Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Spartacus is a very popular television show that first aired on the Starz television network on January 22, 2010. The series is based on the Thracian gladiator during the time of 73 to 71 B.C. This was during the time that a serious uprising of the slaves against the Roman Republic took place.

The first season of the series was titled Blood and Sand. In the first season the viewers are introduced to Spartacus, a Greek man who lead the uprising of the slaves as their leaders. He was a great legend and the show follows him as he leads the slaves. Spartacus is played by Andy Whitfield, an Australian native. In this first season Spartacus becomes a legend after training and becoming a gladiator.

The Blood and Sand season follows Spartacus after he is captured and sentenced to death. He becomes a crowd favorite after defeating the four gladiators that were called to execute him. His sentence is changed from death to slavery. During the season, he becomes the leader of the "Champion of Capua". He looses his wife, Sura, who he does not know was murdered by the very person who bought her to reunite her with Spartacus. Sura is played by Erin Cummings, an America native.

Following this lost, Spartacus decides to focus on remaining a champion until he is put up against his best friend, Varro. Varro, is played by Jai Courtney, an Australian native. This an important point in the first season because in addition to loosing his wife, now Spartacus must take on the task of slaying his best friend. The slaying leads him to having nightmares which reveal to him the true nature of how his wife died.

Now armed with this knowledge, Spartacus begins to plan his revenge to "kill them all" with the help of the other gladiators. The plan to take out the house of Batiatus completely is foiled when Spartacus is put up against Crixus, someone he had enlisted to help in his revenge. A bloody war begins when it is time to choose sides and the plan for revenge is put into action.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand first show had an estimated 660,000 viewers. The amount of viewers remained just under a million until episode six, where there were 1.08 million viewers tuned in and almost every episode had a steady million viewers by the season's end.