Spartacus (film) eclipse him. Gracchus, having seen Rome fall into tyranny, commits suicide. Before doing so, he bribes his friend Batiatus to rescue Spartacus's family from Crassus and carry them away to freedom. On the way out of Rome, the group passes under Spartacus's cross. Varinia is able to comfort him in his dying moments by showing him his little son, who will grow up free and knowing who his father was. The development of "Spartacus" was partly instigated by Kirk Douglas's failure to win the title role in William Wyler's "Ben-Hur". Douglas had worked with Wyler before on "Detective Story", and
Spartacus (Fast novel) by Simon & Schuster; ), the author has a short introduction, ""Spartacus" and the Blacklist", which expands on the conditions surrounding the writing and publishing of the work. Spartacus (Fast novel) Spartacus is a 1951 historical novel by American writer Howard Fast. It is about the historic slave revolt led by Spartacus around 71 BCE. The book inspired the 1960 film directed by Stanley Kubrick and the 2004 TV adaptation by Robert Dornhelm. "Spartacus" begins with three young Roman patricians - Caius, his sister Helena and her friend Claudia, commencing a journey from Rome to Capua along the Via Appia