An outline, era by era

Spartacus; the Third Servile War (73 – 71 BCE)

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

The Third Servile War (73 to 71 BCE) was the largest slave revolt in the Roman world. It began when about seventy gladiators broke out of a training school at Capua in southern Italy. Their leaders included Spartacus, a Thracian, and the Gauls Crixus and Oenomaus. Freed slaves, herdsmen and rural workers joined them, and for two years they defeated several Roman armies and roamed across Italy.

The revolt ended in 71 BCE, when Marcus Licinius Crassus crushed the rebels in southern Italy and Pompey's returning army cut down fugitives in the north. Thousands of captives were crucified along the Appian Way. Spartacus left no writings, so what we know comes from later Greek authors, mainly Plutarch and Appian. The war exposed the dangers of the huge slave workforce of the late Republic. The military standing it gave Crassus and Pompey was one of several factors that brought them the consulship of 70 BCE.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Slavery and the earlier Sicilian slave wars

    Event

    What happened

    As Rome conquers the Mediterranean in the 200s and 100s BCE, it brings hundreds of thousands of captives to Italy and Sicily to work on large estates. Between about 135 and 132 BCE the First Servile War breaks out in Sicily, and between about 104 and 100 BCE the Second follows. Both are put down only after several Roman armies are sent against them.

    The rest is history

    These wars showed that enslaved rural workers could organise and defeat Roman forces for years. They also showed how much the Republic's economy now relied on slave labour. The risk was therefore well known when the revolt of 73 BCE began. Roman commanders still underestimated it, which helps explain the early rebel successes in Italy.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryDiodorus Siculus. Library of History, books 34/35 and 36 (fragments on the Sicilian slave wars). Greek history, 1st century BCE.
    2. BookBradley, Keith. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World, 140 B.C.-70 B.C. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

  2. The gladiator schools and the breakout at Capua

    Event

    What happened

    In 73 BCE about seventy gladiators escape from the school of Lentulus Batiatus at Capua, seizing kitchen tools as weapons. They capture gladiators' weapons from a wagon on the road and take refuge on Mount Vesuvius. They choose Spartacus, Crixus and Oenomaus as leaders.

    The rest is history

    A praetor, Gaius Claudius Glaber, besieges them on the mountain with a hastily raised force. The rebels climb down the cliffs on ropes of vines and rout his camp. Word of the victory draws in more slaves and herdsmen. Within months the band has grown to many thousands and has defeated further Roman forces in Campania.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPlutarch. Life of Crassus 8-11. Greek biography, c. 100 CE.
    2. PrimaryAppian. Civil Wars 1.116-120. Greek history of Rome, 2nd century CE.
    3. BookShaw, Brent D. Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.

  3. The rebel armies march through Italy

    Event

    What happened

    In 73 and 72 BCE the rebels defeat Roman forces in the south. In 72 BCE the two consuls, Lentulus and Gellius, take the field against them. The rebels split, and Crixus's group is destroyed in Apulia. Spartacus then defeats both consuls and moves north toward Cisalpine Gaul.

    The rest is history

    Ancient writers give differing reasons why Spartacus did not leave Italy. He turned south again after the northern victories. Appian gives his army as about 120,000 men, but ancient numbers are uncertain. By the end of 72 BCE Rome had lost several armies, and Crassus was given command of the war, with newly levied legions (commonly reported as six) added to the forces already in the field.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAppian. Civil Wars 1.116-117. Greek history of Rome, 2nd century CE.
    2. PrimaryLivy. Periochae 95-97. Roman summaries of lost books of history, 1st century BCE.
    3. BookStrauss, Barry. The Spartacus War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.

  4. Crassus takes command and the failed crossing to Sicily

    Event

    What happened

    In 71 BCE Crassus drives Spartacus south into Bruttium, the toe of Italy. Spartacus bargains with Cilician pirates to ship his men to Sicily, but the pirates take payment and leave. Crassus tries to wall the rebels in on the peninsula, but they break through.

    The rest is history

    Ancient writers also report that Crassus punished a defeated part of his army by decimation, killing one man in ten, but modern scholars dispute how far this account can be trusted. The rebels were short of supplies and divided in their aims, and part of the army broke away and was destroyed. Pompey was recalled from Spain and Marcus Lucullus from Thrace. In the final battle in Lucania, in 71 BCE, Spartacus was killed and his army broken. His body was never identified, according to Appian.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPlutarch. Life of Crassus 9-11. Greek biography, c. 100 CE.
    2. BookWard, Allen M. Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1977.

  5. Crucifixions on the Appian Way and the consulship of 70 BCE

    Event

    What happened

    After the final defeat, Roman troops capture thousands of rebels. Appian says six thousand of them are crucified along the road from Capua to Rome. Pompey's army catches a group of fugitives in northern Italy and kills them, and he claims credit for ending the war. Both Crassus and Pompey then stand for the consulship.

    The rest is history

    Crassus and Pompey were elected consuls for 70 BCE. Pompey had not yet held any lower office, and he led a triumph over Spain. Their rivalry and later cooperation shaped the politics of the following decades. Slavery itself was not challenged, and Roman estates continued to depend on enslaved labour.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAppian. Civil Wars 1.120. Greek history of Rome, 2nd century CE.
    2. BookShaw, Brent D. Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.

  6. Spartacus the champion of freedom

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Spartacus is often described as a freedom fighter who led enslaved people to overthrow slavery itself. In the best-known telling, the defeated slaves each stand up and say 'I am Spartacus' to protect their leader. His rebellion is seen as a struggle for a just society.

    The rest is history

    The 'I am Spartacus' scene comes from the 1960 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Howard Fast's 1951 novel. It is not in any ancient source. Plutarch calls Spartacus a Thracian of great spirit and intelligence, but the ancient authors say little of his aims. Plutarch and Appian, who were Greek writers, differ in detail, but both suggest he wanted to lead his followers over the Alps and out of Italy, and Plutarch says his men refused to leave and plundered the country instead. Modern writers, notably Karl Marx and later socialist movements, made him a symbol of liberation, but there is no evidence that he planned to abolish slavery.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPlutarch. Life of Crassus 8. Greek biography, c. 100 CE.
    2. BookFast, Howard. Spartacus. New York: Citadel Press, 1951.
    3. BookShaw, Brent D. Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.

  7. The omen of the snake and the prophetess wife

    Folk tale

    The legend

    When Spartacus is first brought to Rome to be sold as a slave, a snake coils around his face as he sleeps. His wife, a Thracian prophetess of the god Dionysus, declares that this is a sign of great and fearsome power that will end in misfortune. She follows him in the revolt.

    The rest is history

    The story appears in Plutarch's Life of Crassus, written about 170 years after the revolt. Plutarch says Spartacus had served as a soldier with the Romans, deserted, been taken prisoner, and sold as a slave. The omen reflects how Greek and Roman writers liked to mark great figures with signs, and it cannot be checked. Plutarch is the only surviving source for the wife. The tale shows that Spartacus was already a figure of story within a few generations.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPlutarch. Life of Crassus 8. Greek biography, c. 100 CE.
    2. BookStrauss, Barry. The Spartacus War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.

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