- Also called:
- Gladiator War and Spartacus Revolt
- Date:
- 73 BCE - 71
- Participants:
- Spartacus
- Roman Republic
Third Servile War
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What was the Third Servile War?
The Third Servile War (73–71 BCE), also known as the Gladiatorial War, was a major slave rebellion against the Roman Republic led by Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator.
Enslaved and destined for the arena, Spartacus and a band of gladiators escaped a training school at Capua and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius. They recruited other escaped slaves and formed a growing threat that the Romans moved to eliminate. Spartacus aimed to cross to Sicily and reignite previous rebellions there, but he became trapped in Bruttium (modern Calabria) when the pirates who had agreed to transport his army proved untrustworthy.
The rebel army was eventually crushed, and Spartacus was killed in combat. The remnants of the rebel army were captured, and thousands were crucified along the Appian Way as a warning.
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Who was Spartacus, and what role did he play in the Third Servile War?
Spartacus, a Thracian and former Roman army soldier, became a slave and gladiator who led the Third Servile War (73–71 BCE). Escaping a gladiatorial school with about 70 others, he took refuge on Mount Vesuvius, where runaway slaves joined him.
His forces defeated several Roman armies, and the revolt grew to include 70,000–90,000 people. Spartacus aimed to lead his men to freedom beyond the Alps, but when they refused, he sought to cross over to Sicily. Marcus Licinius Crassus, a new Roman commander, thwarted this effort. Spartacus was killed in battle, and the revolt was suppressed. Thousands of captured rebels were crucified.
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Why did the Third Servile War start?
The Third Servile War, also known as the Gladiatorial War, was a slave rebellion against Rome that occurred from 73 to 71 BCE. Led by Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator, the revolt began when he and about 70 fellow gladiators escaped a training school at Capua and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius. Other runaway slaves joined them, and their numbers eventually grew to at least 90,000. The desperate conditions of slavery and the desire for freedom fueled the uprising, posing a significant threat to Rome.
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How did the Roman army respond to the slave rebellion?
The Roman army's response to the Third Servile War, led by Spartacus, evolved as the slave rebellion gained momentum. Initially, hastily collected forces were dispatched but were easily defeated by Spartacus's men. As the revolt grew, the Senate sent both consuls into battle in 72 BCE.
Ultimately, Marcus Licinius Crassus was appointed praetor and given command. He restored order through harsh discipline, including the decimation of soldiers. Crassus besieged Spartacus's forces in Bruttium, but Spartacus broke through, only to face internal divisions within his army.
After Spartacus was killed in battle, Pompey's army intercepted fleeing rebels, while Crassus crucified thousands along the Appian Way as a warning.
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What tactics did Spartacus use against the Romans?
Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator, led a slave rebellion against Rome known as the Third Servile War (73–71 BCE). Spartacus and his fellow gladiators escaped a training school and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius. From there, his forces clambered down the precipices and put the Romans to flight utilizing guerrilla warfare tactics, which suited Spartacus and his band well. He defeated several Roman forces, and his army grew to 70,000. Spartacus defeated the consul Lentulus and advanced towards the Alps. Although Crassus ultimately defeated Spartacus, Pompey took credit for the act, fueling his rise in Roman politics.
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How did the Third Servile War end, and what was its impact on Rome?
The Third Servile War, a slave rebellion against Rome led by Spartacus, ended in 71 BCE with the defeat of the rebel army in a pitched battle near Strongoli in Calabria. Spartacus was killed, and the remaining rebels were either slain in battle or captured. Thousands of captured rebels were crucified along the Appian Way as a warning.
The war had significant impacts on Rome. It instilled terror and revealed the extent of the slave system's instability. Crassus and Pompey gained political power, and both were elected consuls.
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Third Servile War, (73–71 bce) slave rebellion against Rome led by the gladiator Spartacus.
Spartacus was a Thracian who had served in the Roman army but seems to have deserted. He was captured and subsequently sold as a slave. Destined for the arena, in 73 bce he, with a band of his fellow gladiators, broke out of a training school at Capua and took refuge on Mt. Vesuvius. Here he maintained himself as a captain of brigands, and he recruited as his lieutenants two Celts named Crixus and Oenomaus, who like himself had been gladiators. Other escaped slaves soon joined the band, and the Romans moved to eliminate the growing threat.
