Spartacus
Spartacus led the largest slave revolt in Roman history and came close to leaving Italy with an army. Born in Thrace around 111 BC, he had served in the Roman auxiliaries, deserted, was recaptured and sold, and was training as a gladiator at a school in Capua owned by Lentulus Batiatus. In 73 BC he and about seventy others broke out using kitchen implements, seized a cartload of gladiatorial weapons on the road, and took refuge on Vesuvius. Rome sent militia rather than legions, treating it as brigandage. A praetor blockaded the mountain and Spartacus's men made ropes from wild vines, descended a cliff face and attacked the camp from behind — the first of a series of defeats that turned the revolt into a war. The force grew to perhaps seventy or a hundred and twenty thousand, including agricultural slaves from the great estates and free herdsmen. He beat both consuls of 72 BC and reached Cisalpine Gaul, where he defeated the governor at Mutina. What he intended then is not known: the sources say he wanted to cross the Alps and disperse the men to their homelands, and that his followers refused and turned back to plunder Italy. Crassus was given the command, revived decimation, and pressed him into Bruttium. A deal with Cilician pirates to ship the army to Sicily collapsed. Spartacus was killed in battle in 71 BC and his body never found. Six thousand prisoners were crucified along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome. Crassus was denied a triumph and given an ovation, on the grounds that the enemy had been slaves.
- Lived: 103 BCE – 71 BCE
- Nationality: Thracian
- Roles: military_leader
