‘Spartacus’: A Complete Franchise Timeline

Spartacus endures because his story sits at the volatile crossroads of history, myth, and spectacle. The real Thracian gladiator led one of the most dangerous slave revolts Rome ever faced, but the man himself vanished into legend almost as quickly as he appeared. What remains is a narrative blueprint that modern filmmakers and television creators have repeatedly reshaped to reflect the anxieties, politics, and fantasies of their own eras.

From Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 epic to Starz’s blood-soaked, operatic television saga, Spartacus has proven endlessly adaptable. Each incarnation emphasizes different facets of the myth: revolutionary martyr, tragic warrior, symbol of resistance, or larger-than-life antihero forged in brutality. The franchise’s power lies not in strict historical fidelity, but in how each version reinterprets rebellion, power, and freedom through contemporary storytelling lenses.

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This is why understanding Spartacus as a franchise matters, not just as isolated films or seasons, but as an evolving screen mythology. Mapping the timeline across movies and television clarifies how each entry connects canonically, how prequels and sequels reframe familiar events, and why viewing order shapes the experience. Spartacus is less a single story than a cinematic lineage, one that continues to redefine what epic historical drama can be.

The Foundations: Historical Spartacus vs. Cinematic Legend

Before Spartacus became a franchise, he was a historical disruption. The real Spartacus was a Thracian who escaped enslavement and led a massive rebellion against the Roman Republic from 73 to 71 BCE, an event known as the Third Servile War. Ancient sources like Plutarch and Appian describe a skilled tactician and charismatic leader, but they offer few personal details, leaving large gaps that later storytellers eagerly filled.

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This scarcity of concrete information is precisely what made Spartacus fertile ground for cinematic mythmaking. History provides the spine of the story, but almost everything audiences recognize as “Spartacus” exists in the realm of interpretation. His motivations, relationships, moral philosophy, and even his death vary depending on who is telling the story and why.

The Historical Record: What We Actually Know

Historically, Spartacus was trained as a gladiator at Capua and escaped with a small group of fighters, quickly amassing an army of tens of thousands. His rebellion humiliated Rome, defeating multiple legions before Crassus ultimately crushed the uprising. Spartacus himself died in battle, his body never conclusively identified, an ending that practically invites legend.

What history does not provide are emotional interiors or ideological manifestos. There is no evidence Spartacus sought to end slavery as an institution, nor that he envisioned a new social order. Those ideas belong to later eras projecting their values backward onto an ancient figure.

Stanley Kubrick and the Birth of the Modern Myth

The cinematic Spartacus truly begins with Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 epic, which reframed the rebel as a moral crusader against tyranny. Written by Dalton Trumbo during the height of Hollywood’s blacklist era, the film consciously transformed Spartacus into a symbol of political resistance and individual conscience. The famous “I am Spartacus” moment has no historical basis, but it became the defining image of collective defiance in popular culture.

Kubrick’s film established the emotional grammar that nearly every later adaptation would borrow from. Spartacus became less a desperate survivor and more a tragic hero, noble in defeat and immortal in principle. This version of the character set the baseline from which future entries would either build or deliberately rebel.

Starz and the Reinvention of Brutality

The Starz television franchise, beginning with Spartacus: Blood and Sand in 2010, did not discard Kubrick’s legacy so much as sharpen it. Where the film leaned toward classical grandeur, the series embraced hyper-violence, serialized character arcs, and moral ambiguity. Spartacus is still a symbol, but he is forged through trauma, rage, and compromise rather than idealism alone.

Crucially, the Starz saga uses prequels and parallel narratives to deepen the myth rather than simply retell history. Characters like Batiatus, Lucretia, and Gannicus expand the world beyond Spartacus himself, reframing the rebellion as the inevitable result of systemic cruelty rather than a singular act of heroism.

Why the Divide Between History and Canon Matters

Understanding the split between historical Spartacus and cinematic Spartacus is essential to navigating the franchise timeline. The films and series are not competing for accuracy; they are participating in an ongoing reinterpretation of rebellion. Each new entry selects which version of Spartacus it wants to inherit: the martyr, the warrior, the revolutionary, or the survivor.

