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Lucretia

First appearance	S0E01: Past Transgressions S1E01: The Red Serpent S2E01: Fugitivus
Last appearance	S2E10: Wrath of the Gods
Profession	None
Race	Roman
Relationships	Quintus Lentulus Batiatus (Widow) Titus Batiatus (Father-in-law, deceased) Gaia (Friend, deceased) Crixus (Ex-lover) Melitta (Former body slave, deceased) Ilithyia (Friend,deceased) Naevia (Former body slave) Ashur (Slave/Rapist, deceased)
Status	Deceased (Suicide)
Actor/Actress	Lucy Lawless

Lucretia is a woman of moderate standing in the land of Capua and lives with her husband, Batiatus, in the villa above his ludus. Through her husband's (and to an extent her own) schemes, the couple manage to climb quite high on the social scale, only to fall after Spartacus seeks revenge and rebels. Lucretia and the other guests in the house of Batiatus are left for dead, although we learn later that she alone survived the rebellion with aid from Ashur.

Appearance

Lucretia's natural hair is cropped short, but she wears a long, curly wig of either crimson red or platinum blonde. She is tall, around the same height as her 5'10" husband, and has blue eyes. Despite her husband's inconsistent financial state, she likes to wear expensive gowns and jewellery, perhaps in an effort to compete with Ilithyia. Later, after her husband's death, she changes her appearance, wearing brunette wigs and darker, less revealing dresses, possibly in mourning for her husband.

Personality

Lucretia is a fairly conflicted character with great depths of both love and deception. On one hand, she adores her husband and his endeavors for greatness, yet on the other, she is also enamored with Crixus, with whom she is having an affair. Concerned with the business and social affairs of her husband, she likes to work with him as a partneution or advice, though she has a few times displayed shock at the lengths her husband has gone to advance their social status. Such acts include the slaughter of a child along with a man plotting to kill her husband, where she expresses disgust at the act. However, she does not let this hinder her emotions towards her husband and ultimately accepts his actions as a necessary evil.

Lucretia strongly believes in the Roman gods, often seeking out their favor for rain or for hope of conceiving a child, for she believes herself to be infertile. Years of living with both Batiatus and Crixus as lovers fail to give her a child. When she does eventually conceive, she believes the child to be Crixus'.

She is bisexual, and likely first explored same-gendered sexual experiences with Gaia, with whom she has been friends with since childhood. When Lucretia becomes friends with Ilithyia, the wife of Glaber, she is surprised when Ilithyia kisses her fondly soon after they meet. Later on, however, Lucretia uses their sexual connection to manipulate Ilithyia.

Like many of her Roman contemporaries, she views her slaves as non-entities, and has no compunction about having them raped and/or murdered for her own pleasure. She and her husband often took part in raping them together, and she was particularly aroused by the sight of him violating them. She originally views Crixus as a sexual play-thing, rarely even speaking to him, although she genuinely believed he loved her. Despite these views, she feels a deep sense of betrayal when any of her slaves disobey her, even if she believes the betrayal was justified, and expresses her rage through violence.

In the hope of raising her and Batiatus' social standing, Lucretia tries to emulate Ilithyia and attempts to buy jewelry and luxuries they can not afford in order to gain favor with Ilithyia's father, Senator Albinius. She shows she can be just as malevolent as her husband, deceiving and twisting words to her advantage. She demonstrates her dark side in her assassination of Titus Batiatus by slow poison, and in engineering a sexual encounter between Ilithyia and Spartacus, her husband's hated enemy, for the sole purpose of humiliating Ilithyia; Lucretia later uses it to extort favors from both her and Glaber.

Story

Gods of the Arena

In the prequel, Lucretia and Batiatus have only recently been left to decide over the business and direction of the ludus. Unlike in Blood and Sand, Lucretia is illustrated as somewhat more innocent; the thought of sleeping with a slave or gladiator (when brought up by her visiting friend, Gaia) repulses her, and she has never entertained the thought of bedding anyone other than her husband. However, Gaia later entices Lucretia into taking opium; whilst high, the two share a sexual encounter. This remains unbeknownst to Batiatus, though he and the two of them eventually begin to engage in wild threesomes as the house's successes mount.

When Tullius murders Gaia after an orgy in the villa, Titus Batiatus, her father-in-law, decides that Batiatus must divorce Lucretia; if not, both will leave to live in the streets. Distraught at Gaia's death, Lucretia begins to don her friend's iconic red wig in memory.

