Lentulus Batiatus

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Batiatus (or Vatia ) was a master Gladiator ( lanista ) and the owner of a gladiator school in Capua.

From his school other gladiators broke out due to the poor living conditions of 73 BC, Spartacus and 70, the numbers vary in the sources. This gives the Spartacusaufstand, the most significant slave uprising in Roman history developed.

On Friedrich Muenzer the plausible conjecture goes back that Lentulus Batiatus this because the cognomen Batiatus does not occur otherwise, is identical to the in Cicero ( Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem 2, 3, 5) Gnaeus Lentulus mentioned Vatia. Fittingly, Orosius ( Historiae adversum Pagano 5, 24) calls the owner of the gladiator school Gnaeus Lentulus. Batiatus is explicable in the Greek writing Plutarch corrupt form of Vatia. After that, he was a Lentulus, adopted by a Vatia or Vatia adopted by Lentulus.

Lentulus Batiatus as a film role

Although the ancient sources only mention it and nothing else said about him, Lentulus Batiatus plays a prominent role in most film adaptations of the story of Spartacus. In Stanley Kubrick's period film Spartacus historically reconstructable facts have been greatly embellished and modified. Peter Ustinov won for his portrayal of Batiatus in this movie the 1961 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In the U.S. television movie from 2004 Lentulus was played by Ian McNeice. In the television series Spartacus, played by John Hannah, however, Quintus Lentulus Batiatus says here.

Sources ( in chronological order )

• Livy, Book 95 (only as a summary, referred to there as Lentulus )
• Plutarch, Crassus 8 (as Lentlus Batiatus, Λέντλος Βατίατος )
• Florus, Epitoma de Tito Livio 9, 21 (as Lentulus )
• Orosius, Historiae adversum Pagano's 5, 24 ( Gnaeus Lentulus as )