This is why chronological viewing order and release order can feel meaningfully different. The franchise is less concerned with preserving a fixed canon than with exploring how the same legend evolves across time, tone, and medium. Spartacus on screen is not history reenacted, but history reimagined, again and again, for audiences ready to believe in him anew.

The Original Epic: Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) and Its Canonical Legacy

Before Spartacus became a serialized antihero or a vehicle for graphic excess, he entered modern pop culture as a towering Hollywood epic. Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960), starring Kirk Douglas, was not the first screen depiction of the Thracian rebel, but it was the one that permanently defined him for global audiences.

Released at the height of the widescreen epic era, the film positioned Spartacus alongside figures like Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia. It framed the slave revolt not as a historical footnote, but as a moral confrontation between human dignity and imperial power, rendered on a scale designed to overwhelm and inspire.

Production Context: A Film Bigger Than Its History

Kubrick’s Spartacus was born from creative tension. Kirk Douglas, serving as both star and producer, famously hired Kubrick after firing original director Anthony Mann, then clashed with him over tone, pacing, and character emphasis. The result is a film that feels both personal and monumental, torn between classical heroism and emerging modern cynicism.

The screenplay, written by Dalton Trumbo, carries additional historical weight. As one of the first major films to openly credit a blacklisted writer, Spartacus became inseparable from themes of resistance and defiance beyond its Roman setting. This political subtext quietly reinforces the film’s moral clarity, even when its history is simplified.

The Canonical Version of Spartacus the Film Creates

Kubrick’s Spartacus establishes what might be called the foundational screen canon. Spartacus is noble, reluctant to lead, and fundamentally ethical, driven by love and conscience rather than ambition. His rebellion is framed as righteous, doomed not by moral failure but by overwhelming imperial force.

This portrayal diverges sharply from historical records, which suggest a far more pragmatic and possibly brutal insurgent leader. Yet it is Kubrick’s interpretation, not the historian’s, that becomes canon for nearly every adaptation that follows. Even when later versions complicate or deconstruct Spartacus, they are reacting to this idealized template.

Where the Film Sits in the Franchise Timeline

Chronologically, Kubrick’s Spartacus covers the entire arc of the Third Servile War, from Spartacus’s enslavement and gladiatorial training to the final defeat of the rebellion. In pure timeline terms, it functions as a complete, self-contained saga rather than a chapter within a larger serialized universe.

In release-order viewing, it stands as the origin point of modern Spartacus mythology. The Starz series does not share continuity with the film, but it clearly inherits its narrative end point. Viewers familiar with Kubrick’s finale enter the television saga already knowing the destination, which lends the prequel-heavy structure a sense of tragic inevitability.

Influence on Later Films and the Starz Series

Iconic moments from Kubrick’s film echo across the franchise, even when unacknowledged. The emphasis on brotherhood among slaves, the romanticization of the arena, and the framing of Roman authority as coldly procedural all resurface in the Starz era, albeit through a darker, more explicit lens.

Most importantly, the film establishes Spartacus as a symbol larger than any single narrative. Later installments can make him angrier, bloodier, or more morally compromised, but they rarely strip him of the moral gravity Kubrick cemented. In franchise terms, the 1960 film is not canon because it is followed directly, but because it defines the emotional and ideological ground rules the rest of the Spartacus myth continues to negotiate.

The Starz Reimagining Begins: Spartacus: Blood and Sand (In-Universe Chronology)

When Starz launched Spartacus: Blood and Sand in 2010, it did not attempt to remake Kubrick’s film so much as explode it. This was a reinvention built for premium cable: hyper-stylized violence, operatic sexuality, and a serialized structure that allowed myth to be carved out episode by episode. While the series exists in its own continuity, it knowingly steps into the shadow of the 1960 film’s end point, daring viewers to watch the tragedy unfold in slow motion.

In-universe, Blood and Sand is not the beginning of Spartacus’s story, but it is the narrative foundation of the Starz saga. It chronicles his capture, enslavement, and rise within the House of Batiatus, ending precisely at the moment when personal vengeance transforms into open rebellion. Everything that follows, prequels and sequels alike, is built to either deepen or reckon with the choices made here.

