The Top 10 Hunks of "Spartacus"

Spartacus (111-71 BC) was a gladiator who led a slave revolution that threatened the Roman Republic.  Although there's no evidence that he was fighting against slavery as an institution, he's been portrayed as a freedom fighter ever since.

And as a muscleman on a par with Hercules.

Here are the top screen hunks who put their biceps to work at Spartacus.

1. Mario Ausonia played Spartaco in a 1913 Italian silent version.

2. Kirk Douglas became the iconic Spartacus in the 1960 version, with Sir Laurence Olivier as Crassus, and the famous "oysters/snails" gay reference.

3. John Heston (Giovanni di Benedetto) starred in the peplum Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators (1964).

4. In 1970, the British spoof Up Pompeii!  had an episode with a slave uprising led by Spartacus (Shaun Curry, not shown).

5. Goran Visnijic played a rather less than buffed version in a 2004 tv movie.

More after the break.

6. Carlos Acosta performed in Spartacus: The Ballet (1956) with the Bolshoi in 2006.  Dancing gladiators.

7. But Vlad Vasiliev was most famous for the role, beginning in 1977.

8. In the Starz network version (2010-2013), Andy Whitfield played Spartacus in the first season, before tragic death from cancer.

9. After a "prequel" season, Liam McIntyre.took over the role.

10. Most recently, Daniel Roche played Spartacus in a school play in the British sitcom Outnumbered (2014).

See also: An Interview with Spartacus