Gladiator School at Capua

Some gladiator trainers were cruel to their gladiators. At a school in Capua, run by Lentulus Batiates, the trainee gladiators—most of them Thracians and Gauls—were treated brutally. At last, 200 of the men plotted an escape. But before they could carry out their plan, they were discovered.  Nevertheless, 78 of the gladiators invaded the school kitchen, stealing knives and anything else they could use as weapons. Armed with kitchenware, they fought their way to freedom. As they were fleeing from the city, they came upon several wagons loaded with gladiator arms. They seized these, then hid in the green slopes of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that 100 years later would bury the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Soldiers from Capua pursued them into the mountains. But the gladiators slaughtered them and confiscated their weapons. Now well-armed these highly trained fighting machines were a formidable force. What Roman soldier could stand up to a gladiator.  After all, Roman soldiers spent more time building roads, bridges and fortifications than fighting. Gladiators practiced combat skills all day long. The gladiators chose a Thracian named Spartacus to lead them. Spartacus was a brilliant leader. It’s said when he was first brought to Rome to be auctioned, a snake coiled up on his face while he slept. His wife, a prophetess, interpreted this to mean that Spartacus would achieve great power, but his power would lead to sorrow.

Rome sent six cohorts, 3000 soldiers under Clodius, to destroy the gang of gladiators. Upon their arrival at Vesuvius, they surrounded the gladiator camp. Only one path led out of the camp, and this was guarded by the Romans. Realizing he was trapped, Spartacus ordered his men to cut the long vines that grew on the slopes of Vesuvius and construct ladders from them. In the middle of the night they climbed quietly down the steep mountainside, out of sight of the Romans. Then they surprised their enemy, attacking from the rear. Spartacus’ men killed most of the soldiers and stole all their weapons.

A Slave Army vs. the Legions of Rome

After these victories slaves and gladiators from all over Italy flocked to Spartacus. From a small band of 78 men, the slave army eventually swelled to over 90,000. Spartacus’ army of gladiators defeated one Roman army after another. Even the legions of two consuls were crushed by the slave forces. But Spartacus knew his luck couldn’t last. The snake prophecy foretold as much.  One day the Romans would defeat him. So he planned to march out of Italy, escaping to freedom through the Alps. But his men refused to follow him. They preferred to live like a bandit army, plundering Italy and freeing all the slaves they encountered.

At last the Senate took drastic measures and appointed Crassus (one of the members of the first Triumvirate along with Pompey and Caesar) to face Spartacus. With twelve legions—100,000 men—Crassus pursued Spartacus to the boot of Italy. As he approached, Crassus sent one of his lieutenants, Mummius, with 10,000 men to observe the slave army’s movements. He ordered Mummius not to engage Spartacus.  But Mummius ignored the order and attacked. Spartacus soundly defeated him, killing many of his men and stealing the arms of most of the others.

Enraged, Crassus revived the ancient Roman punishment of decimation. Dividing the 500 troops who began the assault into fifty groups of ten men, he ordered that one soldier from each group be selected by lot and executed. Then Crassus re-armed those who’d lost their weapons and with all his legions took the field against Spartacus. But the slave army retreated toward the sea. Spartacus had a new plan. He arranged a secret meeting with Cilician pirates. These pirates controlled the seas and had the ships to transport the slave army to safety. Spartacus offered them huge sums of money, which they eagerly accepted. But the pirates never brought their ships. Spartacus was betrayed and trapped. He had no choice but to fight Crassus.

When the armies were encamped near each other, Crassus built a wall around the slave forces in an attempt to cut off their food supply. Not long after a portion of the slave army revolted and set up their own camp. Crassus attacked this group, waging a very bloody fight.  Plutarch says “of twelve thousand three hundred whom [Crassus] killed, two only were found wounded in their backs, the rest all having died standing in their ranks and fighting bravely.” These were the kind of warriors Crassus would have to face when he attacked Spartacus’ entire slave army.

But Spartacus was unwilling to fight. He retreated further into the mountains. Two of Crassus’ officers chased him and forced him into battle. The slave forces turned on them and annihilated the Romans. Their victory had a downside. It made the slave army overconfident. They refused to listen to Spartacus or his officers anymore. They forced him to leave the mountains and attack Crassus. Apparently they didn’t know Pompey’s army had just returned from Spain and was close at hand.  They would be outnumbered nearly two to one.

To show that this would be a decisive battle, Spartacus drove a sword through his horse just before the combat began, saying, “If we win, I will have many Roman horses to choose from. If we lose, I will no longer need my horse.”  Then his army attacked Crassus’ twelve legions.

Sparatacus made straight for Crassus, but was intercepted by two Roman centurions. He fought them at the same time, cutting them to pieces. But he never reached Crassus. The slave army was outflanked. As the battle raged on, the slaves fighting along side Spartacus fled, leaving their general to fend for himself. Spartacus was surrounded and killed. Eventually the slave army was routed; tens of thousand were killed. Afterward, to discourage other slaves from revolting, Crassus ordered the 6,000 survivors from the gladiator army to be crucified along the Appian Way.

Spartacus was dead. But he wasn’t forgotten. To slave-owning Romans he was a persistant nightmare. Would their own slaves turn on them? To the slaves he returned as a dream and a hope. Perhaps one day they could free themselves too.  Before answering the questions below, compare two ancient accounts of the rise and fall of Spartacus: “Plutarch on Spartacus” and Appian on Spartacus. (For more on Roman gladiators see “Gruesome Games” in Julius Caesar and Ancient Rome, from Republic to Empire.)

by Jesse Bryant Wilder, Editor © NEXUS, 2001.

QUESTIONS

1. 1. Why did the trainee gladiators rebel at the gladiatorial school in Capua?
   2. Where is Capua with respect to Rome?
   3. How long would it take a Roman army to march from Rome to Mount Vesuvius?
   4. How did Spartacus escape from the Romans when he was surrounded on Mount Vesuvius?
   5. Why did the Roman Senate select Crassus to face Spartacus and not Julius Caesar (another member of the 1^st Triumverate)?
   6. Who were the Cilician pirates? Where did they come from and why were they so powerful?
   7. Crassus sent one of his lieutenants, Mummius, with 10,000 men to observe the movements of Spartacus. Crassus ordered Mummius not to attack.  Mummius ignored the order and was defeated by the slave army.  How did Crassus punish Mummius’ army for disobedience?
   8. Why did Spartacus decide to attack Crassus’ legions?
   9. The essay states that “the slave army was outflanked.” What does this mean militarily?
   10. News reporters were not embedded with ancient armies as they are with modern ones. Nevertheless, pretend you are an ancient reporter travelling with the army of Spartacus or Crassus. Then write an account of any of the battles Spartacus’ army fought, using ancient sources as your eyes.  REMEMBER: in a news article a reporter provides readers with the answer to five questions:

WHAT happened?

WHERE did it happen?

WHEN did it happen?

WHY did it happen? What was or were the cause/causes?

HOW was the final result reached?

The WHEN and WHERE are the easiest and should be covered briefly. “On August 1, 72 BC, at such and such…… Next, state WHAT happened. With regard to the WHY and HOW, be objective like a professional journalist. In other words, present a balanced view of each army.

COMPARING ACCOUNTS – BRIEF ESSAY

What ancient historians wrote about Spartacus? Read two of these accounts and compare them to the above essay. Are all three in general agreement?  Are some incidents covered differently in some or each of the three versions?  Can you account for the differences? In other words, can you find possible biases, reasons for reticence or incomplete coverage on particular points, or any other reasons for inaccurate portrayals of any aspect of events?

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