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Setting the Stage: From Thracian Warrior to Gladiator

The series opens with Spartacus as a free Thracian allied with Rome, a sharp departure from older portrayals that skip directly to enslavement. His betrayal by Roman command, separation from his wife Sura, and brutal induction into the gladiatorial system give the rebellion an intensely personal origin. Unlike Kubrick’s philosopher-hero, this Spartacus is forged through rage, humiliation, and survival.

This grounding is crucial for the franchise’s internal logic. The revolt does not begin as an ideological movement but as a private war against injustice, one that gradually accumulates followers, meaning, and momentum. In timeline terms, Blood and Sand functions as the crucible where the legend becomes inevitable rather than accidental.

The House of Batiatus as the Franchise’s Narrative Core

Much of Blood and Sand unfolds within the walls of the ludus, making the arena both a literal and thematic engine for the franchise. Characters like Batiatus, Lucretia, Crixus, and Oenomaus are not peripheral figures but structural pillars whose arcs reverberate across multiple series entries. Their alliances and betrayals establish political and emotional fault lines that later chapters will revisit and reinterpret.

This focus on the ludus also explains why later installments frequently look backward. In-universe, the gladiator school represents the last moment before history accelerates beyond control, a contained environment where ambition, loyalty, and cruelty can still be negotiated face to face.

Chronological Placement Within the Starz Timeline

Despite being the first series released, Blood and Sand sits after the events depicted in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena when viewed chronologically. That prequel exists specifically to deepen the power structures and relationships introduced here, not to replace Blood and Sand as an entry point. For viewers mapping the franchise by in-universe order, Blood and Sand is the hinge between setup and revolution.

It ends with the outbreak of the slave rebellion, flowing directly into Spartacus: Vengeance and ultimately Spartacus: War of the Damned. In that sense, it occupies the most pivotal position in the entire Starz chronology, the moment where personal myth collides with recorded history.

Legacy and Canon Within the Franchise

Andy Whitfield’s performance anchors Blood and Sand with a tragic intensity that defines the character for the remainder of the series, even after recasting. His Spartacus is not yet a general or symbol, but a man learning how violence can become language and leadership. The franchise’s later moral complexity depends on this foundation being emotionally credible.

Within the broader Spartacus canon, Blood and Sand establishes the rules of engagement. History may dictate the ending, but this series insists that the meaning of Spartacus is shaped long before armies march. In franchise terms, it is the chapter where legend stops being inherited and starts being earned.

Filling the Gaps: Spartacus: Gods of the Arena as Narrative and Historical Bridge

Conceived during an unexpected production pause, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena occupies a unique place within the franchise. Developed while Andy Whitfield underwent treatment, the six-episode miniseries was never meant to be supplemental filler. Instead, it functions as both a narrative keystone and a tonal refinement, clarifying how the world of Blood and Sand came to exist.

Set years before Spartacus himself arrives in Capua, the series shifts perspective away from the future rebel icon and toward the machinery that produces men like him. By doing so, it reframes the franchise from a singular hero’s journey into a broader institutional tragedy. The result is a story that deepens stakes retroactively while expanding the moral geography of the saga.

A Prequel That Recontextualizes Power

Gods of the Arena chronicles the rise of Gannicus as champion of the House of Batiatus, alongside Quintus Lentulus Batiatus’ own ascent within Capuan society. Their parallel climbs illustrate how gladiatorial glory and Roman ambition are bound by the same corrosive incentives. Victory is currency, and loyalty is always conditional.

This era shows the ludus not as a static institution but as a volatile ecosystem still finding its shape. The rules governing dominance, discipline, and spectacle are actively being written, often through blood. When Blood and Sand begins, those rules feel immutable precisely because Gods of the Arena has already shown the cost of establishing them.

Strengthening Character Continuity Across the Franchise

Several of the franchise’s most important figures gain essential dimension here. Lucretia emerges as a political operator in her own right, refining the manipulative instincts that later define her downfall. Oenomaus’ transition from champion to Doctore gains tragic clarity, shaped by betrayals that long predate Spartacus’ arrival.

Perhaps most crucially, Gannicus’ arc introduces an alternate response to enslavement. Where Spartacus seeks meaning through rebellion, Gannicus embraces survival through excess and detachment. That philosophical contrast enriches later seasons, particularly when the two finally share the same historical moment during Vengeance and War of the Damned.

