Spartacus (c. 120 - 71 BC) Leader of the largest slave uprising in ancient Rome in 74 / 73-71 BC.
The name "Spartacus" in world history is consonant with the word "hero". To be called a Spartacist meant a lot: he was a fighter for independence and freedom, and a man who defends justice, and leading a harsh lifestyle. At the same time, this terminology was established many centuries ago.
… Spartacus comes from Thrace (modern Bulgaria). Ancient authors report conflicting information about his life. According to some sources, he was a prisoner of war, fell into slavery and was sent to the gladiatorial school in the city of Capua. According to another version, the Thracian served as a mercenary in the Roman army, then fled and, being captured, was given to the gladiators.
The information is similar in one thing: Spartak was distinguished by physical strength, agility and courage, skillfully wielded weapons. For his abilities he gained freedom and began to teach fencing at the school of gladiators.
About the physical strength of Spartacus and his mental talents, Plutarch said that "he looked more like an educated Hellene than a barbarian." “Himself great in his own strengths of body and soul” - this is how another ancient Roman writer Sallust speaks of the leader of the rebellious slaves.
The greatest revolt of Spartacus in the ancient world had the most fertile ground. Wars flooded Italy with slaves of different ethnic groups: Gauls, Germans, Thracians, Hellenized inhabitants of Asia and Syria … The bulk of the slaves were employed in agriculture and were in incredibly difficult conditions. The life of the Roman slaves, due to their brutal exploitation, was extremely short. But this did not particularly disturb the slave owners, because the victorious campaigns of the Roman army ensured an uninterrupted supply of cheap slaves to the slave markets.
Of the urban slaves, gladiators were in a special position. Not a single festival could do without gladiator fights in ancient Rome at that time. Well-trained and trained gladiators were released into the arena to kill each other for the joy of thousands of Roman citizens. There were special schools where physically strong, hardy slaves were taught the gladiatorial art. One of the most famous gladiatorial schools was located in the province of Campania, in the city of Capua.
The uprising of Spartacus in ancient Rome began with the fact that a group of gladiator slaves (about 70 people) fled from the Capua school after the discovery of a conspiracy in it and took refuge on the summit of the Vesuvius volcano. In total, there were more than 200 participants in the conspiracy led by Spartacus, but the guards of the gladiatorial school and the city of Capua defeated the conspirators at the very beginning of their performance. The fugitives were able to gain a foothold on a hard-to-reach mountain peak, turning it into a military camp. Only one narrow path led to him from the valley.
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By the beginning of 73 BC. Spartak's detachment quickly grew to 10,000 people. The ranks of the rebellious gladiators were daily replenished with escaped slaves, gladiators, devastated by the peasants of the Campania province, defectors from the Roman legions. Spartacus sent small detachments to the surrounding estates, they freed slaves and took away weapons and food from the Romans. Soon the whole Campania, with the exception of the cities protected by strong fortress walls, was in the hands of the rebellious slaves.
Soon Spartacus won a series of convincing victories over the Roman troops, who were trying to suppress the slave uprising and destroy its participants. The summit of Vesuvius and the approaches to the extinct volcano became the scene of bloody battles. The Roman historian Sallust wrote about Spartacus of that time that he and his fellow gladiators were ready to "die sooner from iron than from hunger."
In the fall of 72 BC. rebellious slaves, the army of the praetor Publius Varinius was completely defeated, and he himself almost ended up in captivity, which plunged the authorities of Rome into considerable confusion. And before that, the Spartacists utterly defeated the Roman legion under the command of the praetor Clodius, who presumptuously set up his fortified camp simply on the only path leading to the top of Vesuvius. Then the gladiators weaved a long staircase from vines and at night descended along it from the mountain cliff. The Roman legion, unexpectedly attacked from the rear, was defeated.
Spartacus, showing excellent organizational skills, turned the army of the rebellious slaves into a well-organized army in the image of the Roman legions. In addition to the infantry, the Spartak army had cavalry, scouts, messengers, a small wagon train that did not burden the troops during their marching life. Weapons and armor were either captured during battles from the Roman troops, or made in the camp of the rebels. Established the training of troops, and also on the Roman model. The teachers of slaves and the Italian poor were former gladiators and fugitive legionnaires, who perfectly wielded various weapons and military formation of the Roman legions.
