Third Servile War

Third Servile War
Part of The Servile Wars
Italia and surrounding territory, 218 BC
Date 73 to 71 BC Location Italia Result Decisive Roman Victory
Belligerents
Army of escaped slaves	Roman Republic
Commanders and leaders
Crixus†, Oenomaus†, Spartacus† (presumed dead, body never found)	Gaius Claudius Glaber, Publius Varinius, Gnaeus Clodianus, Lucius Gellius Publicola, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Gnaeus Manlius, Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus.
Strength
120,000 escaped slaves and gladiators	3,000+ militia under Gaius Claudius Glaber, 8 Roman Legions (2 under the consuls, and 6 new legions under Crassus; 40,000-50,000 men), 12,000 additional soldiers whose organization is unknown. (2,000+ under Publius Varinius, and 10,000 under Gaius Cassius Longinus).
Casualties and losses
Almost all killed in action, or crucified by Crassus after defeat.	Unspecified but heavy losses due to combat in all actions. 50 or 4,000 lost through disciplinary decimation by Crassus (depending on historical account).

The Third Servile War (73 - 71 BC), also called the Gladiator War and The War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last of a series of unrelated and unsuccessful slave rebellions against Rome, known collectively as the Servile Wars. During the conflict, an army of escaped slaves eventually numbering around 120,000, under command of the famous gladiator-general Spartacus, raided the Italian countryside; defeated several Roman armies sent out to capture or destroy them; and — according to some historical accounts — attempted to escape northwards to freedom over the Alps in Cisalpine Gaul but for reasons that are unclear turned back southwards to occupy parts of southern Italy. The war ended in 71 BC, when after a long and bitter fighting retreat before the legions of Marcus Licinius Crassus, and knowing that the legions of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus were moving in to entrap them, the armies of Spartacus launched their full strength against Crassus' legions and were utterly destroyed.

While Spartacus' war is noteworthy in its own right, the Third Servile War was significant to the larger history of ancient Rome mostly by the effect it had on the careers of Pompey and Crassus. The two generals used their success in putting down the rebellion to further their political careers, using their public acclaim, and the implied threat of their legions, to sway the consular elections of 70 BC in their favor. Their actions as Consuls greatly furthered the subversion of Roman political institutions, and contributed to the eventual transition of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

The rebellion begins (73 BC)

The Capuan revolt

In the first century BC, gladiatorial games were one of the more popular forms of entertainment in Rome. In order to supply gladiators for the contests, several training schools, or ludi, were established throughout Italia. In these schools, prisoners of war and condemned criminals — who were considered slaves — were taught the skills required to fight to the death in the gladiatorial games. In 73 BC, a group of some 200 gladiators in the Capuan school owned by Lentulus Batiatus plotted an escape. When their plot was betrayed, a force of about 70 men seized implements from the kitchen ("choppers and spits"), fought their way free of the school, and seized several wagons of gladiatorial weapons and armor.

Once free, the escaped gladiators chose leaders from their number, selecting two Gallic slaves — Crixus and Oenomaus — and Spartacus, who was said to be a Thracian auxiliary from the Roman legions, condemned into slavery for desertion.

These escaped slaves were able to defeat a small force of troops sent after them from Capua, and equip themselves with captured military equipment as well as their gladiatorial weapons. Sources are somewhat contradictory as to the order of events immediately following the escape, but it seems to be agreed that this band of escaped gladiators plundered the region surrounding Capua, recruited many other slaves into their ranks, and eventually retired to a more defensible position on Mount Vesuvius.

Defeat of the praetorian armies

File:3rd Servile initial.gif

Initial movements of Roman and Slave forces from the Capuan revolt up to and including the winter of 73 BC.

As the revolt and raids were occurring in Campania — which was a vacation region of the rich and influential in Rome, and the location of many estates — the revolt quickly came to the attention of Roman authorities. However, it took Rome some time to realize the scale of the problem, viewing the slave revolt as more of a major crime wave than as an armed rebellion.

