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Spartacus (c. 109 BC-71 BC) was a Thracian revolutionary born in the city of Desudave, currently known as Sandanski, in what is now South-Western Bulgaria. According to Roman historians, Spartacus was a slave who became the leader (or possibly one of several leaders) in the biggest slave uprising against the Roman Republic known as the Third Servile War. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are inaccurate and often contradictory.

Spartacus's struggle, often seen as the fight of an oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning aristocracy, has found new meaning for modern writers since the 19th century. The rebellion of Spartacus has proven inspirational to many modern literary and political writers, making Spartacus a folk hero among cultures both ancient and modern.

Ancient depictions of Spartacus

Spartacus's origins

The ancient sources agree on Spartacus's origins. Plutarch describes him as "a Thracian of Nomadic stock". 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". 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 afterwards, from consideration of his strength, a gladiator". Some authors refer to the Thracian tribe of the Maedi, which in historic times occupied the area on the southwestern fringes of Thrace (present-day south-western Bulgaria). There is a hypothesis, he was born in the Thracian settlement Desudava, in the area of present-day Sandanski, where his monument is buildt. Plutarch also writes that Spartacus's wife, a prophetess of the same 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 and Pontus are known to have borne it, and a Thracian "Spardacus" or "Sparadokos", father of Seuthes I of the Odrysae, is also known. However "Thraex" or Thracian was a style of gladiatorial combat, and it has been argued that this may have confused the sources about his geographical origins, although no alternative origin is attested.

Third Servile War

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Revolt leading to the Third Servile War

Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school (ludus) near Capua, belonging to Lentulus Batiatus. Finally in 73 BC, Spartacus and some seventy 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. Spartacus's intention was to leave Italy and return home. His chief aides were gladiators from Gaul and Germania, named Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and Oenomaus. The Senate sent an inexperienced 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 blocking their escape, but Spartacus had ropes made from vines and with his men, climbed down a cliff on the other side of the volcano, to the rear of the Roman soldiers, and staged a surprise attack. Not expecting trouble from a handful of slaves, the Romans had not fortified their camp or posted adequate sentries. As a result, most of the Roman soldiers were still sleeping and killed in this attack, including Claudius Glaber. After this success many runaway slaves joined Spartacus until the group grew into an army of allegedly 140,000 escaped slaves.

Military success continues

Spartacus is credited as an excellent military tactician and his experience as a former auxiliary soldier made him a formidable enemy, but his men were mostly former slave labourers who lacked military training. They hid out in the Caldera on Mount Vesuvius which at that time was dormant and heavily wooded, and this enabled them to train properly for the fight with the Romans.

Due to the short amount of time expected before battle, Spartacus delegated training to the Gladiators who trained small groups, and these then trained other small groups and so on leading to the development of a fully-trained army in a matter of weeks. By spring they marched north towards Gaul.

The Senate, alarmed, sent two consuls, Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, each with a legion, against the rebels. Crixus wanted to stay in Italy and plunder but Spartacus wanted to continue North and so, along with around 30,000 Gaul and Germanic supporters, Crixus left Spartacus and was later defeated by Publicola. Crixus was killed in battle. Spartacus first defeated Lentulus, and then Publicola. At Picenum in central Italy, Spartacus defeated the consular armies, then pushed north. At Mutina (now Modena) in 73BC, they defeated yet another legion under Gaius Cassius Longinus, the Governor of Cisalpine Gaul ("Gaul this side of the Alps"). By now, Spartacus's many followers included women, children, and elderly men who tagged along.

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. 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. Spartacus's 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 Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus from Macedonia.

Spartacus managed to break through Crassus's lines and escape towards Brundisium (now Brindisi), but Pompey's forces intercepted them in Lucania, and the slaves were routed in a subsequent battle at the river Silarus, where Spartacus is believed to have fallen. According to Plutarch, "Finally, after his companions had taken to flight, he (Spartacus) stood alone, surrounded by a multitude of foes, and was still defending himself when he was cut down".According to Appian, "Spartacus was wounded in the thigh with a spear and sank upon his knee, holding his shield in front of him and contending in this way against his assailants until he and the great mass of those with him were surrounded and slain"; The body of Spartacus was not found.