The slave army was distinguished by high morale and discipline. Initially, commanders of all ranks were selected from among the most experienced and reliable gladiators, and then they were appointed by Spartacus himself. Management of the Spartak army was built on a democratic basis and consisted of a council of military leaders and a meeting of soldiers. Established a firm routine for camp and field life.
Almost nothing is known about the other leaders of the powerful uprising of Spartacus in ancient Rome. History has preserved only the names of Krix and Enomai, two, probably Germans, who were elected by the rebellious gladiators to assist Spartacus, becoming the commanders of his army.
The first victories of the rebel slaves met with a wide response. From Campania, the uprising spread to the southern regions of Italy - Apulia, Lucania, Bruttia. By the beginning of 72 BC. army of Spartacus grew to 60,000 people, and during the campaign to the South it reached, according to various sources, the number of 90-120,000 people.
The Roman Senate was extremely concerned about the extent of the slave revolt. Against the Spartacus army, two Roman armies were sent, led by experienced and famous victories commanders - the consuls G. Lentulus and L. Helly. They hoped to succeed by taking advantage of the disagreements that had begun among the rebels. A significant part of the slaves wanted to escape from Italy through the Alps in order to find freedom and return to their homeland. Among them was Spartak himself. But the Italian poor who joined the slaves did not want this.
In the army of Spartacus there was a split: 30,000 people separated from it under the leadership of Krix. This detachment of rebels (historians still argue about its composition - whether it was the Germans or Italics) in the battle of Mount Gargana in Northern Apulia was destroyed by the Romans under the command of the consul Lucius Gellius. If the legionaries took the rebels prisoner, it was only in order to execute them.
The slave army was greatly weakened by such a loss. Spartak turned out to be a talented commander. Taking advantage of the disunity of the actions of the advancing armies of the consuls G. Lentula and L. Gellius, he defeated them one by one. In every battle, the well-organized and trained army of the rebels demonstrated their superiority over the Roman legions. After two such heavy defeats, the Roman Senate had a chance to hastily draw troops from distant provinces to Italy.
After these two great victories, Spartacus' army marched along the Adriatic coast of Italy. But even as a Carthaginian commander Hannibal, the leader of the rebellious slaves did not go to Rome, which was in awe of the real threat of a huge army of slaves and the Italian poor before its walls.
In northern Italy, in the province of Cisalpine Gaul, at the Battle of Mutina (south of the Padus Po river) in 72 BC. Spartacus utterly defeated the troops of the proconsul Cassius. From Mutina, the Romans fled to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is known that Spartacus did not pursue Cassius.
Now the rebellious slaves, who dreamed of finding freedom, were within easy reach of the Alps. No one stopped them from crossing the Alps and ending up in Gaul. But for unknown reasons, the Spartak army turned back from Mutina and, again bypassing Rome, went to the south of the Apennine Peninsula, keeping close to the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
The Roman Senate sent a new army against the rebels, this time 40,000, under the command of the experienced commander Mark Crassus, who came from the horse class and was distinguished by cruelty in establishing proper order in the army. He received under his command six Roman legions and auxiliary troops. Crassus's legions consisted of experienced, war-hardened soldiers.
In the fall of 72 BC. army of Spartacus concentrated on the Bruttian peninsula of Italy (modern province of Calabria). They wanted to cross the Strait of Messina to the island of Sicily on the ships of Asia Minor Cilician pirates. Most likely, Spartacus decided to raise slaves to revolt in this, one of the richest, province of Ancient Rome, which was considered one of his granaries. In addition, the history of this Italian region knew many performances of slaves with weapons in their hands.
But the Cilician pirates, fearing to become blood enemies of the powerful Rome, deceived Spartacus, and their naval fleets did not come to the shores of Bruttia, to the port of Regia. In the same port city there were no ships, because the rich Roman townspeople, when the rebels approached, left Rhegium on them. Attempts to cross the Strait of Messina on homemade rafts were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the army of Mark Crassus went into the rear of the rebels. The legionnaires erected a line of typical Roman fortifications at the narrowest point of the Bruttian Peninsula, which cut off the Spartak army from the rest of Italy. A moat was dug from sea to sea (about 55 kilometers long, 4.5 meters wide and deep) and a high bank was poured. The Roman legions as usual took up positions and prepared to repel the enemy's attack. There was only one thing left for that - either to doom people to starvation, or to storm the strong Roman fortifications at great risk to their lives.
