Tip o’ the pileus to Lyndsay Powell for this one (via Twitter) … an appropriate excerpt on the Spartacus: Blood and Sand series … should tide y’all over until I can write my own review(s) thereof (numerous ‘marathons’ are planned for the summer):

Classical scholars and internet anoraks doubtless will find many quibbles, but the historical background of Spartacus is actually plausible. The geopolitics is good. It is sometime before 73BC. Barbarian tribes, here the Getae, threaten in the Balkans, and the enemy in the east is King Mithridates of Pontus. The dilemmas of a Roman general are deftly drawn; duty to the Res publica (the state) or personal glory, his family pressing for the latter. At home politicians have to weigh up the different demands of the Senate and the plebs.

For most in the modern world, Spartacus is Kirk Douglas in the 1960 film; all muscles and dimpled decency, an iconic swords-and-sandals action hero. The real Spartacus of history led a breakout from the gladiatorial school in Capua. Slaves and the oppressed rural poor flocked to his standards. For three years his rebellion raged across Italy, defeating Roman army after army. At last, in 71BC, he was defeated by the future Triumvir Crassus. Spartacus’s body was never found.

via Spartacus: swords, sandals and illicit sex – Telegraph.