A Roman praetor, Gaius Claudius Glaber, was dispatched to deal with the problem, gathering a force of 3,000 men, not as legions, but as a militia "picked up in haste and at random, for the Romans did not consider this a war yet, but a raid, something like an attack of robbery." Glaber's forces besieged the slaves on Mount Vesuvius, blocking the only known way down off the mountain. With the slaves thus contained, Glaber was content to wait until starvation forced the slaves to surrender. In response, Spartacus' men made ropes and ladders from vines and trees growing on the slopes of Vesuvius, and used them to rappell down the cliffs on the opposite side of the mountain from Glaber's forces. They then moved around the base of Vesuvius, outflanked the army, and annihilated Glaber's forces.

A second expedition, under the praetor Publius Varinius, was then dispatched against Spartacus. For some reason, Varinius seems to have split his forces under the command of his subordinates Furius and Cossinius. It is mentioned that Furius commanded some 2,000 men, but neither the strength of the remaining forces, nor whether the expedition was composed of militia or legions, appears to be known. These forces were also defeated by the army of escaped slaves, Cossinius killed, Varinius nearly captured, and the equipment of the armies seized by the slaves. With these successes, more and more slaves were flocking to the Spartacan forces, as well as "many of the herdsmen and shepherds of the region", swelling their ranks to some 70,000. The rebel slaves spent the winter of 73 BC arming and equipping their new recruits, and expanding their raiding territory to include the towns of Nola, Nuceria, Thurii and Metapontum.

The victories of the rebel slaves did not come without cost however. Sometime in the course of these events, or possibly during some of the winter raids in late 73 BC, Oenomaus was lost — presumably in battle — and is not mentioned further in the histories.

Motives of the escaped slaves

By the end of 73 BC, Spartacus and Crixus were in command of a large group of armed men, with the proven ability to withstand Roman armies. What they intended to with this force is somewhat problematic for modern readers to determine. As the Third Servile War was ultimately an unsuccessful rebellion, no first hand account of the slaves' motives and goals exists, and both Roman and modern historians present contradictory theories.

Many popular modern accounts of the war claim that there was a factional split in the escaped slaves between those under Spartacus who wished to escape over the Alps to freedom, and those under Crixus, who wished to stay in southern Italia in order to continue raiding and plundering. This appears to be an interpretation of events based on the following: the regions which Florus lists as being raided by the slaves include Thurii and Metapontum which are geographically distant from Nola and Nuceria, seeming to indicate the existence of two groups; Lucius Gellius Publicola eventually attacked Crixus and a group of some 30,000 followers who are described as being separate from the main group under Spartacus  ; and, Plutarch describes the desire of some of the escaped slaves to plunder Italia, rather than escape over the Alps. While this factional split is not contradicted by ancient sources, there does not seem to be any direct evidence to support it, either.

Fictional accounts — such as Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film Spartacus — sometimes portray Spartacus as an ancient Roman freedom fighter, struggling to change a corrupt Roman society, and to end the Roman institution of slavery. Again, while this is not contradicted by ancient historians, no historical account mentions that at any time was it a goal of the rebel slaves to end slavery in the Roman republic, nor do any of the actions of Spartacus seem specifically aimed at ending slavery.

Even ancient historians, who were writing only years after the events themselves, seem to be divided as to what the motives of Spartacus were. Appian and Florus write that he intended to march on Rome itself — although this may simply have been a reflection of Roman fears, and if this was the case it was a goal he apparently later abandoned — while Plutarch writes that Spartacus merely wished to escape northwards into Cisalpine Gaul and disperse his men back to their homes.

Defeat of the consular armies (72 BC)

In the spring of 72 BC, the escaped slaves left their winter encampments, and began to move northwards towards Cisalpine Gaul.

The Roman Senate, alarmed by the size of the revolt and the defeat of the praetorian armies of Glaber and Varinius, now dispatched a pair of consular armies under the command of Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus.

Initially, the consular armies were successful. Gellius engaged a group about 30,000 of the slaves, under command of Crixus, near Mount Garganus, killing two -thirds of the rebels including Crixus himself.

At this point in the history, there is a divergence in the ancient sources as to the course of events which cannot be reconciled until the entry of Marcus Licinius Crassus into the war. The two most comprehensive (extant) histories of the war by Appian and Plutarch detail very different events, although it is possible that both are abridgements of earlier (and presumably more complete) histories of Livy and Sallust that are lost to modern scholars.

Appian's history

File:3rd servile 72 appian.gif

The events of 72 BC, according to Appian's version of events.

