1. Intro to Ancient History Week 10: Theoretical approaches to issues in Roman slavery

2. How are the following connected? Keith R. Bradley, author of Slavery and Society at Rome? Monty Python s Life of Brian? Jamie Lee Curtis s father s taste in molluscs? The German revolutionaries Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg?

3. Who or what connects…? Dalton Trumbo, author of the screenplay for Spartacus? Moses I. Finley, author of Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology and many other works of ancient history?

4. Developing research questions Establishing the facts: main sources are Plutarch, Life of Crassus, and Appian, Civil Wars (B.Civ.). Major issues of interpretation? Does Spartacus matter in his own right, or as an example of a more general phenomenon, or as something that reveals the structure of Roman society?

5. Spartacus and Roman slavery How did the Spartacus revolt affect the development of Roman slavery? Why do slave revolts occur? Why don t slaves revolt more often? Why do the Romans use slaves as gladiators? Why do the Romans tell stories about Spartacus?

6. Theoretical perspectives Sociology of control and domination Ideology and myth – ancient and modern Contradictions within the mode of production Reception: the image of Spartacus