The Gladiators (novel)

Koestler uses his portrayal of the original slave revolt to examine the experience of the 20th-century political left in Europe following the rise of a Communist government in the Soviet Union.

In 1998 the British critic Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote of the novel: "In The Gladiators, Koestler used Spartacus's revolt around 65BC to explore the search for the just city, the inevitable compromises of revolution, the conflict of ends and means, the question of whether and when it is justifiable to sacrifice lives for an abstract ideal.

Spartacus and Crixus work to turn the mob into a proper army, knowing that the Roman Senate will not tolerate their insurrection.

They eventually retire to a more defensible position on Mount Vesuvius and obtain a major victory when they defeat a sizeable force of Roman militia sent to crush them.

Spartacus, now styling himself Imperator, negotiates a truce with the ruling council of Thurium; the threat of his army coerces the councilors to grant the rebels all of their demands.

Fulvius, a former lawyer, commences to write a chronicle of the rebellion (which is never completed), and becomes the main political advisor to Spartacus.

With a growing and prosperous population, they receive emissaries from other polities and negotiate treaties and trade relations, even with the ruthless pirates that rule the nearby seas.

The situation grows more dire when Roman naval fleets manage to blockade the Sun City, cutting the rebels off from their allies and limiting their ability to sustain themselves.