After a particularly vicious argument with her husband, Lucretia realizes that her failure to produce a heir is the primary danger to her marriage. In an act to save it, she breaks her long-standing qualms, and takes Crixus as a partner, instructing him to impregnate her. During the act, she still shows disgust.

Out of rage for the mistreatment of her husband and the inaction regarding Gaia's death, Lucretia murders Titus by poisoning the wine given to him by Tullius, well-aware that Batiatus would suspect Tullius for his father's murder and, thus, take revenge. To her dismay, her plot also takes the life of her trusted body servant, Melitta, who unknowingly drinks the poisoned wine. As her husband murders Tullius to avenge his father, Lucretia returns the house to order, promoting her servant Naevia to the position once held by Melitta; in exchange, Naevia is to remain a virgin.

Blood and Sand

After the sale of Spartacus to her husband, Lucretia makes friends with the wife of Legatus Glaber, Ilithyia, who arranges an appointment with a priestess of Juno to aid Lucretia's problem with fertility. During the consultation, she is given a potion, which she consumes. With her husband gone on business, and given little time before the potion's effects wear off, she calls Crixus, her lover, to her side. However, her plans fall short when he requests that he "forgo a night of pleasure" in order to remain primed for his upcoming fight with Theokoles; unknown to Lucretia, he declines due to his growing feelings for Naevia. While distraught at his declination, Lucretia does eventually conceive and credits Crixus as the father.

With Ilithyia's connections, Lucretia soon makes acquaintance with a wealthy Roman, Licinia, cousin to Marcus Lucinius Crassus, one of the richest men in Rome. Licinia is attracted to Spartacus, and wishes to have sex with him. Ilithyia soon deduces Licinia's intentions, and wishes to bed Crixus. Enamored with Crixus, Lucretia is enraged at Ilithyia's request. Batiatus, however, demands that she honor both Romans' requests, and in turn Lucretia devises a diabolical plan to enact her own vengeance against Ilithyia. Knowing of her and Spartacus' mutual hatred towards one another, Lucretia deliberately switches Crixus with Spartacus without Ilithyia's knowledge. She then intentionally walks in on the two of them with Licinia at her side; she exposes the truth, much to Ilithyia's horror. Meanwhile, Licinia is delighted in the irony of the affair and laughs at her. Anguished, Ilithyia kills her in a savage frenzy.

Although her plan unintentionally ends in Licinia's murder, Lucretia remedies the situation by offering Ilithyia protection, but in return for favors. Licinia's body, in the meantime, is dismembered and hidden for an undisclosed amount of time.

When Glaber arrives to discuss Batiatus' request for patronage, the visit goes awry as Crixus attacks Ashur for sleeping with Naevia. Condemning Batiatus for his lack of control over his slaves, Glaber prepares to leave for Rome. Lucretia, however, plays her ultimate card; she and her husband produce Licinia's severed hand, and threaten to expose both Glaber and Ilithyia for the latter's murder if patronage is not granted. Outraged at his wife's crime, Glaber grants patronage reluctantly and leaves Ilithyia behind within the House of Batiatus.

In Crixus' assault, Ashur discloses the truth of his and Naevia's relationship. In response, Lucretia unleashes her jealous fury upon Naevia, beating and cursing her for her betrayal. As a final act of humiliation, she has Naevia's hair cut and sends her away to an unknown location, much to Crixus' dismay and desperation. As Crixus is whipped publicly before the gladiators, Batiatus reveals to Lucretia of his knowledge of her interludes with the gladiator, and commands her to end her affair.

On the evening before Crixus' upcoming death match with Spartacus, Lucretia approaches him and offers him one last chance to reconcile with her; she reveals that she is pregnant and that he is the father. Crixus does not acknowledge the child as his, however, as his heart still lies with Naevia. When the gladiators launch an armed rebellion against the House, Crixus corners Lucretia in the villa, and demands furiously the whereabouts of Naevia. When Lucretia tries to bargain with him, he stabs her in the abdomen, critically wounding her and killing her unborn child.

Later, she staggers to where Batiatus is, surrounded by all of his gladiators. As she collapses, her husband runs to her, but is stopped by Spartacus. Lucretia watches helplessly as the gladiator slices Batiatus' throat, killing him. The gladiators and slaves leave her in the villa for dead, staring at the corpse of her husband.

Vengeance

In order to be closer to Spartacus and his band of rebel slaves, Glaber and Ilithyia take up residence in Batiatus' ludus. There, they discover Lucretia, dirty, disheveled, and seemingly mad after spending six weeks in the ludus.