Chronological Versus Release-Order Viewing

In strict in-universe chronology, Gods of the Arena is the earliest Starz-era installment, unfolding entirely before Blood and Sand. For viewers prioritizing timeline coherence, it can be watched first, offering immediate context for the politics and hierarchies that dominate the opening season. This approach turns Blood and Sand into a payoff rather than an introduction.

However, in release order, Gods of the Arena was designed to be experienced after Blood and Sand. It assumes familiarity with key outcomes and uses dramatic irony as a storytelling tool. Watching it second allows the audience to recognize how fragile the world of Capua always was, even at its apparent height.

A Bridge Between Myth and Mechanism

Historically, Gods of the Arena operates in the margins, dramatizing a period Roman records largely ignore. That creative freedom allows the series to explore how systems of exploitation perpetuate themselves long before they produce historically visible consequences. Spartacus’ rebellion does not erupt from nowhere; it is the inevitable result of precedents set here.

As a franchise entry, Gods of the Arena connects origin and aftermath with unusual precision. It is less concerned with destiny than with infrastructure, showing how ambition, spectacle, and compromise quietly prepare the ground for revolution. In doing so, it transforms the Spartacus saga from a linear legend into a fully realized historical continuum.

The War Expands: Spartacus: Vengeance and the Shift from Arena to Empire

Spartacus: Vengeance marks the franchise’s most decisive transformation. With the House of Batiatus destroyed and Capua left in ruins, the series abandons the closed world of the arena for the open, volatile terrain of rebellion. What began as personal vengeance now escalates into a regional conflict with political consequences Rome can no longer ignore.

Set immediately after the finale of Blood and Sand, Vengeance occupies a pivotal place in both chronological and thematic terms. It is the point where Spartacus stops reacting to injustice and begins shaping history, even as the cost of leadership threatens to eclipse his original purpose.

A New Spartacus for a New Phase

The season also carries an unavoidable real-world shift. Following Andy Whitfield’s passing, Liam McIntyre assumes the role of Spartacus, bringing a subtly different energy suited to the character’s evolution. Where Whitfield’s Spartacus was defined by awakening and rage, McIntyre’s portrayal emphasizes command, restraint, and the burden of choice.

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This transition aligns with the narrative’s demands. Spartacus is no longer a lone gladiator driven by loss but the symbolic center of a growing movement, forced to weigh survival against ideology. The recasting, while initially jarring for some viewers, ultimately reinforces the sense that Spartacus has become something larger than the man himself.

From Spectacle to Strategy

Vengeance reframes violence as warfare rather than entertainment. Battles replace bouts, and tactics replace theatrics, as the rebels clash with Roman forces across the countryside. The visual language shifts accordingly, favoring scale, chaos, and consequence over ritualized combat.

At the same time, the series expands its Roman perspective. Gaius Claudius Glaber emerges as a central antagonist, embodying the imperial machinery that Spartacus now threatens. His pursuit of the rebels turns the conflict into a test of Roman authority, revealing how fragile that authority becomes when challenged from below.

Power Vacuums and Moral Fractures

Without the rigid hierarchy of the ludus, the rebel camp becomes a contested space of competing values. Spartacus, Crixus, and later Gannicus each represent different visions of what freedom should look like, and Vengeance is unafraid to let those visions collide. The season’s internal conflicts underscore that rebellion does not automatically produce unity.

Meanwhile, characters like Ilithyia and Lucretia, stripped of their former power bases, illustrate how Roman identity fractures under pressure. Their storylines mirror the rebels’ struggle in inverse, showing how privilege curdles into desperation when the structures that sustain it collapse.

Positioning Vengeance in the Franchise Timeline

In chronological viewing, Vengeance follows directly after Blood and Sand, with no narrative gaps. It functions as the second act of the rebellion, bridging the initial uprising and the full-scale war that defines War of the Damned. Watching it in sequence highlights how quickly personal revolt metastasizes into historical crisis.

In release order, the season carries the weight of expectation, tasked with redefining the series after both an in-universe and real-world rupture. That tension fuels its urgency, making Vengeance the chapter where Spartacus stops being a story about gladiators and becomes a meditation on insurgency, leadership, and empire in decline.

