Question

Discuss the role of Christian imagery in Ben Hur and Spartacus. How well does this Christian imagery fit in the story of a Jewish revolt against the Romans (Ben Hur) or the story of a slave uprising almost 70 years before the birth of Christ (Spartacus)?

Answer 1

1) In Ben Hur, the chief character was Judah Ben Hur who used to live in Jerusalem but eventually was falsely accused by his childhood friend for assassinating the governor of Rome. Romans were very much involved in torturing slaves back then and to destroy that particular norm Judah did his part to make himself able enough to fight with Romans. His childhood friend Messala betrayed him by sealing all his property and he sent him to do the job of slavery and he put his sister and mother behind the bars as well.

He was being marched to galleys and in Nazareth, he was really thirsty and one carpenter offered him water whose name was Jesus, when nobody offered. He almost lost his faith but regained them back to start a fight against the Roman again. He rescued anyhow and became a charioteer and learned about all the strategies with the help of Arrius and when he came back to Jerusalem he witnessed a lot of things and before that he saw a baptist who was doing miracles and helping the poor and he recognized that he was that kind person who gave him water. After Messala's death he saw Jesus Christ being marched for the crucifixion with the cross, he finally felt that revenge is not the ultimate purpose but he should follow the path of love and compassion. His sister and mother were also completely healed by the rainstorm following Jesus. Though Jesus has a very minor role in this but it was significant and through Judah's experience we have also learned many things.

2) Spartacus was the well-known gladiator who fought for so many slaves' freedom and he was unknown till he became the leader of the slaves and taught them the lessons to fight against the Romans, he escaped from a training school for gladiators, with the other 70 gladiators like him. slaves also joined them later. The gladiators trained the others in some elementary fighting skills. Spartacus shared leadership of the slave army with two Gauls, named as Oenamus and Crixus.Initially, Rome did not consider the slave army as a worthy force  and did not send first-line military against it;Spartacus then won three more engagements and then, for some reasons instead of crossing the Alps he was headed towards south, Rome was in panic. A new Roman military force, uner the supervision of commander Marcus Crassus, was sent to stop the courageous army of slaves. After a long period of pursuit, the slave army was defeated in southern Italy. Spartacus lost his life, but his body was not found. Some 6,000 slaves were crucified as a warning to other people.

Slave traditions were not really new to Rome. Unimaginable cruelty to slaves had encouraged a revolt on the Sicilian island. Around 70,000 slaves had taken up arms and skillfully battled against the cruelty.