Spartacus (Greek: Σπάρτακος; Latin: Spartacus[1]) (c. 109–71 BC) was the most notable leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable.
Spartacus' struggle, often seen as oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning aristocracy, has found new meaning for modern writers since the 19th century. The rebellion of Spartacus has proven inspirational to many modern literary and political writers, making Spartacus a folk hero among cultures both ancient and modern.
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The ancient sources agree that Spartacus was a Thracian. Plutarch describes him as "a Thracian of Nomadic stock," but "more Hellenic than Thracian" when referring to his character.[2] Appian says he was "a Thracian by birth, who had once served as a soldier with the Romans, but had since been a prisoner and sold for a Gladiator".[3] Florus (2.8.8) described him as one "who from Thracian mercenary, had become a Roman soldier, of a soldier a deserter and robber, and afterwards, from consideration of his strength, a gladiator".[4] Some authors refer to the Thracian tribe of the Maedi,[5] which in historic times occupied the area on the southwestern fringes of Thrace (present-day north-eastern Greece, south-western Bulgaria).[6] Plutarch also writes that Spartacus's wife, a prophetess of the same tribe, was enslaved with him.
The name Spartacus is otherwise attested in the Black Sea region: kings of the Thracian dynasty of the Cimmerian Bosporus[7] and Pontus[8] are known to have borne it, and a Thracian "Spardacus"[9] or "Sparadokos",[10] father of Seuthes I of the Odrysae, is also known.
According to the differing sources and their interpretation, Spartacus either was an auxiliary from the Roman legions later condemned to slavery, or a captive taken by the legions.[11] Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school (ludus) near Capua, belonging to Lentulus Batiatus.
In 73 BC, Spartacus was among a group of gladiators plotting an escape. The plot was betrayed but about 70 men seized kitchen implements, fought their way free from the school, and seized several wagons of gladiatorial weapons and armor.[12] The escaped slaves defeated a small force sent after them, plundered the region surrounding Capua, recruited many other slaves into their ranks, and eventually retired to a more defensible position on Mount Vesuvius.[13][14]
Once free, the escaped gladiators chose Spartacus and two Gallic slaves — Crixus and Oenomaus — as their leaders. Though Roman authors assume that the slaves were a homogeneous group with Spartacus as their leader, this may be the Romans projecting their own hierarchical view of military leadership on the spontaneous organization of the slaves, reducing other slave leaders to subordinate positions in their accounts. The positions of Crixus and Oenomaus — and later, Castus — cannot be clearly determined from the sources.
The response of the Roman authorities was hampered by the absence of the Roman legions, which were already engaged in fighting a revolt in Spain and the Third Mithridatic War. Furthermore, the Romans considered the rebellion more a policing matter rather than a war. Rome dispatched militia under a praetor, which besieged the slaves on the mountain, hoping that starvation would force the slaves to surrender but were surprised when Spartacus had ropes made from vines and with his men, climbed down a cliff on the other side of the volcano, and attacked the unfortified Roman camp in the rear, killing most of them.[15] The slaves also defeated a second praetorian expedition, nearly capturing the praetor, killing his lieutenants and seizing the military equipment.[16] With these successes, more and more slaves flocked to the Spartacan forces, as did “many of the herdsmen and shepherds of the region”, swelling their ranks to some 70,000.[17]
In these altercations, Spartacus, with his military experience, proved to be an excellent tactician. Though the slaves lacked military training, they displayed ingenuity in their use of available local materials, and in their use of clever, unusual tactics when facing the disciplined Roman armies.[18] They spent the winter of 73–72 BC training, arming and equipping their new recruits, and expanding their raiding territory to include the towns of Nola, Nuceria, Thurii and Metapontum.[19] The distance between these locations and the subsequent events indicate that the slaves operated in two groups commanded by the remaining leaders Spartacus and Crixus.
