Spartacus: The 3rd Servile War

Slavery in ancient Rome differed from its more modern form only in that it was not based on race, but like any form of slavery it was an abusive and degrading practice, and cruelty was commonplace. As a slave you had no rights whatsoever, and time and again those who suffered under this practice rebelled against their overlords. As Rome sought to secure it’s place as masters in the Mediterranean world, it’s reliance on the evil trade became more and more prevelant.

The ruthless exploitation of slaves by their owners had led to two previous uprisings, both on the island of Sicily. The Third Servile War (from servus, the Latin for slave) as the uprising became known, started on mainland Italy, and was headed by a man known as Spartacus.

Spartacus was a strong and intelligent man, thought to have come from Thrace (modern day Bulgaria), known for it’s well trained infantry that were skilled in the use of sickle swords. He had initially served in the Roman army as a Thracian mercenary, however as a result of insubordination and lack of discipline he was sent to the gladiator school in Capua in Italy, where he became an excellent gladiator, and for some time served as a fencing teacher there. But, for killing another gladiator in a brawl, he was transferred to Lentulus Batiatus’ school, well-known for it’s tough discipline and high-security.

The Roman historian Plutarch, wrote that Spartacus had a wife, and that after his enslavement, she was also sold as a slave girl. We have the writings of Plutarch which say:

It is said that when he was first brought to Rome to be sold, a serpent was seen coiled about his face as he slept, and his wife, who was of the same tribe as Spartacus, a prophetess, and subject to visitations of the Dionysiac frenzy, declared it the sign of a great and formidable power which would attend him to a fortunate issuee.

– Plutarch, Crassus, 8.3

In 73 BCE, a revolt in Batiatus’ school led by Spartacus broke out, caused by the ill-treatment of trainee gladiators. Around 70 men, mostly Thracians and Gauls, accompanied Spartacus in this revolt; the rest, between 120 and 170 slaves, died in trying to escape, or chose to remain in captivity. Armed with kitchen knives and makeshift weapons, they killed their guards and escaped the training school.

After initially plundering the fertile farms of Campania, Spartacus led his gradually expanding force of fugitives to Mount Vesuvius, where they camped within its crater and waited for the Romans to besiege it. The slaves gathered there chose two men, Crixus and Oinomaos, to be the leaders of the force. The initial group of insurgents grew quickly, joined by escapees from country villas nearby. Vesuvius, almost overnight had become a quasi-military camp sheltering around 10,000 people, it’s inhabitants becoming the terror of the rich estates for miles around. To the Senate back in Rome there was nothing worse than a slave challenging their master, and the decision was made to send an army, albeit a hastily conscripted one, against them, its commander being Claudius Glaber.

With his 3,000 soldiers, Glaber closed in on the mountain encampment, but Spartacus had ordered his men to make rope ladders from the vines that covered the slopes of the volcano, which they used to scale down the steep sides at night, completely suprising the besieging troops, and killing hundreds of them whilst the remainder fled. Although Glaber’s men were little more than a militia, untried in battle, it was still nothing short of an embarrasment for the Roman state.

In following skirmishes, Spartacus defeated the military commander Varinius, who sent requests for more money to recruit better men to fight the slaves. The Senate, which had not previously believed in the seriousness of the revolt, finally decided to send four trained legions, which were divided between the consuls Lucius Gellius and Lentulus Clodianus. The Senate also focused on securing central Italy, and began recruiting and training conscripts for the legions.

As this was taking place back in Rome, Spartacus was gaining huge popularity among runaway slaves and, importantly, poor people, those hoping to acquire a free and better life, who had continued to join his rag tag army in ever increasing numbers. Some of them were trained to fight, some were responsible for providing food, and others for work such as making and repairing clothing, weapons and utensils. Included were also many women and children, which meant that Spartacus had to lead not only a guerilla army, but also ordinary civilians, all of whom needed to be fed and given shelter.

