Spartacus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spartacus (ca. 120 BC^[1] – ca. 70 BC, at the end of the Third Servile War), according to Roman historians, was a gladiator-slave who became the alleged leader of an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the Third Servile War, and the historical accounts that survive of the war are sketchy and often contradictory. Spartacus' struggle, often perceived as the struggle of an oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a large powerful State, has found new meaning for modern writers since the 19th century. The figure of Spartacus, and his rebellion, has become an inspiration to many modern literary and political writers, who have made the character of Spartacus an ancient/modern folk hero.

Contents 1 Ancient depictions of Spartacus 1.1 Spartacus' origins 1.2 Third Servile War 1.2.1 Capuan revolt 1.2.2 Military success continues 1.2.3 Choice to remain in Italy 2 Modern depictions of Spartacus 2.1 Politics 2.2 Artistic 2.2.1 Film 2.2.2 Literature 2.2.3 Music 2.3 Videogames 2.4 Other 3 References 3.1 Classical authors 3.2 Modern historiography 4 Notes 5 Honours 6 External links

[edit] Ancient depictions of Spartacus

[edit] Spartacus' origins

The ancient sources agree that Spartacus was a native Thracian who had served as an auxiliary in the Roman army, but was disgraced and sold into slavery. Plutarch describes him as "a Thracian of nomadic stock";^[2] 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";^[3] and Florus says he was "a mercenary Thracian [who] had become a Roman soldier, of a soldier a deserter and robber, and afterwards, from consideration of his strength, a gladiator";^[4] However, "Thracian" was a style of gladiatorial combat in which the gladiator fought with a round shield and a short sword or dagger,^[5] and it has been argued that this may have confused the sources about his geographical origins,^{[citation needed]} although no alternative origin is attested.

The name "Spartacus" is otherwise attested in the Black Sea region: kings of Cimmerian Bosporus^[6] and Pontus^[7] are known to have borne it, and a Thracian "Spardacus"^[8] or "Sparadokos",^[9] father of Seuthes I of the Odrysae, is also known.

[edit] Third Servile War

[edit] Capuan revolt

Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school (ludo) near Capua, belonging to Lentulus Batiatus. In 73 BC, Spartacus and some 70^[10] followers escaped from the gladiator school of Lentulus Batiatus. Seizing the knives in the cook's shop and a wagon full of weapons, the slaves fled to the caldera of Mount Vesuvius, near modern day Naples. There they were joined by other rural slaves.

The group overran the region, plundering and pillaging, although Spartacus apparently tried to restrain them. His chief aides were gladiators from Gaul, named Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and Oenomaus. Other runaway slaves joined, until the group grew into an army of allegedly 120,000 escaped slaves.

The slave-to-Roman citizen ratio at that time was very high, making this slave rebellion a very serious threat to Rome. The Senate sent a praetor, Claudius Glaber (his nomen may have been Clodius; his praenomen is unknown), against the rebels, with a militia of about 3,000. They besieged the rebels on Vesuvius, but Spartacus led his men down the other side of the mountain, to the rear of the Roman soldiers, and staged a surprise attack. Most of the Roman soldiers were killed in this attack, including Claudius Glaber.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Military success continues

Spartacus' forces defeated two more Roman legions sent to crush them, then settled down for the winter on the south coast, making weapons. By now, Spartacus' many followers included women, children, and elderly men who tagged along. By spring they marched north towards Gaul.

The Senate, alarmed, sent two consuls, Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, each with two legions, against the rebels. The Gauls and Germanic peoples, who had separated from Spartacus, were defeated by Publicola, and Crixus was killed. Spartacus defeated Lentulus, and then Publicola. At Picenum in central Italy, Spartacus defeated the consular armies, then pushed north. At Mutina (now Modena) they defeated yet another legion under Gaius Cassius Longinus, the Governor of Cisalpine Gaul ("Gaul this side of the Alps").

