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Spartacus (ca. 120 BC–January, 72 BC), according to Roman historians, was a gladiator-slave who became the alleged leader of an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic, known as the Third Servile War. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the Third Servile War, and the historical accounts of the war that have survived into modern times are sketchy and often contradictory. However, Spartacus' struggle, often perceived as the struggle of an oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a large powerful State, has found new meaning for modern writers since the 19th century. The figure of Spartacus, and the struggle of the Third Servile War have become an inspiration to many modern literary and political writers, who have made the character of Spartacus an ancient/modern folk hero. Spartacus origins Many sources claim that Spartacus was a Thracian, from the Rhodope mountain region of what is today Bulgaria, enslaved either when he was captured fighting against Rome or after being outlawed for mutinying or deserting from the Roman auxiliary forces in Macedonia. (The auxiliary forces were made up entirely of men from subject lands who willingly fought for the Romans.) Whether he was actually a Thracian is debated. While the Roman army was indeed campaigning in Thrace and Macedonia at the age Spartacus was likely to have been enslaved, Roman gladiators at that time were always one of two types: Gauls and Thracians. One did not actually have to be a Gaul or Thracian in order to be trained in one of the two schools of gladiatorial style, so Spartacus may have later become known as "Thracian" simply because he was trained in the Thracian gladiator style. The Greek historian Plutarch described Spartacus as "intelligent and cultured, being more like a Greek than a Thracian".* Spartacus means "from the city of Sparta" in Latin. * The Third Servile War Whatever his origins, we know that Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school of Batiatus, named after its owner Lentulus Batiatus in Capua. Spartacus 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.). The Capuan revolt In 73 BC, Spartacus and some seventy followers escaped from a gladiator ludo in Capua, including the gladiator Jaunus Maximi who had inspired Spartacus but later died in a battle against Crassus. Seizing the knives in the cook's shop and a wagon full of weapons, the slaves fled to the caldera of Mount Vesuvius, near modern day Naples. There they were joined by other rural slaves. The group overran the region, plundering and pillaging, although Spartacus apparently tried to restrain them. His chief aides were gladiators from Gaul, named Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and Oenomaus. His numbers were swelled by other runaway slaves until it eventually grew into an army allegedly composed of 120,000 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 a militia of about 3,000. They besieged the rebels on Vesuvius, but Spartacus led his men down the other side of the mountain using vines, maneuvered to the rear of the Roman soldiers, and staged a surprise attack on them. Most of the Roman soldiers were killed in this attack, including Claudius Glaber. Military success continues Spartacus' forces defeated two more Roman legions sent to crush them before settling down to spend the winter on the south coast, manufacturing weapons. At this point, Spartacus' many followers were not all able-bodied males; some of them were women, children, and elderly men who tagged along. Those who joined him came great distances to do so, believing he could deliver them to freedom. By spring they marched towards the north and Gaul. The Senate, alarmed, finally sent two consuls (Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus), each with two legions, against the rebels. The Gauls and Germanic peoples, who had separated themselves from Spartacus, were defeated by Publicola, and Crixus was killed. Spartacus defeated Lentulus, and then Publicola. At Picenum in central Italy, Spartacus defeated the consular armies, then pushed north and at Mutina (modern-day Modena) they defeated yet another legion under Gaius Cassius Longinus, the Governor of Cisalpine Gaul ("Gaul this side of the Alps"). Choice to remain in Italy Spartacus had apparently intended to march his army out of Italy and into Gaul (modern-day Belgium, Switzerland and France) or maybe even to Hispania to join the rebellion of Quintus Sertorius. However, he changed his mind, the sources say, under the pressure of his followers, who wanted more plunder. Although it will never be known for certain why his forces turned back south when they were on the brink of escaping into Gaul, it will always be regarded as their greatest mistake. Perhaps their many victories made them overconfident, or perhaps they believed that they would escape to Sicily as planned, and could plunder more in the meantime. There are theories that say that some of the non-fighting followers (some 10,000 or so) did, in fact, cross the Alps and return to their homelands. The best explanation may be that the majority of the slave-soldiers came from lands where slavery was commonplace and some may have been slaveowners themselves. In other words they want to be the enslavers rather than the enslaved. 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 Strait of Messina (the "tip of the Italian boot"). Spartacus' 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. With the assassination of Quintus Sertorius, the Roman Senate also recalled Pompey from Hispania; and Lucullus from northern Anatolia where he was campaigning against Rome's most obstinate enemy Mithridates VI of Pontus. Spartacus managed to break through Crassus's lines, and escaped towards Brundisium (modern-day Brindisi), but Crassus's forces intercepted them in Lucania, and the slaves were routed in a subsequent battle at the river Silarus. After the battle, legionaries found and rescued 3,000 unharmed Roman prisoners in their camp. 6,600 of Spartacus's followers were crucified along the Via Appia (or the Appian Way) from Capua to Rome—the distance being 132 Roman miles (of 5,000 Roman feet), so 100 Roman feet apart. 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. Around 5,000 slaves, however, escaped the capture. They fled north and were later destroyed by Pompey, who was coming back from Roman Iberia. This enabled him also to claim credit for ending this war. Pompey was greeted as a hero in Rome while Crassus received little credit or celebration. It is unknown whether or not Spartacus died in the battle at Silarus or survived and was crucified along with his men. Spartacus' body was never found. Political Film Literature Music Theatre Videogames Other Classical authors Modern historiography Notes Honours Spartacus Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Spartacus. | |||||||
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