Spartacus (Greek: Σπάρτακος, Spártakos; Latin: Spartacus[1]) (c. 109–71 BCE) was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable. Nevertheless, all sources agree that he was a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader.
Spartacus' struggle, often interpreted as an example of oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning oligarchy, has found new meaning since the 19th century.[2] The story of Spartacus has also proven inspirational to many modern authors of literature, history, political commentary, film, and television.
Origins
Balkan tribes, including the Maedi
The ancient sources agree that Spartacus was a Thracian. Plutarch describes him as "a Thracian of Nomadic stock".[3] Appian says he was "a Thracian by birth, who had once served as a soldier with the Romans, but had since been a prisoner and sold for a Gladiator".[4] Florus (2.8.8) described him as one "who from Thracian mercenary, had become a Roman soldier, of a soldier a deserter and robber, and afterward, from consideration of his strength, a gladiator".[5] Some authors refer to the Thracian tribe of the Maedi,[6][7][8] which in historic times occupied the area on the southwestern fringes of Thrace (present day south-western Bulgaria).[9][10] Plutarch also writes that Spartacus' wife, a prophetess of the Maedi tribe, was enslaved with him.
The name Spartacus is otherwise attested in the Black Sea region: kings of the Thracian dynasty of the Cimmerian Bosporus[11] and Pontus[12] are known to have borne it, and a Thracian "Sparta" "Spardacus"[13] or "Sparadokos",[14] father of Seuthes I of the Odrysae, is also known.
[edit] Enslavement and escape
The Roman Republic at 100 BCE
According to the differing sources and their interpretation, Spartacus either was an auxiliary from the Roman legions later condemned to slavery, or a captive taken by the legions.[15] Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school (ludus) near Capua belonging to Lentulus Batiatus. In 73 BCE, Spartacus was among a group of gladiators plotting an escape. The plot was betrayed but about 70[16] men seized kitchen implements, fought their way free from the school, and seized several wagons of gladiatorial weapons and armor.[17] The escaped slaves defeated a small force sent after them, plundered the region surrounding Capua, recruited many other slaves into their ranks, and eventually retired to a more defensible position on Mount Vesuvius.[18][19]
Once free, the escaped gladiators chose Spartacus and two Gallic slaves—Crixus and Oenomaus—as their leaders. Although Roman authors assumed that the slaves were a homogeneous group with Spartacus as their leader, they may have projected their own hierarchical view of military leadership onto the spontaneous organization of the slaves, reducing other slave leaders to subordinate positions in their accounts. The positions of Crixus and Oenomaus—and later, Castus—cannot be clearly determined from the sources.
