An episode of the Partial Historians podcast about Spartacus, because why not? Pre-order Dr Rad and Dr G's new book, Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire now! Find out more and listen to the Partial Historians here.
Oh hi, hello there, I didn't see you. This is let's not go miss baby, but not really, because today I am here with a little bit of a bonus for you all because our good friends, the Partial Historians, those wonderful Australian women who share all things Ancient Rome. Well, not only do they have a new book coming out, the title of which is Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire. I mean, come on, it sounds amazing. Not only do they have that new book coming out, but they have provided me with a little bit of a bonus episode for you all. So this is an episode of the Partial Historians talking about Spartacus, because I knew you'd all want to hear about Spartacus and we love the Partial Historians. So is it back and enjoy and you should probably pre order Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire because I mean it sounds great. Find out more in the episode's description.
Hello, and welcome to a special bonus episode of the Past Historians, or perhaps that should just be the Partial Historian, because it's just me Dr Rad flying solo today. Why you may ask, Well, it may have a little something to do with our new book, Doctor G and I have been busy writing a little book called Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire, which at the time of recording is available for pre order and will be due out late in twenty twenty four. I believe November is the auspicious month slated for release, And as it turns out, we actually have a little bit of bonus content that's going to accompany me with this book. That's right, We've got a whole section that's called with a Rebel Yell that will be available on the Ulysses Press website for those people who just can't get enough of ancient Rome, and we thought it would be a little bit of a treat for our listeners to hear us actually read out this bonus material for our book, give you a bit of an idea about what is in store for today, and I get to be the lucky one who kicks things off this time. I'm going to start with well, to be honest, it's a place where you probably expect me to start the chapter on Spartacus that we wrote. So this is with a Rebel Yell, the man, the myth, the legend, Spartacus. Let's kick this chapter off with a bold statement Spartacus is the most famous rebel in Rome's history. Nowadays. Part of his fame may be down to the nineteen sixty movie starring Kirk Douglas, The Man with a jaw of marble and a chin cleft as deep as the Grand Canyon. But where does his legend begin and why did he become so notorious? Ancient Rome was a slave state. Whilst we will never know for certain how many enslaved people there were, there were a lot of them, and they were everywhere. If you could afford it, you owned a slave. The richy riches of the Roman world might own hundreds. The state itself owned slaves. This meant that it was quite common for enslaved people from all over the known world to be living on alongside free people. The Romans were aware that this could be risky. What if your slaves abuse their insider access? What was stopping them from murdering their owners? This sounds like a horror movie in the making. The call is coming from inside the house. This is all to say that the Romans were always slightly on edge about the possibility of disobedient or scarier still, rebellious slaves. They were allowed to dish it out, but slaves were never supposed to retaliate. If written histories can be believed, slaves have been part of the fabric of Roman society since the regal period. However, our records indicate that there were not that many large scale slave rebellions, particularly after the fall of the Republic. The reasons why are complicated, and if we ever want to get to Spartacus, we will just have to accept this and move on. In the late Republic, there was a series of slave uprisings in short succession. The first two took place in Sicily, but the last originated on the mainland, and the rebels were very close to Rome itself at one point. This was the revolt led by Spartacus. Spartacus is not an easy man to get to know. This is not just because he liked to play hard to get or work to cultivate a brooding masculine quality. He just was not important enough to have much recorded about him until he struck back in seventy three BCE. Even after he did become significant, neither Spartacus nor his followers thought to keep a detailed journal of their adventures, or if they did, it disappeared somewhere along the way, a thoughtless service sight on their part. Footnote all jokes aside. Slavery in the Roman world was a bit different to the image of slavery that many may have from the United States of America. There were no blanket laws about enslaved people and literacy, probably because it was so impractical. People could be enslaved for so many reasons and at different stages of life. A common way to become enslaved at this point in Rome's history would have been to be taken prisoner in a war, so educated people were just as vulnerable as the next in this scenario. In fact, some enslaved persons were because of their high level of education and were used for administrative persons in households and even by the state. One of the most infamous examples of this is Claudius and the various freedmen or freed slaves he relied on during his rule as emperor. Back to the narrative, we have to rely entirely on pro Roman accounts to piece together the activities of the escapees. Let's return to the origin of the whole shebang. We know that it all began