Spartacus
A Thracian auxiliary who deserted, was enslaved and trained as a gladiator at Capua, and in 73 BCE broke out with some seventy others. The revolt grew to perhaps a hundred thousand and beat consular armies for two years. What it never had was a political programme: the sources disagree about whether he meant to leave Italy or march on Rome, and the revolt failed partly because its leaders could not agree either. Crassus crucified six thousand survivors along the Appian Way, and Rome never faced a servile war on that scale again.
- Lived: 103 BCE – 71 BCE
- Nationality: thracian
- Roles: military_leader
