THE SPARTACUS WAR

The Spartacus War



Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of The Spartacus War in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on the War and the role of Spartacus in it. The research also analyzes many aspects of the War and tries to gauge its effect on Romans.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Description and Analysis5

Beginnings of Rebellion5

The Rise of Spartacus and the Fear of Rome6

The War under Crassus8

The End of the Rebellion10

Conclusion12

References14

The Spartacus War

Introduction

The Spartacus War is the extraordinary story of the most famous slave rebellion in the ancient world, the fascinating, true story behind a legend that has been the inspiration for novelists, filmmakers, and revolutionaries for 2,000 years. Starting with only seventy-four men, a gladiator named Spartacus incited a rebellion that threatened Rome itself. With his fellow gladiators, Spartacus built an army of 60,000 soldiers and controlled the southern Italian countryside. A charismatic leader, he used religion to win support. An ex-soldier in the Roman army, Spartacus excelled in combat. He defeated nine Roman armies and kept Rome at bay for two years before he was defeated. After his final battle, 6,000 of his followers were captured and crucified along Rome's main southern highway.

The Spartacus War is the dramatic and factual account of one of history's great rebellions. Spartacus was beaten by a Roman general, Crassus, who had learned how to defeat an insurgency. However, the rebels were partly to blame for their failure. Their army was large and often undisciplined; the many ethnic groups within it frequently quarreled over leadership. No single leader, not even Spartacus, could keep them all in line. And when faced with a choice between escaping to freedom and looting, the rebels chose wealth over liberty, risking an eventual confrontation with Rome's most powerful forces.

The result of years of research, The Spartacus War is based not only on written documents but also on archaeological evidence, historical reconstruction, and the author's extensive travels in the Italian countryside that Spartacus once conquered.

Description and Analysis

Spartacus (Thrace, 113 BC - Lucania, 71 BC) was a slave Thracian, according to Roman sources, directed (or was one of his captains) the most important rebellion against the Roman Republic Italic ground (known as Servile War III, War or War of the Slaves of the Gladiators), which occurred between 73 a. C. and 71 a. C.

According to the vague references to the Roman historians Appian and Florus, Spartacus was a native of Thrace (believed to be born in the town of Sandanski), in today's Bulgaria. He played in the auxiliary, the auxiliary troops of Rome, from which he deserted. Not being a Roman citizen was captured once enslaved. His brother was assigned to forced labor in quarries of gypsum, but thanks to his physical strength, was bought by a merchant to the school of gladiators in Capua of Lentulus Batiatus. All known sources of this rebellion (very fragmentary) agree Spartacus describe as a man educated, intelligent and fair (Bradley, ...