Spartacus

/spahr"teuh keuhs/, n.

died 71 B.C., Thracian slave, gladiator, and insurrectionist.

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died 71 BC

Leader in the Gladiatorial War against Rome (73–71).

A Thracian, he served in the Roman army. He became a bandit and was sold as a slave when caught. He escaped a gladiatorial school, where he had plotted a revolt with other gladiators, and set up camp on Mount Vesuvius, where he was joined by other runaway slaves and some peasants. With a force of 90,000, he overran most of southern Italy, defeating two consuls (72). He led his army north to the Cisalpine Gaul, where he hoped to release them to find freedom, but they refused to leave, preferring to continue the struggle. Returning south, he attempted to invade Sicily but could not arrange the passage. The legions of Marcus Licinius Crassus caught the slave army in Lucania and defeated it; Spartacus fell in pitched battle. Pompey's army intercepted and killed many of those escaping north, and Crassus crucified 6,000 prisoners along the Appian Way.

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▪ Roman gladiator

died 71 BC

      leader in the Gladiatorial War (73–71) against Rome.

      A Thracian by birth, Spartacus served in the Roman Army, perhaps deserted, led bandit raids, and was caught and sold as a slave. With about 70 fellow gladiators he escaped a gladiatorial training school at Capua in 73 and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius, where other runaway slaves joined the band. After defeating two Roman forces in succession, the rebels overran most of southern Italy. Ultimately their numbers grew to at least 90,000. Spartacus defeated the two consuls for the year 72 and fought his way northward toward the Alps, hoping to be able to disperse his soldiers to their homelands once they were outside Italy. When his men refused to leave Italy, he returned to Lucania and sought to cross his forces over to Sicily but was thwarted by the new Roman commander sent against him, Marcus Licinius Crassus (Crassus, Marcus Licinius). Hemmed in by Crassus' eight legions, Spartacus' army divided; the Gauls and Germans were defeated first, and Spartacus himself ultimately fell fighting in pitched battle. Pompey's army intercepted and killed many slaves who were escaping northward, and 6,000 prisoners were crucified by Crassus along the Appian Way.

      Spartacus was apparently both competent and humane, although the revolt he led inspired terror throughout Italy. Although his uprising was not an attempt at social revolution, his name has frequently been invoked by revolutionaries such as Adam Weishaupt in the late 18th century and Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and the other members of the German Spartacus League of 1916–19.

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