Spartacus

:This article refers to the Roman slave. For other uses see Spartacus (disambiguation).

History

Different sources claim that Spartacus was either a captured Thracian soldier, or a mutineer who had served in the Roman Army in Macedonia. One of the most common theories is that Spartacus fought in the Roman Army as an auxiliary. The auxiliary forces were made up entirely of men from captured lands, who willingly fought for the Romans. Spartacus deserted the army, was outlawed, captured, sold into slavery, and trained at the gladiatorial school of Batiatus, owned by Lentulus Batiatus, in Capua. He took his ideas from Blossius of Cumae, which can be summarized as: "the last will be the first (and vice versa)." (This is also a frequent Biblical quote of Jesus Christ, made early in the next century after Spartacus.)

Related Topics:
Thracian - Soldier - Roman Army - Auxiliary - Lentulus Batiatus - Blossius of Cumae

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In 73 BC, Spartacus broke out of a gladiator school with over seventy followers, seizing the knives in the cook's shop and a wagon full of weapons, and fled to the caldera of Mount Vesuvius, near Naples. There, they were joined by other rural slaves, overrunning the region with much plunder and pillage, although Spartacus apparently tried to restrain them. His chief aides were gladiators from Gaul, named Crixus and Oenomaus. Thus, he raised a rebel army allegedly composed of 70,000 escaped slaves. (The slave-to-Roman citizen ratio at that time was very high, making this slave rebellion a very serious threat to Rome.) The Senate sent a praetor, Claudius Glaber (his nomen may have been Clodius; his praenomen is unknown), against the rebel slaves, with about 3000 raw recruits hastily drafted from the region. They thought they had trapped the rebels on Vesuvius, but Spartacus led his men down the other side of the mountain using vines, fell on the rear of the soldiers, and routed them.

Related Topics:
73 BC - Caldera - Mount Vesuvius - Naples

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Spartacus's forces defeated two Roman legions sent to crush them. They spent the winter on the south coast, manufacturing weapons. At this point, Spartacus's many followers were not all able-bodied males; some of them were women, children, and elderly men who tagged along. By spring they marched towards the north and Gaul. The Senate, alarmed, finally sent the two consuls (L. Gellius Publicola and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus), each with two legions, against the rebels. The Gauls and Germans, separated from Spartacus, were defeated by Publicola, and Crixus was killed. Spartacus defeated Lentulus, and then Publicola; to avenge Crixus, Spartacus had 300 prisoners from these battles fight in pairs to the death. At Picenum in central Italy, Spartacus defeated the consular armies, then pushed north and at Mutina (modern-day Modena), they defeated yet another legion of Cassius Longinus, the Governor of Cisalpine Gaul("Gaul this side of the Alps").

Related Topics:
Winter - Gaul - Modena - Cassius Longinus - Governor - Cisalpine Gaul

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Spartacus had apparently intended to march his army out of Italy and into Gaul(modern-day France). However, he changed his mind, possibly under the pressure of his followers, who wanted more plunder. There are theories that say that some of the non-fighting followers did, in fact, cross the Alps and go home. The rest marched back south, and defeated two more legions under Marcus Licinius Crassus, who at that time was the wealthiest man in Rome. At the end of 72 BC, Spartacus was encamped in Rhegium (Reggio Calabria), near the Straits of Messina(the "heel of the Italian boot").

Related Topics:
Gaul - Alps - Marcus Licinius Crassus - 72 BC - Reggio Calabria - Straits of Messina

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Spartacus's deal with Cilician pirates to get them to Sicily fell through. In the beginning of 71 BC, eight legions of Crassus isolated Spartacus's army in Calabria. The Roman Senate also recalled Pompey from Hispania, and Lucullus from northern Turkey.

Related Topics:
Cilician - Pirates - Sicily - 71 BC - Calabria - Roman Senate - Pompey - Hispania - Lucullus - Turkey

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Spartacus managed to break through Crassus's lines, and escaped towards Brundisium (modern-day Brindisi). Crassus's forces intercepted them in Lucania, and Spartacus was killed in subsequent battle at the river Silarus. The last survivors fled north, but were killed by Pompey, who was coming back from Roman Iberia.

Related Topics:
Brundisium - Lucania - Silarus - Pompey - Iberia

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Approximately six thousand of the captured slaves were crucified naked along the Via Appia, from Capua to Rome. Crassus never gave orders for the bodies to be taken down, thus travelers were forced to see the bodies for years, perhaps decades, after the final battle.

Related Topics:
Crucified - Via Appia - Capua - Rome

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Around five thousand slaves, however, escaped the capture. They were later destroyed by Pompey, which enabled him also to claim credit for ending this war. Legionaires found 3,000 unharmed Roman prisoners from Spartacus' camp. Spartacus' body was never identified.

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Our original sources about the Spartacus revolt are the works of historians Plutarch, Appian, Florus, Orosius, and Sallust.

Related Topics:
Plutarch - Appian - Florus - Orosius - Sallust

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