Spartacus

Written by @MarchOfTheWest

A Legend Forged from Chains

Born in Trace, the future warrior could never have known what destiny awaited him. The records on Spartacus’s early life as a soldier are not clear. Some say he was captured while fighting against Rome, while others say that he served Rome until being enslaved for desertion. Whatever the case, Spartacus was taken from his homeland and sold into slavery.

After becoming a slave, Spartacus’s strength, skill, and grit proved his potential as a gladiator to his masters. He was sent to train at a gladiatorial school in Southern Italy, but his destiny was not to die in a combat arena surrounded by cheering crowds, as he would soon find out. 

Eventually, Spartacus found himself fighting with a group of insurgent gladiators, using weapons they raided from a kitchen, making their escape. They managed to capture more weapons from a wagon that was carrying them to be used by gladiators in another city. 

Plutarch described Spartacus as “more like a Greek than a Thracian.” His intelligence and determination earned him the loyalty of his fellow rebels. From this point onwards, Spartacus and his men were no longer slaves; they were soldiers. Soldiers who would make the mighty Roman Republic tremble, as these men who once made up the bottom of society rose up in defiance of their cruel masters. 

Now on the run but not seen as a significant threat, the runaway slaves-turned-warriors found themselves being hunted by a small force of about three thousand men led by Clodius (full name Gaius Claudius Glaber). The Romans were not ones to be outsmarted easily, but Spartacus and his men were able to capture Clodius’s camp after they secretly climbed down from a hill and attacked the surrounded Roman forces.

Spartacus and his brave warriors would continue winning victory after victory against the legions that were sent to subdue them as more people joined Spartacus’s growing army, which slowly raised more alarm bells in the Senate. 

Rome, the light of civilization. The glory of the stars graced the hills the eternal city rested on. This promise of civilization that Rome offered, which had been denied to the men who were now in revolt, still stood in everyone's minds as the rebels marched towards the Alps. There, they would be free. But arrogance is as venomous as it is alluring. Many of Spartacus’s men wished to stay in Italy, and perhaps even take Rome itself. 

After Spartacus’s troops defeated Cassius, the governor of Cisalpine Gaul, Crassus was appointed to take on the rebelling army. A series of battles would ensue, while Crassus found himself racing against time to defeat Spartacus before Pompey could arrive and take all the credit and glory. 

The final confrontation would take place during the Battle of the Silarius River. Just before charging into battle, Spartacus killed his horse with his sword for, as Plutarch put it: “the enemy had plenty of good horses which would be his if he won, and, if he lost, he would not need a horse at all.” This was the last stand of those who fought for their freedom. The strength and morale of Spartacus’s army had been depleted, however, and Crassus’s legions, along with Pompey’s reinforcements, were able to destroy most of the insurgent army while capturing the rest. Spartacus himself charged straight for Crassus, but died fighting the horde of legionaries that had come to end his rebellion. Six thousand of his men were captured and crucified along the Appian Way, which stretches from Rome to Capua. 

Spartacus died fighting for the freedom that was denied to him, while enshrining his name in the heavens as an eternal symbol of liberty. Through the centuries, there are few names that stand out as a symbol of hope as the name Spartacus, the man who made his legend from his unbroken chains.