Tristan Hughes

There's also certain tribes that we all did that big two-handed.

The Romfea.

The Romfea kind of bladed weapon as well.

Big bladed weapon.

But it's testament, isn't it, that if Spartacus is a Thracian auxiliary, straight away he's being linked to these people who, since the time of Herodotus, the father of history, have been renowned as pretty ferocious people.

And you mentioned that...

You like to believe that version where he was wrongfully forced into slavery.

Is there another version where he was a deserter?

I mean, are there various, in the surviving 4,000 words we have, are there various stories as to how he went from auxiliary to slave?

So do we know much about slavery at this time in the Roman Republic?

Were most slaves gained as the vanquished in a war, in a battle?

Do we know much about the Roman Republic as a slave state at that time?

And you do get some of those...

Notorious events at the end of certain campaigns.

I think it's Flamininus at the end of a campaign in Greece, which is like the scourging of a region called Epirus, and maybe like 50 or 100,000 people were slaved on the way.

And at this time, so slaves are being acquired for work purposes on the farms and so on.

But of course, the story of Spartacus is very much linked to him becoming a gladiator.

So are we seeing at the beginning of the first century BC, slaves also being used for entertainment?

Yeah.

And where can you get a key source of gladiators at this time?