The Spartacus Rebellion - A note on the trilogy
It’s been months in the making, but I’m thrilled to announce the completion of the Spartacus trilogy.
Readers might wonder—why Spartacus? Much has been written about him. There is a famous movie, and there is a well-received TV series. The great thing about writing in the ancient period is that there is always an opportunity to look at the subject differently and provide a new treatment. The existing works are wonderful in their own way, and my books offer another perspective on the subject.
While the books follow the similar style of my trilogy on Cleopatra with a fast pace and twists-and-turns, it’s almost a diametrically opposite world. The Cleopatra books were about a Queen and Empress—the scope vast, the ambitions spanned nations, the people famous, and the politics and palace intrigue persistent.
On the other hand, the Spartacus books are focused on the forgotten men and women, the slaves, workers, and soldiers. These were people who served the great generals, kings, and queens. Their lives were often harsh and grim. The regimes were ruthless and unforgiving. And when they died, no songs were written lauding them, no plays in their honor, no plaques bearing their name, and no temples in their worship.
The trilogy does not dwell much on the Roman aristocracy’s drama, debauchery, politics, and intrigues. Instead, the novels stay closer to the lives of those who fought for and suffered under their rulers. I have also strived to stay close to the known milestones from history and tried to bring “realism” to the sequences.
While I take a dramatic license, I have strived to depict the life of the times and avoid anachronisms in the name of drama. For example, the grand and glorious “Gladiator” (the movie) style combats came nearly a century after Spartacus. It was much more likely that the games were still evolving and sponsored locally during his time. Since it was an expensive business, lives were not typically casually butchered (it changed under the emperors who came later). Even the big sponsors of the games with their training schools (Caesar was an owner of a large school!) came decades after Spartacus’ time. And the fancy fighting arenas and amphitheaters? Most that survive were built well after Spartacus. Marcus Crassus was immensely rich, but he was also a severe and austere man.
For all of their feats, only six names from the rebels’ side survive from antiquity and practically nothing about them as people! But we can infer Spartacus based on the impact of his decisions, the damage he inflicted, the times he lived in, and who he was in terms of his ethnic and cultural origin. What he did was astonishing, and I hope that when you journey along with him in the novels, you get a sense of the world he lived in and why he did what he did.
Through the novels, I have tried to tackle questions such as—how was he able to build such an army? What was it like living as a soldier, slave, and a gladiator? How could he beat the Roman legions repeatedly? What was his relation with other slave leaders who belonged to different tribes, spoke different languages, and had different cultural ethos? Of course, all this is woven into a fast-paced story that I hope will keep you immersed.
Thank you for reading this note. Now come with me on a walk with Spartacus.
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For Honor. For Vengeance. Or For Rome?
Thrace, 83 B.C.
Spartacus, son of a Maedi chief, is about to lead a band of his men into the heart of an enemy tribe to steal the idol of their sacred god Sabazios. He hopes that this daring incursion will make him worthy in his father’s eyes and the tribe that sees him more a philosopher than a warrior.
When this desecration brings savage retribution to his doorsteps, Spartacus does what no Maedi man would dream of doing, bringing dishonor to himself and his tribe. And now, the only way to douse the flames of shame and rage is by joining a Roman auxiliary that is preparing to destroy his enemy.
But the offended gods have different plans.
Fighting under a corrupt centurion, saddled with quarreling companions, and on a brutal march to wage war for a brilliant general with grand ambitions, Spartacus will learn what it means to be a skilled soldier, a warrior, and above all, a leader, even as he battles powerful forces that are about to put him on a bloody path to his fateful destiny.
4.8/5 on Goodreads and Amazon
What glory is there in dying for someone’s amusement?
Capua, 75-73 B.C.
Captured and sold off as a slave, Spartacus is now at Lentulus Vatia’s training school in Capua, preparing for a gladiator’s harsh and brutal life. The trainers tell him of glory in combat and the chance to earn freedom. They speak of redemption through bravery and adulation through exemplary performance. The men live in perpetual hope built on a house of false promises.
But the winds of gladiatorial sports are shifting, and the signs are ominous. The people demand more, and the powers are only too glad to oblige. The games are now more than a tribute or a show—they are a means to power—and becoming the principal form of cruel and vicious entertainment. And in this relentless evolution, the fighters are just the living dead to be bled on the sands of the arena, and their corpses dragged away.
Even as he masters the sport and survives the bloody fights, Spartacus must find ways to convince his fellow men that there is no honor in dying for someone else’s amusement. But his actions are about to pit him against the twisted mind of a vicious master who plots to condemn Spartacus and his wife to a terrible end.
4.7/5 on Goodreads and Amazon
One life of freedom is worth a thousand in fetters.
Italy, ~73-71 B.C.
The gladiatorial school of Vatia is in ruins, and the rebels now maraud the countryside as they plot the next move. Rome is livid at the news of slaves escaping but sees no reason to send its legions—after all, how long would these depraved animals survive, and what famed commander worth his name would take up the pursuit of lowly men?
But Gaius Claudius Glaber, a new praetor with a failed investment in Vatia’s school and a vested interest in capturing the slaves for a rich profit, is gathering mercenaries to destroy Spartacus’ rebel holdout on the great mountain Vesuvius.
What begins as an assault to quickly subdue inferior men with supposedly low military skill is about to turn into a nightmare for the Romans, and they will learn what it means to take on an army of the desperate, for whom death by the sword is preferable to servitude for life, led by a man who fears none and whose brilliance outshines Rome’s best. And when the dust settles and blood dries on the earth, history will be written, and the name of Spartacus will be etched on the granite of great stories.
Jay Penner’s highly-rated books regularly feature Amazon’s category bestseller lists. Try his Spartacus, Cleopatra, Whispers of Atlantis or Dark Shadows books. Reach out to him or subscribe to his popular newsletter.