Lentulus Batiatus

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Batiatus (or, possibly, Vatia) was the Roman owner of a gladiatorial school in Santa Maria Capua Vetere ( the ancient city, where Capua Vetere means Old Capua), in southern Italy. It was from this school that in 73 BC, the Thracian slave, Spartacus, and about 70 to 78 followers escaped. The break-out led to the slave rebellion known as the Third Servile War (73 – 71 BC).

Shackleton Bailey noted that the name ('Batiatus'), as recorded by the ancient historians, could be a corrupted form of the cognomen 'Vatia'. Cornelius Lentulus Vatia would then have been either a Servilius Vatia by birth adopted into the Cornelii Lentuli or else a Cornelius Lentulus by birth adopted into the Servilii Vatiae.

Batiatus was played by Peter Ustinov in Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film, Spartacus, for which Ustinov won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ian McNeice played Batiatus in the 2004 television adaptation Spartacus.

John Hannah played Batiatus (here given the first name Quintus) in the 2010 Starz television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand and the 2011 Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

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