[edit] Choice to remain in Italy

Apparently, Spartacus had intended to march his army out of Italy and into Gaul (now Belgium, Switzerland and France) or maybe even to Hispania to join the rebellion of Quintus Sertorius. But he changed his mind and turned back south, the sources say^{[citation needed]}, under pressure from his followers, for they wanted more plunder. Although it is not known for certain why they turned back when they were on the brink of escaping into Gaul, it is regarded as their greatest mistake. Perhaps their many victories made them overconfident, or perhaps they believed that they would escape to Sicily as planned, and could plunder more in the meantime. There are theories that some of the non-fighting followers (some 10,000 or so) did, in fact, cross the Alps and return to their homelands.

The rest marched back south, and defeated two more legions under Marcus Licinius Crassus, who at that time was the wealthiest man in Rome. At the end of 72 BC, Spartacus was encamped in Rhegium (Reggio Calabria), near the Strait of Messina (the "toe of the Italian boot").

Spartacus' deal with Cilician pirates to get them to Sicily fell through. In the beginning of 71 BC, eight legions of Crassus isolated Spartacus's army in Calabria. With the assassination of Quintus Sertorius, the Roman Senate also recalled Pompey from Hispania; and Lucullus from northern Anatolia where he was campaigning against Rome's most obstinate enemy Mithridates VI of Pontus.

Spartacus managed to break through Crassus's lines, and escaped towards Brundisium (now Brindisi), but Crassus's forces intercepted them in Lucania, and the slaves were routed in a subsequent battle at the river Silarus. After the battle, legionaries found and rescued 3,000 unharmed Roman prisoners in their camp.

6,600 of Spartacus's followers were crucified along the Via Appia (or the Appian Way) from Capua to Rome. Crassus never gave orders for the bodies to be taken down, thus travelers were forced to see the bodies for years, perhaps decades, after the final battle.

Around 5,000 slaves, however, escaped the capture. They fled north and were later destroyed by Pompey, who was coming back from Roman Iberia. This enabled him also to claim credit for ending this war. Pompey was greeted as a hero in Rome while Crassus received little credit or celebration. It is unknown whether or not Spartacus died in the battle at Silarus or survived and was crucified along with his men.

Spartacus' body was never found. Crassus was captured and killed years later while campaigning in Parthia.

[edit] Modern depictions of Spartacus

[edit] Politics

• Toussaint L'Ouverture and his successor Jean-Jacques Dessalines led the slave rebellion of the Haitian Revolution (1791—1804), where the armies of Spain, Britain and Napoleon Bonaparte's France were defeated. Toussaint was called the "Black Spartacus" by one of his defeated opponents, the Comte de Lavaux and also erected a statue of Spartacus in Haiti.
• Spartacus has been a great inspiration to revolutionaries in modern times, most notably the Spartacist League of Weimar Germany.
• The Spartakiad was a competition similar to the Olympic games for countries of the Soviet bloc.
• Karl Marx said Spartacus was his hero, citing him as the 'finest fellow' antiquity had to offer.
• Noted Latin American Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was also a strong admirer of Spartacus.

[edit] Artistic

[edit] Film

• Most famously, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Howard Fast's novel, as Spartacus, in 1960. The catchphrase "I'm Spartacus!" from this film has been referenced in a number of other films, television programs, and commercials.
• In 2004, Fast's novel was adapted as Spartacus, a made-for-TV movie or miniseries by the USA Network, with Goran Višnjić in the main role.

[edit] Literature

• Howard Fast wrote the historical novel Spartacus.
• Arthur Koestler wrote a novel about Spartacus called The Gladiators.
• There is a novel Spartacus by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
• Spartacus is a prominent character in the novel Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough. McCullough subscribes to the theory that Spartacus was a renegade Roman soldier, but sticks to the historical account that his body was never found.
• The Italian writer Rafaello Giovagnoli wrote his historical novel, Spartacus, in 1874. His novel has been subsequently translated and published in many European countries.
• There is also a novel Spartacus' children (Dzieci Spartakusa) by the Polish writer Halina Rudnicka.
• The Reverend Elijah Kellogg's Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua has been used effectively by schoolboys to practise their oratory skills for ages.
• Spartacus also appears in Conn Iggulden's Emperor Series in the book The Death of Kings.
• Spartacus and His Glorious Gladiators, by Toby Brown, is part of the Dead Famous (series) of children's history books

