Episode 6: The Spartacus Revolt

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Slave revolts were not unknown to the Romans, but they rarely affected people outside the immediate area, much less gain the attention of, and action from, the Senate. There are three such revolts in the history of Rome, identified as the Servile Wars, and the third of these was against Spartacus.

We have varying information about Spartacus. Across the sources, he is identified as a Thracian gladiator, which could mean that he fought in the Thracian style, meaning he was armed with a small shield and a short sword in the ring or that he was from Thrace (an area bordering the Aegean and Black Seas to the north-east of Greece). Some sources say he was a free-born man who fought with the Romans as an auxiliary and then was enslaved as a punishment for desertion, others that he fought against the Romans and was enslaved as a prisoner of war. Either way, he was sold to a gladiatorial school in Capua, where his soldiering skills were a useful asset.

The immediate cause of the revolt in 73 BCE is not known. It’s not unreasonable to think he’d been planning an escape, and this was simply when the opportunity presented itself. He and his fellow gladiator, Crixus, led 74 men out of the school. They attacked the guards with kitchen knives, then kitted themselves properly with armor and weapons from the school’s supplies. They set out from there, collecting runaway slaves as they travelled south. They camped on Mt. Vesuvius, then proceeded to plunder the surrounding area. This brought them to the attention of the Senate, who clearly did not think they would be a problem as they sent only two praetors with a small group of relatively untrained soldiers. They tried to lay siege to the rebels by cutting off the easiest routes on the mountain. Spartacus’ men climbed down the opposite side and caught the Roman forces off guard. This victory inspired many to join Spartacus, both runaway slaves and impoverished free people. His winter “camp” at Thurii had about 70,000 people.

As 72 BCE began, Spartacus’ intention seems to have been to travel north through Italy, in order to cross the Alps into territory not controlled by Rome. Crixus disagreed, as did many of the other rebels, causing the group to split. Having misjudged the Roman army based on the raw recruits against whom he’d fought, Crixus moved south to plunder and possibly take territory. At the same time, the Senate realized that the rebels were not the ill-organized group they’d thought, but a cohesive unit who needed to be dealt with like an invading army instead of a slave rabble. Consular armies were organized and sent against Crixus’ group. They met in battle at Mt. Garganus and the rebelling army was destroyed.

            Another consular army was dispatched to deal with Spartacus himself. One general, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus moved his army to cut off Spartacus’ most likely route to the Alps. At the same time another general, Lucius Gellius Publicola, trailed the rebels, pushing them toward his colleague. The rebels met Lentulus’ army at the base of the Apennine Mountains and defeated them. They turned around and did the same to Publicola, then headed back to north. But first, he arranged a celebration in which 300 pairs of captured Roman soldiers were set against each other like gladiators and made to fight to the death.

            At this point, the rebellion had a clear path out of Roman territory but didn’t take it. We don’t know why. Some sources suggest that he became overconfident with his victories and sought to take Rome itself. This is highly unlikely, as Spartacus is not presented as either stupid nor suicidal. Other sources say that his men refused to go over the Alps in fear for their safety and lives. Whatever the reason, Spartacus led his group south back into Italy.

            The Senate now gave command against Spartacus to a proven general, Marcus Licinius Crassus. His military bona fides had been established a decade previously as one of Lucius Cornelius Sulla’s lieutenants. Crassus was given ten legions to defeat the rebellious slaves, four veteran legions and six new ones. The first time this army faced the rebels, they were badly beaten. The historian Appian tells us that many of the legionaries ran from the battle, an act of cowardice not tolerated by Crassus, especially in the face of a defeat. In order to “encourage” his troops to a victory, the general ordered a decimation. This was a little-used punishment which required that every tenth man in the legion be beaten to death by nine of their comrades. This tended to push the soldiers to fight harder in battle, as it was preferable to be killed by the enemy than one’s legionary brothers.

            Crassus then led his army against a detachment of 10,000 of the rebels and defeated them. Spartacus took his people to the city of Rhegium, from which he hoped to get passage to Sicily. This allowed Crassus to cut him off; he was at the toe of the Italian boot and had nowhere to go without ships. Spartacus broke through the siege in a last-ditch effort, sacrificing twelve thousand men, a tenth of his forces, to get past Crassus’ lines. He then led them toward the city of Brundisium (ironically the very port where Crassus had met Sulla with his support).

            Unfortunately for the rebels, the army of Lucius Licinius Lucullus had just returned from a victory over the king of Pontus, Mithridates. Spartacus had no choice but to meet them in a pitched battle, a situation which could only benefit the Romans. The rebels were destroyed, and Spartacus was killed in the battle. Crassus then arranged a punishment designed to scare potential rebels for at least a generation: six thousand of Spartacus’ men were crucified along the Via Appia, the main road from southern Italy into Rome. The rebellion was essentially over except for some small, scattered groups.

            Just as Crassus was about to declare victory, Gnaeus Pompeius Magus arrived back in Italy after putting down a rebelling legion in Hispania. His forces wiped out the last few rebels which led Pompey, in all of his egotistical glory, to claim the victory over the entire rebellion was his. This created a very public rift between the two men which was not ended until Julius Caesar brought them together for his own political ends.

            The decaying crucified bodies along the Via Appia had the desired effect: Rome never saw another large-scale slave rebellion. Spartacus has come into modern consciousness as a hero for the oppressed and enslaved, aided in no small part by his depiction in films and television, but his cause was not nearly so ambitious. He sought freedom for himself and his fellows, not to end slavery or to change the way gladiators were treated. His was not an unnoble goal, but it was certainly not an altruistic one.