In spring of 72 BC, the slaves left their winter encampments and began to move northwards. At the same time, the Roman Senate, alarmed by the defeat of the praetorian forces, dispatched a pair of consular legions under the command of Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus.[20] The two legions were initially successful — defeating a group of 30,000 slaves commanded by Crixus near Mount Garganus.[21] — but then were defeated by Spartacus. These defeats are depicted in divergent ways by the two most comprehensive (extant) histories of the war by Appian and Plutarch.[22][23][24][25]
Alarmed by the apparently unstoppable rebellion, the Senate charged Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome and the only volunteer for the position, with ending the rebellion. Crassus was put in charge of eight legions, approximately 40,000–50,000 trained Roman soldiers[26][27], which he treated with harsh, even brutal, discipline, reviving the punishment of unit decimation within his army.[28] Crassus engaged Spartacus in a running battle forcing him further south through Lucania as Crassus gained the upper hand. By the end of 72 BC, Spartacus was encamped in Rhegium (Reggio Calabria), near the Strait of Messina.
When Spartacus and his followers, who for unclear reasons had retreated to the south of Italy, moved northwards again in early 71 BC, Crassus deployed six of his legions on the borders of the region and detached his legate Mummius with two legions to maneuver behind Spartacus. Though ordered not to engage the slaves, Mummius attacked at a seemingly opportune moment but was routed.[29] After this, Crassus' legions were victorious in several engagements, killing thousands of the rebel slaves, and forcing Spartacus to retreat south through Lucania to the straits near Messina.
According to Plutarch, Spartacus made a bargain with Cilician pirates to transport him and some 2,000 of his men to Sicily, where he intended to incite a slave revolt and gather reinforcements. However, he was betrayed by the pirates, who took payment and then abandoned the rebel slaves.[29] Minor sources mention that there were some attempts at raft and shipbuilding by the rebels as a means to escape, but that Crassus took unspecified measures to ensure the rebels could not cross to Sicily, and their efforts were abandoned.[30] Spartacus' forces then retreated towards Rhegium. Crassus' legions followed and upon arrival built fortifications across the isthmus at Rhegium, despite harassing raids from the rebel slaves. The rebels were under siege and cut off from their supplies.[31]
At this time, the legions of Pompey returned from Spain and were ordered by the Senate to head south to aid Crassus.[32] While Crassus feared that Pompey's arrival would cost him the credit, Spartacus unsuccessfully tried to reach an agreement with Crassus.[33] When Crassus refused, a portion of Spartacus' forces fled toward the mountains west of Petelia (modern Strongoli) in Bruttium, with Crassus' legions in pursuit.[34] When the legions managed to catch a portion of the rebels separated from the main army,[35] discipline among Spartacus's forces broke down as small groups were independently attacking the oncoming legions.[36] Spartacus now turned his forces around and brought his entire strength to bear on the legions in a last stand, in which the slaves were routed completely, with the vast majority of them being killed on the battlefield.[37]
The eventual fate of Spartacus himself is unknown, as his body was never found, but he is accounted by historians to have perished in battle along with his men.[38]
Classical historians were divided as to what the motives of Spartacus were. While Plutarch writes that Spartacus merely wished to escape northwards into Cisalpine Gaul and disperse his men back to their homes[39], Appian and Florus write that he intended to march on Rome itself.[40] Appian also states that he later abandoned that goal, which might have been no more than a reflection of Roman fears. None of Spartacus' actions suggest that he aimed at reforming Roman society or abolishing slavery, as is sometimes depicted in fictional accounts, such as Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film Spartacus.
Based on the events in late 73 BC and early 72 BC, which suggest independently operating groups of slaves[41] and a statement by Plutarch that some of the escaped slaves preferred to plunder Italy, rather than escape over the Alps[39], modern authors have deduced a factional split between those under Spartacus, who wished to escape over the Alps to freedom, and those under Crixus, who wished to stay in southern Italy to continue raiding and plundering.
Spartacus (1960) is a film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast about the life of Spartacus and the Third Servile War. The film stars Kirk Douglas as rebellious slave Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as his foe, the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus.