According to Appian, the battle between Gellius' legions and Crixus men near Mount Garganus was the beginning of a long and complex series of military maneuvers which almost resulted in the Spartacan forces directly assaulting the city of Rome itself.

After his defeat of Crixus, Gellius then moved northwards, following the main group of slaves under Spartacus who were heading for Cisalpine Gaul. The army of Lentulus was deployed to bar Spartacus' path, and the consuls hoped to trap the rebel slaves between them. Spartacus' army met Lentulus' legion, defeated it, turned, and destroyed Gellius' army, forcing the Roman legions to retreat in disarray. Appian claims that Spartacus executed some 300 captured Roman soldiers to avenge the death of Crixus, forcing them to fight each other to the death as gladiators. Following this, Spartacus and his followers (some 120,000), pushed northwards as fast as they could, "having burned all his useless material, killed all his prisoners, and butchered his pack-animals in order to expedite his movement".

The defeated consular armies fell back to Rome to regroup while Spartacus' followers moved northward. The consuls again engaged Spartacus somwhere in the Picenum region, and once again were defeated.

Appian claims that at this point Spartacus changed his intention of marching on Rome — implying this was Spartacus' goal following the confrontation at Picenum — as "he did not consider himself ready as yet for that kind of a fight, as his whole force was not suitably armed, for no city had joined him, but only slaves, deserters, and riff-raff", and decided to withdraw into southern Italia once again. There, they seized the town of Thurii and the surrounding countryside, arming themselves, raiding the surrounding territories, trading plunder with merchants for bronze and iron (with which to manufacture more arms), and clashing occasionally with Roman forces which were invariably defeated.

Plutarch's history

The events of 72 BC, according to Plutarch's version of events.

Plutarch's described events differ significantly from those of Appian.

According to Plutarch, after the battle between Gellius' legions and Crixus men (whom Plutarch describes as "Germans") near Mount Garganus, Spartacus' men engaged the legions of Lentulus, defeated them, seized their supplies and equipment, and pushed directly into northern Italy. After this defeat, both consuls were relieved of command of their armies by the Roman Senate and recalled to Rome. Plutarch does not mention Spartacus engaging Gellius' legions at all, nor of Spartacus facing the combined consular legions in Picenum.

Plutarch then goes on to detail a conflict not mentioned in Appian's history. According to Plutarch, Spartacus' army continued northwards to the region around Mutina (modern Modena). There, a Roman army of some 10,000 soldiers, led by the governor of Cisalpine Gaul, Gaius Cassius Longinus attempted to bar Spartacus' progress and were also defeated.

Plutarch makes no further mention of events until the initial confrontation between Marcus Licinius Crassus and Spartacus in the spring of 71 BC, omitting the march on Rome and the retreat to Thurii described by Appian. However, as Plutarch describes Crassus forcing Spartacus' followers to retreat southwards from Picenum, one might infer that the rebel slaves approached Picenum from the south in early 71 BC, implying that they withdrew southwards from Mutina to winter in southern or central Italy.

Why they might do so, when there was apparently no reason for them not to escape over the Alps — Spartacus' goal according to Plutarch — is not explained.

The war under Crassus (71 BC)

File:Crassus turns tide.gif

The events of early 71 BC. Marcus Licinius Crassus takes command of the Roman legions, confronts Spartacus, and forces the rebel slaves to retreat through Lucania to the straits near Messina. Plutarch claims this occurred in the Picenum region, while Appian places the initial battles between Crassus and Spartacus in the Samnium region.

Despite the contradictions in the ancient sources regarding the events of 71 BC, there seems to be general agreement that Spartacus and his followers were in the south of Italia in early 71 BC.

Crassus takes command of the legions

The Roman senate, now alarmed at the apparently unstoppable rebellion occurring within Italia, gave the task of putting down the rebellion to Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus had been a praetor in 73 BC, and although he was known for his political connections and family, he had no reputation as a military commander.

He was assigned six new legions in addition to the two formerly consular legions of Gellius and Lentulus. Crassus treated his legions with harsh, even brutal, discipline, reviving the punishment of unit decimation within his army. Appian is uncertain whether he decimated the two consular legions for cowardice when he was appointed their commander, or whether he had his entire army decimated for a later defeat (an event in which up to 4,000 legionaries would have been executed). Plutarch only mentions the decimation of 50 legionaries of one cohort as punishment after Mummius' defeat in Crassus' and Spartacus' first confrontation. Regardless of which events actually occurred, Crassus' treatment of his legions proved that "he was more dangerous to them than the enemy", and spurred them on to victory rather than displease their commander.