The Final Stand: Spartacus: War of the Damned and the End of the Canon

The final season arrives with a sense of grim inevitability, and it embraces that weight rather than resisting it. War of the Damned reframes the series one last time, shifting from rebellion-in-motion to historical endgame. From its opening moments, the season signals that this is no longer a story about whether Spartacus can win, but how Rome will respond when truly threatened.

Scale becomes the defining aesthetic. Armies replace bands, fortifications replace hideouts, and the series’ violence takes on a colder, more procedural tone. Every victory feels temporary, every loss cumulative, reinforcing the knowledge that history is closing in.

Crassus, Caesar, and the Machinery of Rome

Where earlier seasons personalized Roman corruption through individual villains, War of the Damned introduces a more terrifying adversary: competence. Marcus Licinius Crassus represents Rome at its most disciplined and strategic, a man who understands rebellion not as chaos, but as a problem to be solved. His presence reframes the conflict as a clash between ideology and infrastructure.

Alongside him, a young Julius Caesar operates as both tactician and opportunist. The series uses Caesar sparingly but effectively, positioning him as a bridge between the republic’s decay and the empire to come. In doing so, the season subtly widens its historical lens, suggesting that Spartacus’ defeat feeds directly into Rome’s next transformation.

The End of Spartacus as a Man, the Beginning of a Myth

As the war escalates, Spartacus himself becomes increasingly abstracted. He is less husband or gladiator now and more symbol, burdened by the expectations of those who follow him. The show leans into this tension, portraying leadership as an act of erosion rather than ascension.

The season’s final movements strip away spectacle in favor of inevitability. Deaths arrive without ceremony, victories without celebration, and survival without relief. By the time the rebellion collapses, what remains is not triumph or failure, but legacy.

Chronology, Release Order, and Canon Closure

In both chronological and release-order viewing, War of the Damned stands as the undisputed endpoint of the Starz canon. It follows Vengeance directly, with no time jumps or narrative restructuring, completing the four-part arc that began with Blood and Sand. When watched in internal chronology, the series unfolds as a clean progression from institution, to uprising, to insurgency, to annihilation.

Importantly, the franchise ends here by design. Unlike other historical epics that leave room for sequels or spin-offs, Spartacus closes its narrative loop entirely. Later films or adaptations of the Spartacus legend exist outside this continuity, making War of the Damned not just a finale, but a definitive full stop for this version of the myth.

Complete Viewing Guide: Release Order vs. Chronological Timeline Explained

For viewers approaching Spartacus for the first time, or returning to it years later, the franchise offers two equally valid ways to experience its story. One follows the order audiences originally encountered the series, preserving its evolving tone and narrative reveals. The other arranges the chapters by internal chronology, creating a seamless historical arc from captivity to collapse.

Both paths lead to the same endpoint, but the journey feels meaningfully different depending on which route you take.

Release Order: How the Story Was Originally Told

The release order reflects Starz’s creative evolution, responding to real-world production challenges while maintaining narrative momentum. This is the order most closely aligned with how character arcs, thematic escalation, and tonal shifts were intended to land emotionally.

1. Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010)
The foundation of the franchise, introducing Spartacus as a Thracian warrior broken and reforged within the brutal machinery of the gladiatorial arena.

2. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011)
A prequel released second, expanding the world of the ludus and reframing familiar power dynamics while Andy Whitfield recovered from illness.

3. Spartacus: Vengeance (2012)
The story resumes directly after Blood and Sand, reestablishing momentum and transforming the series into a full-scale rebellion narrative.

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4. Spartacus: War of the Damned (2013)
The final chapter, depicting the rebellion’s final stand and cementing Spartacus’ place in Roman history and television mythmaking.

Watched this way, the prequel functions as a thematic deepening rather than a starting point, enriching later events with added context.

Chronological Order: The In-Universe Timeline

For viewers prioritizing historical flow and character causality, the chronological order presents the Spartacus saga as one continuous rise and fall. This approach emphasizes Rome’s systemic cruelty and how rebellion is born from institutional rot.

1. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena
Set years before Spartacus’ arrival, this chapter chronicles Batiatus’ ascent and the gladiatorial system at its most decadent.

2. Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Spartacus enters the world already shaped by the events of the prequel, allowing subtle character connections and betrayals to resonate differently.