Delusional, Lucretia appears to have no memory of the events after Ilithyia's arrival in Blood and Sand. Horrified at her survival, Ilithyia wishes to dispose of Lucretia, ridding evidence and memory of her murder of Licinia. Glaber, however, has other plans; he orders his wife to have Lucretia cleaned and made presentable. Glaber wishes to display her to the people as a phenomenal—even prophetic—gift from the gods as it is a miracle she survived the slaughter. Meanwhile, Lucretia soon takes note of Ilithyia's pregnancy and congratulates her.

Lucretia joins Glaber and Ilithyia in the marketplace and is presented to the public. Aurelia is later brought forth, bloodied and near death, as an example to Spartacus and any other slaves who wish to join him. Spartacus, hidden among the crowd, attacks Glaber; the rebels suddenly appear and through their efforts, Aurelia is brought to safety. During the skirmish, Crixus and Lucretia spot one another. The latter has flashbacks of the revolt in the villa, and she clutches the wound Crixus gave her, hiding from sight.

Tensions between her and Ilithyia continue as the latter believes Lucretia's "gift" to be a sham. Her suspicions prove true as Ashur returns to aid Lucretia (and through her, Glaber) in finding Spartacus and the other rebels. Through his information, they manage to locate Oenomaus. As Ashur tortures the man, Lucretia stops him and the two have a minor argument in which Ashur reveals his part in Lucretia's survival in the aftermath of Spartacus' rebellion, stitching her wound and seeing her healed. Despite his role, she insists that he still serves "the will of the gods."

Meanwhile, Ilithyia's spite towards her continues to rise when she sees Lucretia give aid to Seppia in attracting the attention of Varinius, a man Ilithyia herself plots to marry. Noticing her irritation, Lucretia offers to ask the gods to unite her and Varinius instead, but Ilithyia continues to demean her powers, claiming Lucretia's divination of Naevia's location was only true because it was she who sent her there in the first place.

When Spartacus and the rebels go to liberate Naevia in the mines, Crixus and two other gladiators are captured and are taken back to the villa; they are presented during a party along with Oenomaus. Lucretia spares Crixus from being subject of the Romans' gruesome entertainment, but tells him that she looks forward to seeing his execution in the arena. When Crixus tells her that Naevia is still alive, she appears surprised, yet regains composure and replies that she wishes Naevia here to witness his death.

Later, Lucretia and Albinius are discovered having sex by Ilithyia, who wished to consult her father about divorcing Glaber. Believing that Lucretia is using him to go against her own schemes, Ilithyia is furious. As she confronts Lucretia of her deeds, she insists that she will not be used again, and threatens to kill Lucretia the same way she killed Licinia. However, Lucretia insists that she was aiding her cause; she was convincing Albinius to dissolve Ilithyia's marriage via her "gift" from the gods. After hearing this, Ilithyia seems to have forgiven Lucretia and once again calls her "friend."

As Ilithyia's plans to divorce Glaber are set into motion, Albinius tells his daughter to abort her child via a potion in a red vial. Lucretia catches her in the act, the latter hesitating to commit the deed. Approaching her, Lucretia advises and convinces Ilithyia to delay the action, telling her of the sickness that would come soon after the potion is consumed. She reveals the reason that none of the slaves she and her late husband raped never became pregnant with "embarassments": she used the same type of potion to force them into abortions. She also offers to tell Albinius of the sickness that will come with the potion, should he ask. Grateful for her words, Ilithyia begins to warm up to her again, and the two seem to have once again established a strong friendship.

Meanwhile, Lucretia goes to an imprisoned Ashur, who Glaber sets to have executed in the arena, the Syrian's aid proven fruitless. After guaranteeing him his freedom, she discloses to Ashur of Ilithyia's red vial, and asks him to replace the contents of the abortion potion with water and herbs. When the faulty potion does not work, Lucretia plans to inform Albinius that it is a "sign from the gods" that the child should be kept.

The next day, Lucretia watches the games in the pulvinus alongside Ilithyia. During the battles, she takes notice of Glaber's ill demeanor, and notifies Ilithyia; the latter explains and intimates of Glaber's discovery of Ilithyia's abortion potion and her plans to dissolve their marriage, and Lucretia realizes that Ashur may have disobeyed her. When Crixus and the others are led out for their execution, she appears anxious to see his death; Ilithyia notices and grasps her wrist as a sign of support. As Spartacus and the rebels set fire to the arena, Lucretia escapes. Out in the streets, amidst the chaos, she alone notices the cool composure Glaber keeps after notifying Ilithyia and the others of Albinius' death, and seems to suspect something sinister in his eyes.