Crassus and Spartacus

When the forces of Spartacus began moving northwards once again, Crassus deployed six of his legions on the borders of the region (Plutarch claims the initial battle between Crassus' legions and Spartacus' followers occurred near the Picenum region, Appian claims it occurred near the Samnium region), and detached two legions under his legate, Mummius, to maneuver behind Spartacus, but gave them orders not to engage the rebels. When an opportunity presented itself, Mummius disobeyed, attacked the Spartacan forces, and was subsequently routed. Despite this initial loss, Crassus' engaged Spartacus and defeated him, killing some 6,000 of the rebels.

The tide seemed to have turned in the war. Crassus' legions were victorious in several engagements, killing thousands of the rebel slaves, and forcing Spartacus to retreat south through Lucania to the straits near Messina. According to Plutarch, Spartacus made a bargain with Cilician pirates to transport him and some 2,000 of his men to Sicily, where he intended to incite a slave revolt there and gather reinforcements. However, he was betrayed by the pirates, who took payment and then abandoned the rebel slaves. Florus records that there were some attempts at raft and shipbuilding by the rebels, as a means to escape, but this was eventually abandoned.

Spartacus' forces then retreated towards Rhegium. Crassus' legions followed, and upon arrival, Crassus' legions built fortifications across the isthmus at Rhegium, despite harassing raids from the rebel slaves, besieging Spartacus and cutting off his supplies.

Reinforcement legions arrive; the end of the war

The last events of the war in 71 BC, where the army of Spartacus broke the siege by Crassus' legions and retreated toward the mountains near Petelia. Shows the initial skirmishes between elements of the two sides, the turn-about of the Spartacan forces for the final confrontation. Note the legions of Pompey moving in from the north to capture survivors.

At this time, the legions of Pompey were returning to Italia, having put down the rebellion of Quintus Sertorius in Hispania.

Sources disagree whether Crassus had requested reinforcements, or whether the Senate simply took advantage of Pompey's return to Italia, but Pompey was ordered to bypass Rome and head south to aid Crassus. The Senate also sent reinforcements under the command of "Lucullus", mistakenly thought by Appian to be Lucius Licinius Lucullus, commander of the forces engaged in the Third Mithridatic War at the time, but who appears to have been the proconsul of Macedonia Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, the former's younger brother. With Pompey's legions marching out of the north, and Lucullus' troops landing in Brundisium, Crassus realized that if he did not put down the slave revolt quickly, credit for the war would go to the general who arrived with reinforcements, and thus spurred his legions on to end the conflict quickly.

Hearing of the approach of Pompey, Spartacus attempted to negotiate with Crassus to bring the conflict to a close before Roman reinforcements arrived. When Crassus refused, a portion of Spartacus' forces broke out of confinement and fled toward the mountains west of Petelia (modern Strongoli) in Bruttium, with Crassus' legions in pursuit. The legions managed to catch a portion of the rebels – under the command of Gaius Canicius and Castus – separated from the main army, killing 12,300. However, Crassus' legions also suffered losses, as some of the army of escaping slaves turned to meet the Roman forces under the command of a cavalry officer named Lucius Quinctius and the quaestor Gnaeus Tremellius Scrofa, routing them. The rebel slaves were not, however, a professional army, and had reached their limit. They were unwilling to flee any further, and groups of men were breaking away from the main force to independently attack the oncoming legions of Crassus. With discipline of his army breaking down, Spartacus turned his forces around and brought his entire strength to bear on the oncoming legions. In this last stand, Spartacus' forces were finally routed completely, with the vast majority of them being killed on the battlefield. The eventual fate of Spartacus himself is unknown, as his body was never found, but he is accounted by historians to have perished in battle along with his men.

Aftermath (71-70 BC)

The rebellion of the Third Servile War had been utterly annihilated by Crassus.

Pompey's forces did not directly engage Spartacus' forces at any time, but his legions moving in from the north were able to capture some 5,000 rebels fleeing the battle, "all of whom he slew". