Today, the Western world's knowledge of the gladiator- slave Spartacus comes from the Kirk Douglas epic released in 1960. But did Spartacus really come close to changing the structure of the Roman world? Who was the real Spartacus? This vivid and exciting book traces the story of Spartacus through his slave hood in Rome and training as a gladiator, to the breakout that began when gladiators hacked at their guards with choppers and took to the hills. He has inspired films and a ballet, has been claimed as a political freedom fighter, and revolutionary hero, and has become a gay icon.
