 Although some reviews noted the storys unreliable correlation to  history, many of the films characters were derived from real  figures, including Spartacus (d. 71 B.C.), Marcus Licinius Crassus  (d. 53 B.C.) and Caius Sempronius Gracchus (d. 121 B.C.). As  depicted in the film, Spartacus was a Thracian slave who broke out  of a Capuan gladiators school to lead a revolt that was eventually  suppressed by Crassus, who then crucified his captives by the  hundreds. In contrast to the film, Spartacus was killed in battle,  after which Crassus ruled Rome in a triumvirate with Pompey and  Julius Caesar. Gracchus lived decades earlier, and helped organize a  social reform movement that lasted only a few years before being  repealed. He was killed in a series of riots protesting the repeal.