SPARTACUS.

Before we know about Spartacus, we should know more about the Roman system of slavery and its gladiators.

By the time of the rebellion of Spartacus in 73 BC, the Roman Empire stretched to all of Europe except in its Northeast and to Iran and Syria in Asia, and also to Algeria and Tunisia in Africa. Thus the extent of the empire is substantial.

Romans are so warlike that they loved war and its spectacle. The average age of a Roman soldier was about 26 years, which means many of them died by that age in their numerous wars.  

Rome had many prisoners of war during its expansion and its conquest. All those have been converted into slaves. Apart from the few who worked as house workers, most of the slaves worked on the mines,  on tilling the land, in construction of roads, buildings etc.

Additionally the Romans have discovered a new use for the slaves and that is turning them into gladiators. That is warriors who fight unto death in the arena to entertain the people. Apart from the slaves, criminals too were made into gladiators by the Romans. These contests were unto death so whoever survived them have to be fittest and virtually no man can defeat them in hand to hand combat.

The slaves in Rome had no rights whatsoever and a Roman can beat his slave to death without any check. The plight of the slaves that worked on mines and also the lands and roads is harsh and they had to work long hours without a murmur. Even at homes the slaves are at the whims and fancies of the masters and are severely oppressed.

Such conditions can only bring rebellions because the slaves had nothing to lose. Roman slaves did rebel before Spartacus. However, first two slave rebellions known as the 1^st & 2^nd Servile wars did not shake the Roman empire as Spartacus’s rebellion did. The first two servile wars originated in and were suppressed in Sicily itself. Sicily is more than 1000 Km away from Rome at the southernmost point of the Italian peninsula and any rebellion there is no threat for Rome itself. Spartacus’s rebellion is much too close to Rome for comfort.

Spartacus’s rebellion originated next door to Rome in Capua which is at a distance of just 190 Km. Thus Rome had every right get mightily worried about this rebellion.

The revolt began at Capua in 73 BC on a very small scale. At that time there were schools of Gladiators in Italy teaching them the art of fighting for gladiatorial contests. Such schools are known as the Ludus. The rebellion began in one such school in Capua. 200 gladiators planned the rebellion but only 70 could get themselves free. Among them they had an able leader in Spartacus.

They easily defeated the small bands of Roman forces sent against them. Initially their small numbers did not spell a threat to the Romans. They had a scant supply of arms which were taken from their Ludus when they escaped. The rebels started wandering all over Italy with impunity and plundering the estates and freeing more slaves adding to their ranks. Slowly they started defeating bigger Roman patrols till such time Rome was forced to send bigger contingents which were defeated.

Then Rome sent a contingent of 3000 Roman soldiers under a Praetor named Claudius Glaber. These are not regular Roman soldiers but a militia picked up in haste and lacked the full training of an army. The rebels took shelter in Mt Vesuvius which Glaber besieged and tried to starve them into defeat. It had but one entrance which was in Glabers hands, but unexpectedly the rebels fashioned ropes out of the wines grown on the mountain slopes and slid down to surprise and thereby totally rout Glaber’s forces.

Then another Praetor by the name of Varinius was sent with a force to stop Spartacus. His forces were also defeated by Spartacus. The rebels took the armor and equipment of Varinius’s legions and got more strengthened.      

With these victories more and more slaves flocked into Spartacus’s hands and by the winter of 73 BC he had a force of some 70000 people who were trained and equipped during the winter months.  It must have been truly tough to supply daily rations to 70,000 people when they had no lands or farms to draw them from. They survived by looting the Roman estates and the countryside. 

The men were jointly commanded by Spartacus and Crixus who was a gladiator that escaped along with Spartacus. It is very difficult to say what exactly the goal of these rebel armies was. Although many later accounts say it is the ending of slavery in the Roman Empire it is difficult to see that as final.

After the winter in 72 BC the rebels started moving towards Cis Alpine Gaul in Northern Italy. In the meantime the senate was alarmed by the defeats suffered by the Roman forces at the hands of Spartacus and they sent two Roman legions under Publicola and Clodianus.

Initially the Roman armies were successful and Publicola defeated a band of 30,000 rebels under Crixus near Mt Garganus killing 20,000 rebels along with Crixus himself. This was just the beginning however and after some more military maneuvers under Spartacus, the rebels were threatening to attack Rome itself. Spartacus finally defeated those 2 Roman legions. In 71 BC Spartacus and his legions were in Southern Italy.

The senate grew more alarmed at the continuing victories of Spartacus and made Marcus Crassus who was the richest man in the Roman Empire the commander of the Roman army against Spartacus giving him 8 Roman legions to suppress the revolt.  Crassus had about 40,000 well trained battle hardened Roman soldiers to stop Spartacus.

Crassus was ruthless and hard with the men under his command. After one defeat in the war with Spartacus, he got 4000 soldiers of his own executed. This harshness put the fear into Roman soldiers not to lose any battle or suffer similar fate. So their own commander appeared more dangerous to them than Spartacus and spurred them on to fight with all their might.

Crassus sent Mummius with 2 legions to maneuver behind Spartacus and asked him not attack Spartacus. But Mummius attacked Spartacus and was routed. Thereafter Crassus’s army scored a number of victories on Spartacus and slowly pushed him down to the southern tip of the Italian peninsula which was divided with Sicily by the straights of Messina.

Spartacus entered into a bargain with Silician pirates to transport him and 2000 of his men to Sicily where he proposed to incite a slave revolt and gather reinforcement. However, he was cheated by the pirates who took the payment and then abandoned the rebels.

The rebels were now under siege and were cut off from their supplies. At this time the legions of Pompey were returning after a campaign back to Italy. As per Romes orders Pompey’s forces started moving south to aid Crassus. Spartacus now realized that defeat is inevitable and tried to negotiate with Crassus.

When Crassus refused a portion of the rebels separated and fled towards the mountains in the west with the legions of Crassus in pursuit. Crassus managed to catch a portion of the rebels under Gannicus, defeated and killed 12000 of them. Crassus's legions also met with losses.

The rebels were not a professional army and with the heavy losses the discipline broke down and groups of men were breaking away and attacking the legions of Crassus independently and were defeated.

Spartacus rallied his forces and brought in his entire strength to fight with the forces of Crassus. In the battle of Silarius river the forces of Spartacus were routed with a vast majority of them being killed in battle. Historians say Spartacus was killed but his body was never found. 6000 rebels were taken as prisoners by Crassus and all of them have been crucified by the side of the road on the Appian way from Capua to Rome. 

Incidentally Julius Caesar was one of the lieutenants of Crassus in this campaign. Later Pompey, Crassus and Julius Caesar who were the Roman combatants against Spartacus formed a Triumvirate that ruled the Roman Empire.

Most of you would be well aware of the term gladiators from the movie Spartacus and Gladiator. The rebellion of Spartacus failed but it certainly shook the Roman Empire at its roots.