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 Brundisium to Rome. Crassus never gave orders for the bodies to be taken down, thus travelers were forced to see the bodies for years 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.

Modern depictions of Spartacus

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.
• Spartacus has been a great inspiration to revolutionaries in modern times, most notably the Spartacist League of Weimar Germany, which later became the Communist Party of Germany, as well as the Spartacus anti-fascist organisation in the '70s Austria.
• 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.
• Founder of the Bavarian Illuminati Adam Weishaupt often referred to himself as Spartacus within written correspondences.

Artistic

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.
• Just before the members of The Wonders are about to play the biggest show of their careers during one of the final scenes of Tom Hanks' 1996 film That Thing You Do! the band's lead guitarist Lenny Haise asks, "Skitch, how did we get here?" Drummer Guy Patterson replies, "I led you here, sir, for I am Spartacus."
• 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.
• Sam Raimi has confirmed that is he producing a 13 episode television series based on Spartacus. Filming is expected to start next year and will be aired on Starz.
• In movie "The Recruit" hero Clayton helped to develop a computer program called Sp@rtacus, which turns computer terminals to which it is networked into its slave

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 The students of Spartacus (Uczniowie 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
• In the Bolo novel Bolo Rising by William H. Keith, the character HCT "Hector" is based on Spartacus.
• In the novel Flip by David Lubar, one of the legends Ryan becomes is Spartacus, specifically when he is challenged to a fight by the school bully.
• Amal Donkol, the Egyptian modern poet wrote his masterpiece "The Last Words of Spartacus".

Music

• Spartacus is a ballet, with a score by composer Aram Khachaturian.
• Australian composer Carl Vine wrote a short piano piece entitled Spartacus, from "Red Blues."
• The German group Triumvirat released the album Spartacus in 1975.
• Jeff Wayne released his musical retelling, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus in 1992.
• Phantom Regiment, a World Class (formerly Division 1) drum corps of Drum Corps International, performed a show entitled "Spartacus" depicting the show through music and visual movement for their competitive field show in 1981, 1982, and 2008. Their 2008 program won World Championship Finals.

Videogames

• Spartacus is a character in the real-time strategy game Rome: Total War.

Sport

• Spartak football club and Spartak sport society are named in honor of Spartacus.
• The Spartakiad was a competition similar to the Olympic games for countries of the Soviet bloc.,
• Swiss Professional Cyclist Fabian Cancellara has been given the nickname 'Spartacus'

Other

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

References

1. Plutarch, Crassus 8
2. Appian, Civil Wars 1.116
3. Florus, Epitome of Roman History 2.8
4. The Histories, Sallust, Patrick McGushin, Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN 0198721439, p. 112.
5. Balkan history, Thracian tribes, Maedi.
6. Bulgaria, Jonathan Bousfield, Dan Richardson, Richard Watkins, Rough Guides - 2002, ISBN 1858288827
7. Archaeology fieldwork and trips in Bulgaria and Greece.
8. Bulgaria travel guide, Monument of Spartacus.
9. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library Book 12
10. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library Book 16
11. Theucidides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.101
12. Tribes, Dynasts and Kingdoms of Northern Greece: History and Numismatics
13. William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities: "Gladiatores"
14. Plutarch, Crassus, 8:1–2; Appian, Civil Wars, 1:116; Livy, Periochae, 95:2; Florus, Epitome of Roman History, 2.8; Plutarch claims 78 escaped, Livy claims 74, Appian "about seventy", and Florus says "thirty or rather more men".
15. Plutarch • Life of Crassus
16. Appian • The Civil Wars — Book I
17. History of Spartak, fcspartak.ru Template:Ru icon
18. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, volume 24 (part 1), p. 286, Moscow, Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya publisher, 1976