Whereas Ilithyia falls into a deep depression, kept prisoner by her husband, Lucretia finds herself caught between Ashur and the lies she tells about being about to receive the will of the gods. As Ashur gains more power following Glaber's commands, he soon realizes he no longer needs Lucretia, and threatens to expose her. Ashur takes full advantage of Lucretia, and forces her to wear her signature red wig.

Lucretia develops a plan to get her and Ilithyia both out of the ludus, but it's only half successful when Ashur convinces Glaber that Lucretia needs to stay in order to keep the people's hopes up. Ilithyia is sent away, although we find her carriage has been attacked, her guards killed, and Ilithyia herself nowhere to be found.

Later, Lucretia stumbles upon Seppius' bracelet among Ashur's stolen treasures and realizes that it was Glaber—and not Spartacus—that killed Seppia's brother. She informs Ilithyia, who was freed by Spartacus, and the two manipulate Seppia into taking Glaber's life. Before Seppia can do so, Ilithyia arrives just in time—as planned—to save her husband; the two rekindle their romance before Seppia's corpse.

Lucretia accompanies Ilithyia when she visits Glaber; Ilithyia intends to convince him to return to Rome with her so that their child may be born in a proper city. On the way, Lucretia reveals her plot against Ashur, and the two join forces to eliminate him forever. Ilithyia uses Seppius' bracelet as proof of Ashur's deception. In response, Glaber sends him on a special mission to give plea bargain to Spartacus and the remaining rebels atop Vesuvius. As Glaber expected, Ashur is killed and Lucretia is free from his grasp.

Ilithyia and Lucretia return to the ludus, in preparation of returning to Rome. On top of the balcony, Lucretia disposes of her red wig in the very place she saw Gaia's corpse descend. With her back turned to Ilithyia, they discuss how great thier friendship has become, unaware of Ilithyia's intentions to push her over the cliff. Ilithyia's plans fail when her water breaks, and Lucretia rushes her to bed.

With the house empty save for Lucretia, Ilithyia, and Ilithyia's slaves, Lucretia reveals her true intentions; she will take Illythia's child for her own, stating that Illythia was "just a vesel". After killing the slaves, she cuts the child from Ilithyia's womb and walks outside to the cliffs, with Ilithyia, covered in blood, crawling after her. Before the precipice, she claims with a smile that she and Batiatus finally have the heir they had always wanted. With the newborn in her arms, she falls, with a smile, backwards off the edge, committing suicide - and presumably killing the child too. Horrified at the loss of Lucretia - who Illythia had come to trust as a true friend - and her child, Ilithyia dies from her wounds soon after.

Trivia

She is one of the only characters to appears in every season of the series, along with Crixus, Ashur and Oenomaus.
It is stated that she is of lower birth and social standing in comparison to her husband.
Lucretia holds her Body Slaves in high regard. She got along very well with Mellita, regretted having her and Gannicus lie together and was horrified by her death. With Naevia, she wished to preserve her chastity to someone of worth and felt it a betrayal when Batiatus gives her to Ashur. She would feel equal betrayal and hate afterwards, however, when she discovered that Naevia had been having intercourse with Crixus.

Quotes

Batiatus: "Not every venture ends in climax."
Lucretia: "A fact known well to every woman."

Ilithiya: "I'd stand a bit away. Jupiter could hurl a bolt at any moment."
Lucretia: "He'd have to choose between targets."
Ilithyia: "And I thought I was in the presence of a proper Roman woman."
Lucretia: "'Proper' is a word forged by men who would seek to enslave us with it."

(to Batiatus about Iliythia) "Her cunt overflows at the thought of Licinia bedding a gladiator!"

(to Ilithyia) "Jupiters cock, will you come to grips!"

Titus: "Tell me you are not the serpent I thought you to be."
Lucretia: "I'm not, I'm far worse."

Lucretia: "Do not think that the gods have shown you mercy. I but delay your passing so that I may savor it."
Crixus: "My life is gladly given... for Naevia's."
Lucretia: "She lives?"
Crixus: (he scoffs) "Far from your fucking grasp."
Lucretia: "News greeted with joy. I would have her hear of your final moments, in the arena you held so dear. And the crowd which once cheered your name spitting upon you. And when you fall, it will not be as champion. But as a common slave, absent honor and absent glory, and your name forever lost to history."

(to Ilithiya) "Your child? You are but a vessel carrying a gift from the gods to the House of Batiatus. Now then, let us see it unwrapped."