This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 78.177.254.121 (talk) at 20:04, 20 July 2008 (→Third Servile War). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Spartacus (c. 109 BC-71 BC), according to Roman historians, was a slave who became the leader (or possibly one of several leaders) in the unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic known as the Third Servile War. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and the surviving historical accounts are inaccurate and often contradictory. Spartacus's struggle, often seen as the fight for an oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning aristocracy, 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.

Ancient depictions of Spartacus

Spartacus's origins

The ancient sources do not agree on Spartacus's origins. Plutarch describes him as "a Greek of nomadic stock", although this reading is disputed: where some editions give Νομαδικοῦ, others give Μαιδικοῦ, which Konrad Ziegler argues, refers to the Thracian tribe of the Medi. Plutarch also says Spartacus's wife, a prophetess of the same tribe, was enslaved with him. 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 says he "had become a Roman soldier, of a soldier a deserter and robber, and afterwards, from consideration of his strength, a gladiator". "Thracian" was a style of gladiatorial combat in which the gladiator fought with a round shield and a short sword or dagger, and it has been argued that this may have confused the sources about his geographical origins, although no alternative origin is attested. 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.

==

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, 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.

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.

Music

• Spartacus is a ballet, with a score by composer Aram Khachaturian.
• 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 junior 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.

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. William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities: "Gladiatores"
5. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library Book 12
6. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library Book 16
7. Theucidides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.101
8. Tribes, Dynasts and Kingdoms of Northern Greece: History and Numismatics
9. History of Spartak, fcspartak.ru Template:Ru icon
10. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, volume 24 (part 1), p. 286, Moscow, Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya publisher, 1976

Bibliography

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)

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). 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).
• Genner, Michael. "Spartakus. Eine Gegengeschichte des Altertums nach den Legenden der Zigeuner". Two volumes. Paperback. Trikont Verlag, Munchen 1979/1980. Vol 1 ISBN 3-88167-053-X Vol 2 ISBN 3-88167-060-2

==External .com/title/tt0054331/ "Spartacus"—Movie starring Kirk Douglas and Sir Peter Ustinov]

• "Spartacus"—TV-Mini-series starring Goran Višnjić and Alan Bates l

• 71 BC deaths
• Rebel slaves in ancient Rome
• Roman gladiators
• Thracians
• Military personnel killed in action