in a ludus or a gladiatorial school in Capua Capua was a prominent city with its own amphitheater not too distant from Rome. Spartacus was one of the gladiators and therefore a slave. How did he wind up as a gladiator. There are indications that he was originally from Thrace think Bulgaria, and he may have served in an auxiliary unit for the Roman army and deserted, perhaps making his living as a brigand until he was apprehended. He could also have been a prisoner of war. Thrace had a history of getting punchy with Rome. Most shockingly, a fragment from Varro claims that Spartacus was an innocent man who nonetheless was sentenced to this cruel fate. Whichever way you look at it, it was not his choice to be in this ludus. Believe it or not, some people did volunteer to become gladiators. Gladiators held an interesting position in Roman society. Their feats in the arena could win an admiration, but in terms of the social pyramid, they were right at the bottom, alongside sex workers. It was kind of a love hate relationship, like how we all feel about the Kardashians. The Ludus was owned by a lanista named Lentilus Battiatus. This man may have been particularly strict or cruel, and this provoked a rebellion. But maybe being a gladiator was enough. Sure, it might win some renown for your skills in the arena and get decent medical treatment, but you were still a slave in a spectacularly dangerous job at the end of the day. You may not be forced to fight to the death in this era, but serious injuries and infections might still finish you off the historian Appian records. The most interesting and relatable motivation Spartacus convinced the other gladiators to fight for their freedom rather than the entertainment of others. Was Spartacus a star of the arena who had managed to evade death in numerous death defying jewels. We don't know. Blutarch's description implies that Spartacus and his fellow skpes were fighters, not new recruits. But how experienced is anyone's guests to be chosen as a gladiator. Spartacus was most likely still a young man. It would not have made good business sense to train a fifty year old. Gladiators did not have easy access to the weapons they would have used in fights. Spartacus and co. Had to break out of the Lutus using whatever they could grab in the kitchen before they could secure more traditional weaponry. The rebels initially numbered anywhere between thirty and two hundred, but most sources agree that around seventy to eighty actually escaped. Yep, those sources again time to make an important distinction. These guys may have been rebels, but they were not a rabble. They knew that they needed to introduce some organization into this gaper. Three leaders were chosen, one of which was Spartacus, the others being gladiators named Onomaeus and Crixus. Here is where we can finally introduce one of the most intriguing details about Spartacus. He was married to a woman from his tribe, and his wife escaped with him. Only one source, Plutarch includes his detail about Spartacus's wife, but a lot of adaptations of his story have latched onto the hint of romance and run with it, and it is romantic to imagine Spartacus and his wife managing to stay together when they were sold to Battiatus, and her fighting for freedom by his side. Very unusual, though the Romans did not prioritize keeping families together where slavery was concerned. Plutarch mentions her when relating a prophecy about Spartacus. Conveniently, she was a prophetess and a follower of Dionysus, so when a snake gave Spartacus's face a cuddle when he was napping, she knew it meant he was destined for great fortune and power. So this cuddle allegedly happened when the two were up for sale in Rome, so it must have seemed like wishful thinking at the time, although people in the ancient world did take omens very seriously. Unless this is all Plutarch's fantasy and a way to foreshadow that Spartacus was no ordinary dude, but why erase her from history? Women have had that happen too often, so let's run wild with this main ad wife. In tur Spartacus and his followers managed to fend off some Capuan soldiers who were sent after him. That might not have been super hard for trained fighters. These guys may have been more like army reserves. It's what they did next that's pretty amazing. A force of three thousand men, led by the praetor Claudius Labor was dispatched from Rome. The slaves took refuge on Mount Vesuvius, still over a century away from the monster explosion that would devastate this area, and it must have seemed to the Romans that they were well and truly trapped. There was only one viable way to descend from their refuge, so all the Romans had to do was wait, lang on just a dun second, Romans, this is Spartacus we're dealing with. He may be just a slave to you, but the historian Sallus praised him for his strength and courage. Even Plutarch, a pro Roman source, said that sparta was quote possessed not only of great courage and strength, but also in sagacity and culture, superior to his fortune, and more Hellenic than Thracian. There is no higher compliment from a Greek like Plutarch than to call someone kind of Greek being exceedingly clever. The slaves fashioned rope ladders out of the vines that grew on Vesuvius. They use these to lower themselves and their weapons down in a location that was not actually being surveiled by the Romans. This allowed the rebels to catch the Romans by surprise and capture their army. We know, we know, sounds like something out of a bad action movie, right, Yet this story is attested in multiple sources. We're leaning towards true for this one. The slave army continue to defeat the Roman forces sent against them. Actually, defeat does