[edit] Music

• Spartacus was a ballet, with a score by composer Aram Khachaturian.
• The German group Triumvirat released the album Spartacus in 1975.
• The Farm's debut LP in 1991 was titled Spartacus.
• Jeff Wayne released his musical retelling, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus in 1992.
• The anti-fascist punk/rock band Angelic Upstarts released an album in 2004 named Sons of Spartacus.
• "Spartacus" is the name of the second song on The Fall of Troy's debut album.

[edit] Videogames

• The player-controlled spaceship in the space simulation game Independence War: Defiance was dubbed the Spartacus, with a gladiator crudely emblazoned across its hull.
• Spartacus was featured in the game Heroscape in the wave known as Thora's Vengeance.
• In the popular real-time strategy game Rome: Total War, Spartacus can be unlocked and fought against. If a player builds a colosseum or arena in a conquered city, then let the city revolt Spartacus will be the general of the revolted city. Apparently, the rebel army led by Spartacus is extremely difficult and the player will have to use superior tactics to defeat it and reclaim the city.

[edit] Other

• Sport clubs in Eastern Europe named Spartak (Slavic pronunciation) after Spartacus. The most famous is Spartak Moscow.
• Adam Weishaupt, Freemason and supposed founder of the Illuminati, used "Spartacus" as a nom de plume.
• In the 2003 movie, The Recruit, James Clayton (played by Colin Farrell), creates a webcast software program called "Spartacus", that can gain control of all webcast devices in a particular area. The students who created the program in the film say it was named for "the slave revolt."
• The title character of the cartoon series Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea is loosely based on Spartacus.
• In the Table-top strategy game Warhammer 40000 the primarch Angron has many similiraties to Spartacus.
• The name of the character Sportacus in the children's television program LazyTown is a pun on Spartacus.
• Spartacus 7s is the name of an international rugby sevens team created in 2006.
• Spartacus is a character in the collectible miniatures game, Heroscape, released in Wave 5, Thora's Vengeance.
• See also Spartacus Schoolnet

[edit] References

[edit] Classical authors

• Appian. Civil Wars. Translated by J. Carter. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1996)
• Florus. Epitome of Roman History. (London: W. Heinemann, 1947)
• Orosius. The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans. Translated by Roy J. Deferrari. (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1964).
• Plutarch. Fall of the Roman Republic. Translated by R. Warner. (London: Penguin Books, 1972), with special emphasis placed on "The Life of Crassus" and "The Life of Pompey".
• Sallust. Conspiracy of Catiline and the War of Jugurtha. (London: Constable, 1924)

[edit] Modern historiography

• Bradley, Keith R. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World, 140 B.C.–70 B.C. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989 (hardcover, ISBN 0-253-31259-0); 1998 (paperback, ISBN 0-253-21169-7). [Chapter V] The Slave War of Spartacus, pp. 83–101.
• Rubinsohn, Wolfgang Zeev. Spartacus' Uprising and Soviet Historical Writing. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1987 (paperback, ISBN 0-9511243-1-5).
• Spartacus: Film and History, edited by Martin M. Winkler. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 1405131802; paperback, ISBN 1405131810).
• Trow, M.J. Spartacus: The Myth and the Man. Stroud, United Kingdom: Sutton Publishing, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7509-3907-9).

[edit] Notes

[edit] Honours

Spartacus Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Spartacus.

[edit] External links

• Spartacus' Revolt—An article and excerpts from the original Roman sources.
• Spartacus Article and full text of the Roman and Greek sources.
• "Spartacus"—Movie starring Kirk Douglas and Sir Peter Ustinov
• "Spartacus"—TV-Mini-series starring Goran Višnjić and Alan Bates l