A hastily collected force of 3,000 men under either Claudius Pulcher or Claudius Glaber (sources vary) endeavoured to starve out the rebels. In an audacious move, Spartacus’s forces clambered down the precipices and put the Romans to flight. Groups of hardy and desperate men now joined the rebels, and when the praetor Publius Varinius took the field against them he found them entrenched like a regular army on the plain. Before the Romans could act, the rebels slipped away, and when Varinius advanced to storm their lines he found them deserted. From Campania the rebels marched into Lucania, a region that had opposed Rome in several significant conflicts, most recently the Social War (90–88 bce). The country there was also better suited for the kind of guerrilla warfare tactics that favoured Spartacus and his band. Varinius followed, but was defeated in several engagements and narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. The insurgents reoccupied Campania, and with the defeat of Gaius Thoranius, the quaestor of Varinius, they obtained possession of nearly the whole of southern Italy. The cities of Nola and Nuceria in Campania were sacked, as were Thurii and Metapontum in Lucania. The Senate at last despatched both consuls against the rebels (72 bce). The historian Appian suggests that at this point, Spartacus’s army numbered some 70,000 men.
A force of escaped German slaves under Crixus was soundly beaten at Mt. Garganus in Apulia by the praetor Quintus Arrius, but this defeat did little to check the revolt. According to Plutarch, Spartacus, with the main body of his army, defeated the consul Lentulus and then pressed towards the Alps. A force of some 10,000 men under Gaius Cassius, governor of Cisalpine Gaul, and the praetor Gnaeus Manlius was defeated at Mutina. Freedom was within sight, and Plutarch characterized Spartacus as holding realistic views about his army’s chances of defeating a fully mobilized Rome. Rather than crossing the Alps and returning home, however, Spartacus marched towards Rome itself. Instead of attacking the capital, he passed on again into Lucania.
The conduct of the war was now entrusted to the praetor Marcus Licinius Crassus. Upon taking command, Crassus is said to have carried out a decimation of the consular armies that had taken the field against Spartacus in an attempt to restore order; one in ten of the men were selected by lot and killed. Spartacus defeated two legions under Crassus’s legate Mummius and withdrew towards the strait of Messina. There he intended to cross to Sicily, where the first two Servile Wars (135–132 bce and 104–99 bce) had been fought. Spartacus hoped to reignite these rebellions and to bolster his forces by recruiting freed slaves to his cause. The pirates who had agreed to transport his army proved untrustworthy, however, and Spartacus quickly found himself trapped in Bruttium (modern Calabria). While Spartacus was attempting to carry his rebellion to Sicily, Crassus endeavoured to end the war by effectively besieging the entire “toe” of Italy. In short order, he erected an impressive ditch and rampart fortification system that stretched some 40 miles (60 km) across the neck of the peninsula, Denied both the ability to maneuver his army and ready access to fresh supplies, Spartacus saw that his situation was desperate. Under the cover of darkness and in the middle of a snowstorm, Spartacus’s army bridged the 15-foot- (5-metre-) wide ditch, scaled the wall, and forced the Roman lines. Once more southern Italy lay open to Spartacus, but disunion had gripped the rebel army. A force of Gauls and Germans, who had withdrawn from the main body and encamped some distance away, were attacked and destroyed by Crassus.
Crassus was now compelled to bring the war to a close on his terms and on an accelerated timeline. He had prevailed upon the Senate to reinforce his campaign by recalling Lucius Licinius Lucullus from Thrace and Pompey from Spain, but quickly realized the danger of such a move. Pompey was already a formidable force in the capital, and he had just completed the Roman reconquest of Spain by crushing a rebellion under Quintus Sertorius. By affording Pompey the opportunity to return to Italy with an army at his back, all the glory for defeating Spartacus would almost certainly accrue to him and not to Crassus. In Appian’s account, Spartacus acknowledged this rivalry in the Roman command and attempted to make a separate peace with Crassus, but his terms were rejected.
Spartacus took up a strong position in the mountainous country of Petelia (near Strongoli in modern Calabria) and inflicted a severe defeat on the vanguard of the pursuing Romans. His men, their confidence bolstered by this small victory, refused to retreat farther. Anticipating the decisive battle to come, Spartacus is said to have slain his horse, stating that if his army carried the day, he would have his choice from among the fine horses of the Romans, and if he lost, he would no longer have need of a mount. In the pitched battle which followed, the rebel army was annihilated and Spartacus was killed in combat. A small body of rebels escaped from the field, but they were met and cut to pieces at the foot of the Alps by Pompey. The remnants of the rebel army were captured, and thousands were crucified along the Appian Way as a warning to those who would rise against Rome. As Crassus had feared, Pompey claimed the credit of finishing the war, and received the honour of a triumph, while only a simple ovation was decreed to Crassus. Both men were jointly elected consuls in recognition of their victory.
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Spartacus was a capable and energetic leader, and he did his best to check the excesses of the men he commanded. He is also said to have treated his prisoners with humanity. His character was often misrepresented by contemporary Roman writers, who invoked his name as a source of terror through the age of the Empire.