Rome. The word conjures images of armored soldiers in red tunics, prime politicians under flowing togas, and a suppressed proletariat living on scraps. A city that rose from a predominantly warrior class to the first Pan-European Empire. Birthplace of the conceptual republic and home to the most brutal dictators to ever rule the world. But one image lends itself to the idea of Rome more than others. The image of the Colosseum brimming with hordes of ecstatic Romans, screaming for blood.
Nothing epitomizes the Roman lust for action more than their reverence and hatred of the Gladiators. Picked up as slaves from defeated colonies, all Gladiators were reviled uniformly. They had to earn their respect, and seldom their freedom, by walking over the butchered bodies of the fallen in the arena. The only way out of the hell of slavery and certain death was to elevate yourself to the status of God, by satiating the blood-thirsty crowds.
'Spartacus: Blood and Sand/Gods of the arena' is about these Gods amongst men. The series is based loosely on the story of Spartacus, a gladiator whose battles against the Roman Legions sent tremors through the very corridors of power in Rome and reverberated across the vast Republic. It chronicles the beginnings of the servile revolt, and does it with such panache and color that you begin to wonder if such a society ever existed. For the Rome depicted is exotic and extreme. It is a society so overflowing with life that nothing seems strange after a while. Absent any organized religion, the pagan Romans are decadent only in their actions, not in their culture. While sex and nudity seem no stranger than eating or walking in this pre-Christian era, the politics and treachery remind us that lust for power is not endemic to regions or cultures but innate to individuals.
The story centers around the ludus (training school for gladiators) of one Lentulus Batiatus. The House of Batiatus has been in decline, the former champions of the arena a distant dusty memory on the undecorated walls of the mansion. While the scheming Batiatus and his equally venal yet voluptuous wife oversee the training grounds from a safe height, the souls and stories of the slaves training to become worthy gladiators forms the real heart of this series. While the halls above reek with depraved machinations, hard won honor is often found in the grime of the ludus below. It is in the ludus that Spartacus gets molded into the legend he will be one day. And it is an epic journey to be on with him.
This is a first rate action series with some brilliant plots and characters and wonderful creative direction, no doubt taking cues from worthy predecessors like HBO's Rome and Snyder's '300'. I would definitely recommend watching 'Blood and Sand' before 'Gods of the Arena'. Once you move past the weak first episode, the rest quickly becomes a delicious ride into a time and space that once was, and perhaps will be again some day.
And oh, dont let the nudity distract you. After a while, you'll wonder why you thought it was odd in the first place. Have fun in the arena.