Spartacus made their choice. They launched an unexpected night assault on enemy fortifications, filling up a deep and wide ditch with trees, brushwood, corpses of horses and earth, and broke through to the north. But during the assault on the fortifications, the rebels lost about 2/3 of their army. The Roman legions also suffered heavy losses.
Spartacus, who escaped from the Bruttian trap, soon replenished the ranks of his army in Lucania and Apulia with freed slaves and the Italian poor, bringing its number to 70,000 people. He intended in the spring of 71 BC. a surprise attack to seize the main port in southern Italy, in the province of Calabria - Brindisium (Brundisium). On the ships seized there, the rebels hoped to freely cross over to Greece, and from there they could easily reach Thrace, the homeland of Spartacus.
By that time, the Roman Senate sent to the aid of Mark Crassus the army of the commander Gnaeus Pompey who had arrived by sea from Spain, which had fought there against the Iberian tribes, and a large military detachment under the command of Mark Lucullus, hastily summoned from Thrace. Lucullus's troops landed in Brindisia, standing right in front of the Spartacus. Collectively, these Roman troops outnumbered Spartacus's army.
Upon learning of this, the leader of the rebellious slaves decided to prevent the connection of the Roman armies and break them one by one. But this task was complicated by the fact that the army of the rebels was once again weakened by internal strife. A large detachment (about 12,000 people who did not want to leave Italy through Brindisium) separated from it for the second time, which, like the detachment of Crixus, was almost completely destroyed by the Romans. This battle took place near Lake Lucan, where Mark Crassus was victorious.
The leader of the rebels led his army of about 60,000 people towards the legions of Mark Crassus, as the most powerful of his opponents. Spartacus seeks to retain the initiative in the war against Rome. Or he was expected only by the complete defeat and death of the army he created. The opponents met in the southern part of the Puglia province northwest of the city of Trento in 71 BC.
According to some reports, the Spartacists, in accordance with all the rules of the Roman military art, decisively attacked the Roman army in its fortified marching camp. The Roman historian Appian writes: "A great battle took place, extremely fierce, due to the despair that gripped so many people."
Before the start of the battle, Spartacus, as a military leader, was brought up to a horse. However, he drew his sword and stabbed him, saying that in case of victory his soldiers would get many good horses of the Romans, and in case of defeat he would not need his own. After that, Spartacus led his army against the legions of Mark Crassus, who also yearned for victory over the "despicable" slaves in Roman society.
The battle was fierce, since the defeated in it did not have to wait for mercy from the victors. Spartacus fought in the forefront of his warriors and tried to get through to Mark Crassus himself in order to fight him. He killed two centurions and quite a few legionnaires, but, "surrounded by a large number of enemies and repelling their blows, he was finally hacked to pieces." This is how the famous Plutarch described his death. Flor echoes him: "Spartacus, fighting in the first row with amazing courage, died, as would befit only a great commander."
The army of the rebels, after staunch and truly heroic resistance, was defeated, most of its soldiers died a heroic death on the battlefield. The legionnaires did not give life to the wounded slaves and, on the orders of Mark Crassus, finished them off on the spot. The Romans could not find the body of the deceased Spartacus on the battlefield in order to thereby prolong their triumph.
About 6,000 rebels fled from Puglia after suffering defeat to northern Italy. But there they were met and destroyed by the Spanish legions of Gnaeus Pompey, who, no matter how in a hurry, but did not have time for the decisive battle. Therefore, all the laurels of the winner of Spartacus and the salvation of Rome went to Mark Crassus.
But with the death of Spartacus and the defeat of his army, the uprising of slaves in Ancient Rome did not end. Scattered detachments of rebellious slaves, including those who fought under the banner of Spartacus himself, for several years still operated in a number of Italian regions, mainly in its south and the Adriatic coast. The local Roman authorities had to make a lot of efforts to completely defeat them.
The victors' reprisals against the captured rebellious slaves were cruel. Roman legionaries crucified 6,000 captured Spartacists along the road leading from Rome to the city of Capua, where the gladiatorial school was located, within the walls of which Spartacus and his comrades conspired.
The uprising of Spartacus deeply shook Ancient Rome and its slave system. It went down in world history as the largest slave uprising of all time. This uprising hastened the transition of state power in Rome from the republican form of government to the imperial one. The military organization created by Spartacus turned out to be so strong that for a long time it could successfully withstand the elite Roman army …
A. Shishov
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