Tristan Hughes

Now, weapons for gladiators, they were like army weapons, but normally slightly different.

They're a bit more specialized for the whole spectacle of a gladiator fight.

So can you imagine the weapons that they started with when they were fighting this first makeshift army, 3,000 soldiers, were maybe slightly different to the ones that they acquired afterwards?

He deserves it.

What a story he is out in Spain.

It's amazing to think that there could be a link.

But what do we know from the sources about the aftermath of the Vesuvius victory for Spartacus?

So, more slaves join his forces...

They do it with Pyrrhus and Tannibal.

So is that very much his strategy, whether he liked it or not, for the following months, following that victory over Glaber whilst the forces are growing?

They're still all together, but there's the need for food and it is just kind of those local rich towns and settlements that feel the brunt of the force?

It immediately makes me think of something like the fennec treasure in Colchester, which is linked to like a Roman family.

And the makeup of this army...

when they're in southern Italy?

Is it very much Spartacus, the charismatic leader, he is the commander-in-chief and the sole general?

Do we know much else about the command structure?

Bigger than Glaber's.

So they're starting to realize that, hang on, this guy we're fighting against, he actually does know how to effectively combat the Romans at war.

He's playing to his strengths, like ambushes and the like.

And at the same time, keeping the logistics networks up that they must have sorted with the, you know, whether it's still raiding the nearby towns or taking advantage of the rich lands of formerly Magna Graecia, you know, the Greek cities and all of that stuff to their benefit.