Having caused a huge amount of devestation in the Campania region, Spartacus decided to leave and travel south to what is now Calabria. He finally reached Cosenza, but after deliberation, it was agreed that Italy was no place for them, and that they would receive no help, as people were too frightened of Roman reprisals if they were found to have aided the slave army. It was therefore decided that they should cross the Alps and head for Gaul, or Germany, but in order to do this they had to cross the whole of Italy, no easy undertaking. The 60,000 or so slaves set out in May 72 BC, scavenging what food they could along the way.

When the insurgents marched north through Italy, towards the Alps, they split up. Gauls and Germans, under the command of Crixus, went on ahead, and were defeated by the Roman consul Gellius. Crixus was killed, along with up to 20,000 of his force. It was the first major victory for the Romans in their fight against the revolt.

Spartacus fought the consul Lentulus, defeating him and later defeating both the consuls Gellius and Arrius. When these battles were over, Spartacus ordered his men to bury their fallen comrades with dignity, but as a revenge for the losses he had suffered, and the death of Crixus, he organized “gladiator fights” in his camp. This time, however, Roman prisoners had to fight to the death, and by organizing gladiator fights between Roman prisoners, Spartacus was mocking the establishment of Rome he was fighting.

By now, Spartacus, according to the historian Appian, had 120,000 men under his command. Due to the desire to maintain a fast march, he decided not to accept new fugitives, killed the pack animals and destroyed the military equipment he could not carry. At that time, the Romans thought that Spartacus was preparing to march on Rome, but historians dispute this, they say he was more likely thinking of a fast escape from Italy altogether.

The slave army headed north again and in the area of ​​Picenum once again defeated the armies sent against them, it was as if they could not be beaten. And yet again, at Mutina in Cisalpine Gaul, another Roman force, this time of General Manlius was destroyed. Rome was furious, demanding an end to the revolt; Spartacus’ men were jubliant.

With the Alps almost within view, and the possibility of leaving Italy forever, the rebels suddenly turned back and headed south. To this day, historians debate the motives that led them to change their minds. It is believed by some that the slave army was seized by an overwhelming sense of bravado, and thought they were invincible, others that many of them feared the approaching Alpine winter; whatever the reasons, the slaves turned and threatened Rome once again.

The inhabitants of Rome suddenly experienced a period of great fear, almost like that which prevailed when Hannibal roamed Italy. Rumours abounded that Spartacus was going to take the city. In this situation, the Senate granted extraordinary powers of military command to one Marcus Licinius Crassus, snubbing other Roman commanders who thought they were more suited to the job. Giving full and independent command of such a force to Crassus was a dangerous gamble on the part of the Senate. They remembered the generals Marius and Sulla, who thanks to such commands, gained enormous power, and placed them beyond the control of the patricians. In the case of Sulla, he used his unlimited power to ‘reform’ the Republic, mainly by introducing the proscriptions, where people (his political enemies) could be legally killed and their property confiscated, which cemented his transformation into a bloody tyrant. 

For the highly ambitious Crassus, the same was feared; however, the safety of the Roman state prevailed, and capturing Spartacus became Rome’s number one aim. Crassus promised he would finish the job in six months.

The General was able to start to inflict small defeats on Spartacus’ troops almost immediately, having gathered an army of about ten legions. Spartacus’s goal was to reach the tip of Italy and try to transport his men to Sicily, where he saw a chance to continue fighting for freedom and independence. However, these plans were thwarted by the treachery of the pirates Spartacus had negotiated with, who accepted his money as payment to transport them across the Messina strait to Sicily, but then sailed away.

Crassus was vigilantly following in Spartacus’s footsteps and when he had the insurgents firmly surrounded on the toe of Italy with the sea to their backs, he began erecting a series of fortifications (ditches and walls) in order to cut off their return north. These works were impressive, as they stretched for about 55 km and made it possible to completely enclose the almost 100,000 strong army in a small area, without the prospect of escape, reinforcement or gathering supplies.

Attacks made by the insurgents on these defensive fortifications cost them heavily, however, during a spell of bad weather and under the cover of darkness, about a third of them managed to break through. Frontinus reports that Spartacus used human shields in the form of cattle and prisoners to approach the fortifications, and then used their bodies to fill the ditch and create an embankment.