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SPARTACUS, leader in the Slave or Gladiatorial War against Rome (73-7171 B.C.), a Thracian by birth. He served in the Roman army, but seems to have deserted, for we are told that he was taken prisoner and sold as a slave. Destined for the arena, he, with a band of his fellow-gladiators, broke out of a training school at Capua and took refuge on Mt Vesuvius (73). Here he maintained himself as a captain of brigands, his lieutenants being two Celts named Crixus and Oenomaus, who like himself had been gladiators. A hastily collected force of 3000 men under C. Claudius Pulcher endeavoured to starve out the rebels, but the latter clambered down the precipices and put the Romans to flight. Swarms of hardy and desperate men now joined the rebels, and when the praetor Publius Varinius took the field against them he found them entrenched like a regular army on the plain. But they gave him the slip, and when he advanced to storm their lines he found them deserted. From Campania the rebels marched into Lucania, a country better suited for guerrilla warfare. Varinius followed, but was defeated in several engagements and narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. The insurgents reoccupied Campania, and by the defeat of C. Thoranius, the quaestor of Varinius, obtained possession of nearly the whole of southern Italy. Nola and Nuceria in Campania, Thurii and Metapontum in Lucania were sacked. The senate at last despatched both consuls against the rebels (72). The German slaves under Crixus were defeated at Mt Garganus in Apulia by the praetor Q. Arrius. But Spartacus overthrew both consuls, one after the other, and then pressed towards the Alps. Gaius Cassius, governor of Cisalpine Gaul, and the praetor Gnaeus Manlius, who attempted to stop him, were defeated at Mutina. Freedom was within sight, but with fatal infatuation the slaves refused to abandon Italy. Spartacus led them against Rome, but their hearts seem to have failed them; and instead of attacking the capital, he passed on again to Lucania. The conduct of the war was now entrusted to the praetor Marcus Licinius Crassus. In the next battle Spartacus was worsted and retreated towards the straits of Messina, intending to cross into Sicily, where he would have been welcomed by fresh hordes of slaves; but the pirates who had agreed to transport his army proved faithless. Crassus endeavoured to shut in the rebels by carrying a ditch and rampart right across the peninsula, but Spartacus forced the lines, and once more Italy lay at his feet. Disunion, however, was at work in the rebel camp. The Gauls and Germans, who had withdrawn from the main body, were attacked and destroyed. Spartacus now took up a strong position in the mountainous country of Petelia (near Strongoli in Calabria) and inflicted a severe defeat on the vanguard of the pursuing army. But his men refused to retreat farther, and in a pitched battle which followed soon afterwards the rebel army was annihilated. Spartacus, who had stabbed his horse before the battle, fell sword in hand. A body of the rebels which had escaped from the field was met and cut to pieces at the foot of the Alps by Pompey (the Great), who was returning from Spain. Pompey claimed the credit of finishing the war, and received the honour of a triumph, while only a simple ovation was decreed to Crassus. Spartacus was a capable and energetic leader; he did his best to check the excesses of the lawless bands which he commanded, and treated his prisoners with humanity. His character has been misrepresented by Roman writers, whom his name inspired with terror down to the times of the empire.
The story has to be pieced together from the vague and somewhat discrepant accounts of Plutarch (Crassus, 8 - II; Pompey, 21), Appian (Bell. civ. 116-120), Florus, (ii. 8), Livy (Epic. 95-97), and the fragments of the Histories of Sallust, whose account seems to have been full and graphic.
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in Paris, France]]
Spartacus (circa 120 BC[1] – circa 70 BC, at the end of the Third Servile War), according to Roman historians, was a gladiator-slave who became the alleged leader of an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic.
  | Comte de Lavaux - Comte de Lavaux - TLP |
 | 95:2 - Livy: the Periochae of Books 91-95 |
| | "Spartacus"- Movie starring Kirk Douglas - Amazon.com: Spartacus: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Nina Foch, John Ireland, Herbert Lom, John Dall, Charles McGraw, Joanna Barnes, Anthony Mann, Stanley Kubrick, Edward Lewis, James C. Katz, Calder Willingham, Dalton Trumbo, Howard Fast: Movies & TV |
| | link title - Example Web Page |
| | Spartacus Schoolnet - Spartacus Educational - Home Page |
| | "Gladiatores", p. 576 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, page 576 |
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