not quite capture it. They humiliated them. One praetor Cassini was literally caught with his pants and everything down as he indulged in a spot of bathing. From the start, the rebels had attracted new followers in their travels. The official term would be randous slaves, shepherds, even some free people, but only the poor ones, the disenfranchised. All of this success can only have made the prospect of running away to join Spartacus more attractive. If what Appaian says about Spartacus dividing booty equally amongst his followers is true, this would only have increased the appeal. Spartacus also had a certain strategic flare, perhaps combining what he knew of both Thracian and Roman warfare. He didn't peak with the vine ladders. Spartacus gets credited with trying to fashion a proper army. His followers fashioned their own armor, shields, and weapons. They captured horses and formed cavalry units. During one of his earlier victories, Spartacus may even have captured some of the insignia from the defeated Roman magistrate, such as the Fascus. The Romans would have just collectively rolled over in their graves if they didn't prefer cremation. The camp was guarded by sentries and organized regular patrols. The slaves once managed to sneak away from their camp after propping dead bodies up to look like their usual guards creepy. More disturbingly, for contemporary audiences, Spartacus may have used captured Romans to stage his own gladiatorial displays to honor his fallen comrades. We may not love that last part, but we should not delude ourselves into seeing the two sides here as the goody versus the baddies. Most of Spartacus's followers would have led tough lives, if not violent ones. Their pillaging and plundering involved arson, theft, rape, and murder. Spartacus may have crucified a prisoner as a warning of what might fulfall them if they failed killed people and animals that were slowing down his movement and forced others to fight to the death. Let's just say few people in this story would have been chosen as a spokesman for fabric SOFTNA. What was the game plan here? This is where a slave diary or two would really help us out. The sources are conflicted about what the rebels were actually trying to achieve in the long term. Perhaps we should look no further than freedom, Get out, get out of a Talia, this nightmarish boot right now, that in itself is an understandable goal for a bunch of ex slaves and disaffected poor, But after a series of winds and an influx of newbies, their plans may have started to change. With thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of followers, a unified goal was hard to achieve. Spartacus wanted to escape from Italy, but were told that most of the rebels wanted to just ravage their way around the country. Or is that classic Roman bias at play? How long could their luck hold out if they remained. The Romans had not been too concerned at first by this small band of renegade gladiators. Now their numbers had grown, and it was not a good look for a collection of slaves and peasants to be defeating a premiere power like Rome. Spartacus himself was either an exceptional commander or very intent on proving his wife right. Bless the Romans through the consuls and yet more soldiers at the rebels. Whilst the consul Gellius enjoyed some success against the Gallic Germanic contingent which had split from Spartacus's crew, Spartacus himself remained undefeated. It was time to call in the big guns, or rather the deep pockets, enter Marcus. Like Kineus, Crassus, very ambitious, very very wealthy, Crasus agreed to take charge of a situation that had spiraled well out of control, even paying for six fresh legions himself. It is thanks to Crasus that we have one of our more detailed accounts of Spartacus. He shows up in Plutarch's biography of Crassus, perhaps as a way of showing Crassus up. Plutarch was not a fan. At first. Crasus did not have much more luck than those before him. He was so furious with the loss he decimated part of his army. This literally means that you kill every tenth man. In case you're wondering, no, this was not a super common penalty. Crasus just had that classic dilemma, how best to show my displeasure with my troops. The decimation seems to have suitably scared the oatmeal out of the soldiers, as Crasus's performance started to improve after this rocky start. Unfortunately, this means that our hero star was starting to flicker. With Crassus's forces on his tail. Spartacus struck a deal with the Sletian pirates to transport his followers to Sicily, which had a recent history of slave revolts. Presumably Spartacus intended to stir up the old troubles there. He never got the chance, as the Saltians betrayed him Yaho meaty. The slaves moved on to Reggiem think the toe of the boot, where Crassus quickly followed. He ordered his men to build fortifications to try and trap the rebels in the shoe. We hate to give credit to the Romans here, but this was their vine rope ladder moment. This barricade was wide, tall and long, and involved a ditch, although probably nowhere near as long as Plutarch implies, it was definitely an obstacle and a gigantic pain in Spartacus's ass Luckily, our slave commander still had a few tricks up his sleeve. On a stormy, snowy night, the slaves filled in part of the ditch with sticks and dead bodies yum, and managed to get across. There are hints of tensions within the slave camp throughout their rebellion, starting with the supposed disagreements about their goals. The fragmentary but early account from the historian Sallus mentioned Spartacus begging his army to stop their violent assaults on the people in the area, and them taking exactly zero notice. At this later point in