Then two of Spartacus’ Gallic chieftains left, taking thousands of men with them, which definitely weakened the Thracian, and subsequently these troops were ambushed by Crassus, and were annihilated.

To add to Spartacus’s troubles, extra support from Rome appeared in the form of the victorious general Gnaeus Pompey (the future Pompey the Great), who came direct from Spain, and the army of the governor of Macedonia – Lucullus – who landed in Brundisium. Spartacus now had legions in front and behind him, he knew he had to take a final risk and defeat Crassus before more Roman armies joined together, and finished tightening the noose already around him.

Crassus, like Spartacus, was looking for a decisive clash at all costs. The generals who came to his aid, and especially Pompey, would steal his glory. Moreover, the period of six months in which he had pledged to defeat the rebels was coming to an end.

There is dispute amongst scholars as to where Spartacus met his end. Some say the final battle took place on the Silarus river. But in the 5th Century Historiae Adversus Paganos of Orosius, says otherwise:

“Before advancing against Spartacus in person, who was laying out his camp at the head of the Silarus River, Crassus defeated the Gallic and German auxiliaries of Spartacus and slaughtered thirty thousand of them together with their leaders.” (Orosius 5.24.6)

So this was not the final battle, but the defeat of Gannicus and Castus, the leaders of the auxilliaries, that preceded it. Following that, according to Plutarch, Spartacus retreated to ‘the mountains of Petelia’ – for which various locations have been proposed, the most likely being the vicinity of Petelia (modern Strongoli) in Bruttium. He then led his men ‘back through Lucania against the Romans’ (Orosius again), and fought his final battle against Crassus. Both Plutarch and Appian also say that the rebels attacked the Roman camp, and not the other way around.

Plutarch relates that when Spartacus rallied his army for battle, he was given a horse. However, he drew his sword and killed the animal, claiming that when he defeated the Romans, he would have enough beautiful horses, and if he lost, he would not need them anymore. This is how the Greek historian Appian of Alexandria describes the battle:

At the news that he [Lucullus] had arived in Brundisium…returning from the war against Mithridates, Spartacus, completely desperate, struck at Crassus with still great forces at that time. There was a long and fierce battle, predictable, tens of thousands of desperate people; in the course of the battle Spartacus was wounded with a spear in his thigh, but he only kneeled down and, shielding himself, [to] fight the attackers, until he was encircled with the great number of people who gathered around him. The rest of his army was in a massive disarray staggering in mass, so that in the slaughter the countless people were killed, while the Romans lost up to a thousand soldiers; Spartacus’s body could not be found. A large number of survivors who escaped from the battle hid in the mountains, so Crassus followed them. Divided into four groups, they resisted until they were all dead except for 6 000 people who were captured and hanged along the entire road from Capua to Rome.

– Appian of Alexandria, Roman History, XIII.120

The death of Spartacus as described by Plutarch:

Then he [Spartacus] made straight for Crassus himself, charging forward through the press of weapons and wounded men, and, though he did not reach Crassus, he cut down two centurions who fell on him together.

– Plutarch, Crassus, 11

With Spartacus’s death, the Third Servile War was finally over, and although Pompey’s army did not take a direct part in the fighting, by marching from the north they captured some 5000 rebels. After this action, Pompey sent a message to the Senate, in which he confirmed the victory of Crassus in open battle, and at the same time saying how he considered his actions as decisive at the end of the conflict. Somehow the senate gave him the majority of the glory, incurring the everlasting hostility of Crassus.

As for the insurgents – most of them died in direct combat. The six thousand prisoners captured by Crassus’ legions were crucified (Appian¹ says hanged) on the Appian Way from Rome to Capua, a distance of over 100 miles, as a warning to others not to rebel against the state.

1. Appian of Alexandria, the historian, should not be confused with Appius Claudius Caecus, the engineer who built the Appian Way, the road that stretched from Rome to Capua and beyond, and who it’s named after

References:

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World History Encyclopedia