3. Spartacus: Vengeance
The rebellion ignites, transforming personal revenge into ideological war.

4. Spartacus: War of the Damned
The conflict reaches its historical conclusion, with Rome reasserting control at enormous moral and human cost.

This order smooths narrative continuity and reinforces the sense of historical inevitability driving the series.

Where the Films Fit, and Why They Stand Apart

Classic film adaptations such as Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) occupy a separate canonical space. While thematically influential, particularly in their portrayal of martyrdom and resistance, they do not connect narratively to the Starz series.

For franchise clarity, these films are best viewed as parallel interpretations of the same legend rather than extensions of the television canon. They enrich the broader myth of Spartacus but do not alter or continue the Starz timeline.

Choosing the Right Path for Your Viewing Experience

Release order favors emotional pacing, performance continuity, and the franchise’s original dramatic architecture. Chronological order prioritizes world-building, historical logic, and the slow corrosion of Roman authority.

Neither approach is definitive, but both reveal different facets of what Spartacus ultimately represents. One is about how the story was told. The other is about how the legend unfolded.

The Enduring Legacy: How the Spartacus Franchise Shaped Modern Prestige Historical Drama

When Spartacus debuted on Starz in 2010, it arrived at a crossroads for premium television. Prestige drama was evolving beyond grounded realism into something more operatic, and Spartacus embraced that shift without apology. Its fusion of historical epic, graphic violence, serialized tragedy, and heightened visual style redefined what historical drama could be on cable.

The franchise did not simply retell an ancient revolt. It reframed classical history as an emotionally serialized saga, designed for long-form television rather than standalone spectacle. In doing so, Spartacus helped push historical drama fully into the prestige era.

A New Visual Language for Historical Epics

Spartacus rejected the muted naturalism common to period dramas, opting instead for stylized bloodshed, heightened color palettes, and operatic slow motion. This aesthetic was divisive at first, but it ultimately became one of the show’s defining strengths. Violence was not incidental; it was thematic, emphasizing Rome’s cruelty and the dehumanization at the heart of empire.

That boldness paved the way for later series to experiment visually with history rather than treating realism as a limitation. Shows like Vikings, Black Sails, and even Game of Thrones owe part of their confidence to Spartacus proving that audiences would follow a heightened, graphic historical world if the emotional stakes were earned.

Character-Driven Tragedy Over Historical Pageantry

What truly elevated Spartacus was its commitment to character continuity and consequence. Every season recontextualized previous events, turning victories into inevitabilities and rebellions into tragedies long before history sealed their fate. Deaths mattered, power shifted permanently, and no character was protected by narrative convenience.

The franchise’s willingness to re-center itself after the loss of Andy Whitfield was especially defining. Rather than soft rebooting, the series leaned into transformation, thematically aligning Spartacus’ evolving identity with the changing face of the actor portraying him. That decision reinforced the show’s central message: legends are larger than individuals, but they are built on real human cost.

Rebellion as a Prestige Television Theme

At its core, Spartacus used ancient history to explore modern anxieties about power, labor, and systemic violence. Slavery was not background texture but the moral engine of the story, and Rome’s authority was consistently portrayed as corrupt, brittle, and self-consuming. The series framed rebellion not as heroic fantasy, but as an act born of unbearable pressure.

This thematic seriousness distinguished Spartacus from earlier sword-and-sandal entertainment. It treated spectacle as a delivery system for political ideas, helping normalize the idea that genre television could carry philosophical and social weight without sacrificing mass appeal.

Why Spartacus Still Matters

More than a decade later, Spartacus stands as a turning point for historical television. It demonstrated that premium cable audiences would commit to long-form historical tragedy, even when the ending was known and the violence unrelenting. Its influence can be seen in how modern epics prioritize serialized storytelling, moral ambiguity, and visual audacity.

Viewed alongside classic films like Kubrick’s Spartacus, the Starz franchise completes the evolution of the legend from cinematic statement to sustained television myth. Together, they form a lineage of interpretation that reflects each era’s relationship with power, resistance, and freedom.

Ultimately, the Spartacus franchise endures because it understood that history is not just about what happened, but why it still resonates. In transforming an ancient revolt into prestige television, Spartacus didn’t just retell a legend. It reshaped how historical drama could be told.

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