The Return of Spartacus is the fourth of the highly acclaimed and best selling historical mysteries set at the height of the Roman Empire. The year is now 165 CE, 2 years after Marcus Aurelius Betrayed, 4 years after The Cyclops Case and 7 years after Mars the Avenger.
In The Return of Spartacus, Marcus Flavius Severus, Judge in the Court of the Urban Prefect in the City of Rome, is assigned to investigate murders of gladiators outside the arena, in the Ludus Magnus, the gladiator school in Rome. Severus is told he must put a stop to the killings. Severus is also told that there may be new Spartacus hidden among the gladiators. Whether a new Spartacus is now emerging almost 250 years after the original Spartacus revolt, and whether he is involved in the killings is not known. But Severus is told that any gladiator or slave revolt must be stopped in its tracks.
The assignment is not an easy one for the judge. Two of his aides are former slaves and in sympathy with a slave revolt. Severus himself is conflicted by the definition of slavery in Roman law as an institution contrary to the Law of Nature and the pragmatics of slavery in the world he lives in. He also never goes to the gladiator games himself for his own reasons.
Nevertheless, Severus must now enter the world of the gladiator. The gladiators, the owner of the gladiator troupe, the lanista who trains them, the Procurator who heads the school, the women who service the gladiators and ex-gladiators all must be investigated.
Scenes are set throughout the City of Rome as the investigation requires, including a scene in the Flavian Amphitheater for a gladiatorial bout on the opening day of the Games of the Floralia Spring festival. There are also scenes in Severus’ courtroom and the book is accurate as to the criminal laws of the time, including the use of judicial torture. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures are from Roman law sources. The Return of Spartacus is not only a mystery but also a daily life in ancient Rome, a sojourn into world of the Roman Empire and its courts, police and criminal laws.
Alan Scribner was an Assistant District Attorney in the office of Frank S. Hogan in New York County and a criminal defense attorney. He is also an independent scholar of Ancient Rome and co-author of Anni Ultimi: A Roman Stoic Guide to Retirement, Old Age and Death. He is the author of Mars the Avenger, the Cyclops Case and Marcus Aurelius Betrayed, the first three Judge Marcus Flavius Severus mysteries in Ancient Rome.