Last on

Thu 6 Mar 2014 21:30

LINKS AND FURTHER READING

Mary Beard at the University of Cambridge

 

Maria Wyke at University College London

 

Theresa Urbainczyk at University College Dublin

 

Spartacus - Wikipedia

 

 

READING LIST:

 

Keith Bradley, Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World 140 BC-70 BC (John Wiley & Sons, 1989)

 

Kirk Douglas, I am Spartacus: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist (Open Road Media E-Riginal, 2012)

 

Howard Fast, Spartacus (reprinted M.E. Sharpe, 1996)

 

Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Spartacus (Pegasus Books, reprinted 2012)

 

Arthur Koestler, The Gladiators (Vintage Classics, reprinted 1999)

 

Aldo Schiavone (trans. Jeremy Carden), Spartacus (Harvard University Press, 2013)

 

Brent D. Shaw, Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford, 2001)

 

Peter Stothard, On the Spartacus Road: A Spectacular Journey through Ancient Italy (HarperPress, 2011)

 

Barry Strauss, The Spartacus War (Phoenix, 2010)

 

M. J. Trow, Spartacus: The Myth and the Man (The History Press Ltd, 2006)

 

Theresa Urbainczyk, Spartacus (Bristol Classical Press, 2004)

 

Theresa Urbainczyk, Slave Revolts in Antiquity (Acumen Publishing Ltd, 2008)

 

Martin M. Winkler, Spartacus: Film and History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006)

 

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Producer Thomas Morris
Interviewed Guest Mary Beard
Interviewed Guest Maria Wyke
Interviewed Guest Theresa Urbainczyk

Broadcasts

  • Thu 6 Mar 2014 09:00
  • Thu 6 Mar 2014 21:30

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