Albinius

Albinius
First appearance	Comic #1: Upon the Sands of Vengeance S1E01: The Red Serpent S2E01: Fugitivus
Last appearance	S2E05: Libertus
Profession	Former Legatus Senator Prefect of Capua
Race	Roman
Relationships	Ilithyia (Daughter, deceased) Claudius Glaber (Son-in-law, deceased) Spartacus and Ilithyia's son (Grandson, deceased) Publius Varinius (Friend, deceased) Gallienus (Friend) Lucretia (Friend͵ deceased)
Status	Deceased (Killed by Glaber)
Actor/Actress	Kevin J. Wilson

Albinius is a Roman Senator and father of Ilithyia. He plays a minor role throughout the series (both television and the Motion Comic), although his role increases in Vengeance.

Appearance

Albinius is an older man with short blond hair and a seemingly constant scowl. Due to his wealth and high status, he often wears lavish clothing that clearly shows off his position in Roman society.

Personality

Albinius is a wealthy Roman Senator, controlling and representing a large territory in the eastern part of the Roman Republic. He is very powerful, as shown when Ilithyia asks him to help promote her husband Glaber. Albinius can be cruel to those he dislikes and is very much down-to-earth in his dealings with fellow Romans and slaves. Perhaps his only two weakness are his daughter, Ilithyia, although even she can not persuade him against his wish if the outcome would not benefit him, and sex, also seen as an effective means of persuading him to do something. Due to his large role in Roman politics, Albinius is also often stressed and busy.

Upon the Sands of Vengeance

Albinius was formerly a Legatus in the Roman army, and was responsible for the death of Arkadios' family and his enslavement. Despite Arkadios' burning desire for vengeance on the now-Senator, Albinius apparently did not recognize the man who's life he had destroyed as a child.

Blood and Sand

Albinius is first seen hosting games in Capua. He shows great affection for his daughter, Ilithyia, who convinces him to let go of current anger against her husband and his son-in-law, Legatus Glaber, after his failed campaign in Thrace. In order to regain Albinius' favor, Glaber adds Thracians, a rare group to appear in the arena, in order to boost the interest in the games hosted by Albinius.

During the games he expresses displeasure along with the crowd at how Glaber has made it so that the Thracian Spartacus who had dishonored Rome was forced to combat with four gladiators as opposed to one. He allows the fight and is equally amazed with everyone else when the Thracian is victorious. The crowd demands freedom though Glaber will not allow it and Albinius is caught in a crossfire. Quintus Lentulus Batiatus then offers to buy the Thracian so that the Senator and Legatus do not suffer any embarrassment. Albinius then stands up to address the crowd and then, by the advice of Batiatus, bestows the Thracian with the name of Spartacus.

After these games, he returns to Rome and is only occasionally mentioned by several characters.

Vengeance

Albinius and Varinius meeting Glaber.

Albinius first arrives with Praetor Publius Varinius to inform newly appointed Praetor and his son-in-law, Gaius Claudius Glaber, that he is to be put in charge of stopping Spartacus. The two argue about this, but Albinius vehemently reminds Glaber at how he is tethered to the House of Batiatus through patronage that he bestowed a short while before the revolt (which, to his fury, Illythia "barely" escaped) and that it was Glaber who saw Spartacus to Rome, leading to events that saw The Thracian down his current path. To this end, Albinius informs his son-in-law that if he does not take responsibility, he will have no promising future in the Senate.

He travels to Capua with many other Romans to help the city deal with the current raidings by Spartacus and his rebels and attend the games being put together by Varinius.

During a celebration in Varinius' honor, he expresses happiness that Lucretia survived the events and aids her in steering conversations away when the events of the massacre are brought up. He later enters in dealings with Ilithyia and her proposal of divorcing Glaber in favor of marrying Varinius. While Albinus realizes that Varinius will rise higher, Glaber is still a Praetor and the father of her child, resulting in his refusal. He is swayed later, however, in doing so by Lucretia (in the bedroom).

Albinius with Ilithyia in divorcing Glaber.

He then meets with Varinius, Ilithyia and Lucretia in order to discuss the divorce arrangements. He believes they should remain cautious and keep Glaber in the dark until the time was right but also instructs Ilithyia to remove the encumburance of the child she is to have to properly end the situation.

Death of Albinius by Glaber.

Albinius then attends the Games of Publius Varinius on the day where the games feauture honored gladiators to execute the captured rebels: Crixus, Oenomaus, and Rhaskos. He watches delightfully as the fights take place, but unfortunately, Spartacus causes a massive fire in the arena. During their escape from the pulvinus, Albinius goes to Glaber and angrily assaults him stating that once again Spartacus has made a fool of him and that Glaber's days of rising in the Senate have met their end before pushing him aside.

However, upon escape, Albinius is caught under falling debris and lays there as the area burns. Glaber finds him and Albinius begs him to save him, as Glaber proceeds to lift the pillar trapping him but stops after looking upon the defenseless senator. Glaber tells his father-in-law, "I'm not the fool you and your daughter think me" and ultimately smashes his head, knowing he was the only one besides himself who could effectively dissolve his marriage to Ilithyia and stop him from rising in the political heirarchy.

Ilithyia later asks Glaber about her father and he tells her he is dead but they will remain married. She is visibly upset to hear the news of her father's death, although the true reason for her tears (the fact her father is dead or the fact that her marriage can no longer be dissolved,or perhaps both) remains unknown.

Trivia

• A possible explanation for Albinius, an active member of the Roman Senate, being present in Capua with a permanent residence in the city, could be because he held a post as part of the Praefecti Cumae Capuam (prefects of Cumae and Capua), the four governing officials ruling the Italian province of Campania from its two most important cities.

• Albinius may be a member of the Plebeian Gens Albinia, and possibly a descendant of a certain Lucius Albinius Paterculus, one of the earlier Tribunes of the Plebs in the Republic. And could even be the actual Paterfamilias of the House of Albinii Paterculus.
• Albinius is derived from the Latin word Albus, which means 'white'.

• The Romans called the daughters with the names of the Gens of origin. The full name of his daughter would have been Ilithyia Albinia.
• In the comic, Upon the Sands of Vengeance, Albinius is depicted as a Roman Legate serving in Greece who enslaves the future gladiator, Arkadios, as a young boy. This could be an indication that Albinius served under the command of Lucius Cornelius Sulla in Greece during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BCE) and would have been present at the siege of Athens in 86 BCE.
• There was another Lucius Albinius, who, at the time of the sack of Rome by the Gaulish Senones in 390 BCE, assisted the priests and Vestals in carrying the sacred relics and treasures from Rome to the town of Caere in Etruria.

Quotes

"You brought the Thracian to Roman soil Gaius. You granted patronage to that grinning shit Batiatus a breath before his house fell to massacre. A massacre my daughter BARELY FUCKING ESCAPED! Attend to this or see yourself rise no further within the senate."
―Albinius to Glaber