The owners of these large estates were becoming very wealthy. The small farms and ranches of soldiers, forced to be gone With no military experience into a great fighting force.īut it needs to be pointed out that there is no actual evidence that he was a former soldier.Īnd also, there is no actual evidence that he had a wife. Which would explain his military successes. Which is near present day Bulgaria, but that is in question.

It is believed that he was originally from Thrace, Surprisingly, very little is actually known about Spartacus. Spartacus defeated them, even humiliating their commander.ĭefeated commander says to Marcus Crassus (played by Laurence Olivier), (This is the same Vesuvius that would eruptĪ hundred years later, burying the city of Pompeii). This small military contingent met the small army of Spartacus at Mt. They were in foreign countries fighting foreign wars. The main Roman armies weren't even in Italy. They sent a force of 3,000 soldiers to quell it.īut these were not seasoned, hard core Roman soldiers. In the beginning, Rome underestimated the rebellion. Just as Spartacus and his fellow gladiators had been forced to. Sometimes they would be forced to fight each other, Most Roman soldiers taken prisoner were executed some would be made slaves. When they plundered a Roman ranch or estate, the spoils were split equally.įorget about the Kirk Douglas version of Spartacus. Which they would train new freed slaves to use. With each victory over the Romans, the slaves accumulated more weapons, They had no choice but to fight each battle like it was their last day on Earth. They would be crucified, a particularly painful The slaves knew their destiny if captured alive. Spartacus and his army of slaves would defeatĩ Roman armies. Between 73 and 71 BC, this group of escaped slaves The escaped slaves plundered the immediate region and freed other slaves who joined them.Īs time went on, some free, but very poor, citizens of Rome joined them. The man leading the revolt would be remembered for over 2,000 years. It began in the kitchen and involved about 70 slaves. It became known as the third Servile War (from the Latin word for slave).Ī revolt took place at the Capua gladiatorial school in southern Italy. He led an army of slaves to victory after victory. He led a rebellion against mighty imperial Rome.

Spartacus death