the war, the division seemed to be manifesting itself physically, with the rebels camping separately. There may have been practical reasons behind this decision food, supply, water, but it may have been tied to the ethnicity of the slaves. Slaves and gladiators would have been from a variety of backgrounds, and the leaders on Amaeus, Crixus, Canachus, and Castas may have taken charge of the people who shared their own culture. Camping apart, however, exposed the slaves to more danger. Krixus had perished along with many others when they fought without Sparta after their escape from Reggiem. Cresus took advantage of another split to make an attack that probably would have been successful if Spartacus hadn't arrived just in the nick of time. Canicus and Cassas's following were less fortunate when the Romans launched an assault on their detachments. Even with this loss, Spartacus's contingent was still capable of dealing the Romans a devastating blow. Plutarch paints this final victory as a turning point. Confidence infected the slaves like a disease. They weren't willing to play it safe and avoid battles. They weren't listening to their leaders anymore. They were calling the shots. But their next battle would be their last. There was an epic final clash in seventy one BCE between the slave army and Crassus's forces. The rebels did not prevail, and many were slaughtered. Some of the survivors managed to flee into the surrounding areas, but six thousand were taken prisoner and crucified alone along the road from Capua to Rome. A grizzly end and a strong warning what of our valiant leader. Spartacus's end is as murky as his beginning. We will never know for sure what happened to him, but the sources indicate that he perished during the battle. Plutarch provides the most cinematic account of his last moments. Spartacus was trying to fight his way through the Malay to reach Crassus, who was bravely putting his life on the line as well. Two centurions tried to take him on, but Spartacus killed them, continuing his quest to find the Roman commander. Gradually Spartacus's comrades were slain or fled. He stood alone, surrounded by his enemy. He fought them all to the bitter end, until finally one of them dealt the fatal blow. Spartacus's resistance was at an end. Rome obviously had more forces at their disposal in a conflict like this, making the slaves the underdogs. When you add in that tantalizing hint from Viro that Spartacus should never have even been condemned in the first place. Goose bumps literal goose bumps and there's something many of us love about rooting for the underdogs, especially when all they seem to want is something that we now regard as fundamental freedom. If we come back to the sizeable slave population in Italy, the possibility of slaves everywhere uniting with Spartacus to fight, well, it sends our imaginations a little wild. The fact remains that they didn't. Some slaves rallied behind Spartacus, but the majority did not. Romans continued to own slaves and train gladiators. The system remained. Little had changed. The only way the slaves could really have won was to evade recapture or death. We can still see the genuine concern aroused by this rebellion. The Romans sent increasingly higher ranking people to deal with Spartacus, and when Crisus had taken over, either he or the Senate, probably the laver sent for reinforcements in the form of Pompy the Great and the Culus. Even the positive comments made about the slaves say something. For instance, they're bravery in battle, the Romans go nuts for a soldier only gets wounded in the front. Spartacus is not universally demonized. Indeed, he's even praised in some accounts. Did the pro Roman accounts feel the knee to build their enemy into a suitably impressive foe. We cannot be sure, and we certainly don't want to take away any of the very real accomplishments of these enslaved people. The Romans weren't the only culture to faint at the feet of manly warriors. Nonetheless, we do need to be wary, as the Greco Romans were not averse to twisting the occasional detail to suit themselves, and the rebels would never have been their main priority in whatever story they were telling. Spartacus was gone, but not forgotten. How could the Romans forget a man like this? It challenged their understanding of the social order. That someone with such a lowly pedigree could triumph against Roman forces, a slave commanding an army against them, plundering villages, defeating pritles, consuls and proconsuls, evading capture for years, rampaging through Italy, even coming close to Rome itself. It shamed them deeply, and their war against him continued to be referred to for centuries to come. Does deep psychological trauma countess of victory? We'd like to think so from one perspective, Spartacus's life was brutal and short. However, from another perspective, his journey was epic. To quote Floris, the man who from being a Thracian mercenary had become a soldier, and from a soldier a deserter, then a highwayman, and finally, thanks to his strength, a gladiator. If you'd like to learn more about Spartacus, we suggest checking out Appian's account of the Civil Wars, Plutarch's Life of Crassus, and of course the wonderful collection of primary documents put together by Beady show Spartacus and the Slave Wars. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I really hope that you enjoy that little chapter that sneak preview of your chihe guide to the Roman Empire. A reminder that is just bonus content. So if you want to hear all the other wonderful stories that doctor G and I have concocted for you, you will just have to make sure you pick up a copy of our book. Until next time, we are yours in Ancient Rome.