"Spartacus" HTH Trivia Quiz

Answer: slavery

The film ascribed to Spartacus a desire to end slavery. During the story, Spartacus repeatedly claimed that the aim of the slave army was not conquest, but freedom from slavery outside of Italy. Yet he was compelled to begin the slave rebellion because Varinia was being taken to Rome.

This is similar to the film "Braveheart" in which William Wallace was said to be fighting for freedom for the Scots from England, whereas he actually went to war when his wife was raped and killed.

Answer: a Roman slave in Thrace

Most historical evidence says Spartacus served in a Roman legion before being enslaved, thus he was not born in servitude. But history does confirm his status as a Thracian and a gladiator. He is also referred to in the film by his slave overseer as a Thracian, while the other three choices would not qualify him for Thracian status at all.

In the film, Spartacus also told the representative from the Cilician pirates that he was "the son and grandson of slaves".

Answer: Batiatus

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Batiatus was an actual historical person. He was played in the film by Peter Ustinov, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the film Batiatus became a collaborator with Gracchus in his attempts to frustrate Crassus' control of Spartacus, and especially, Varinia, Spartacus' wife. Crassus was a wealthy Roman noble, Marcellus was the slave instructor in Batiatus' school, and Antoninus was a slave belonging to Crassus before he escaped into the countryside.

Answer: a trident and a net

Spartacus lost the fight, but Draba refused to kill him and instead attempted to attack Crassus in the viewing balcony. Crassus dispatched him, although the guard's spear in the back would undoubtedly have finished him off if Crassus had simply pushed him back onto the arena floor.

Answer: He hamstrung a guard using only his teeth.

We saw in the film that when Spartacus was being disciplined by a guard, he responded by biting the back of the guard's ankle, thus severing the guard's hamstring. He was then subdued by other guards. Later, Batiatus remarked that "as the teeth go, so go the bones". Thus his assessment of Spartacus' future as a gladiator caused him to make the purchase.

Answer: Antoninus

Spartacus and Antoninus, as the last two survivors of the slave army, were forced to battle to the death before the gates of Rome by Crassus. Crassus was thus able to doubly punish Spartacus, first by forcing him to kill his last friend, and then to crucify him.

But ultimately, Spartacus was able to see his wife and son escaping to freedom before he died on the cross in the film's final scene.

Answer: Julius Caesar

In the film, just as Crassus had Glabrus appointed Commander of the Garrison of Rome as an ally against Gracchus' liberal agenda and as a tool in his desire to take over Rome, so Gracchus saw Caesar as his weapon against Crassus' manipulations. Historically, Julius Caesar was never commander of the Garrison of Rome.

In 75 B.C. (just prior to the start of the Third Servile War), Caesar was captured by pirates in the Aegean Sea and held for ransom. After his release, he hunted down the same pirates and crucified them.

Answer: three legions led by Crassus, Pompey, and Lucullus

Classic historians like Plutarch and Appian agree that Spartacus died in this battle. But one of the film's most stirring moments occurred here, where all the survivors of the battle stood and declared themselves to be Spartacus. Historically, the body was never found nor identified among those crucified along the Appian Way leading to Rome.

In the film, as Crassus openly marched against the slave army, he secretly was coordinating his attack with the legions of Pompey and Lucullus, of whom Spartacus and his commanders were unaware of being in the field.

Answer: Crassus

Antoninus had become Crassus' newly-acquired personal slave and Crassus, a super-wealthy patrician accustomed to having his way, used a taste for both snails and oysters as a metaphor for a person's sexual appetite, hoping to influence his new slave to be comfortable with an even more intimate relationship.

This was not one of the film's most inspiring scenes. But the viewer did get a glimpse into the magical abilities of Antoninus, as he disappeared almost before Crassus' eyes and ran off to join the slave rebellion.

Answer: the pirates of Cilicia

Spartacus secured the deal with a representative of the pirates at the cool price of fifty million sesterces' (or sestertii) worth of captured treasure for the use of fifty pirate ships. A sestertius has been estimated as being worth between $1.50 and $5. Apparently the pirates came off quite well, according to the plot, as they received an initial down payment of one chest of treasure from Spartacus and the slaves, as well as obtaining bribes from Gracchus, as well as Crassus, as both indicated in the storyline that they had also bribed the pirates, one on behalf of Spartacus (Gracchus), and one against the slave leader (Crassus). Crassus' bribe must have been the largest, since the pirates withdrew their ships, forcing Spartacus to fight Crassus and his allies.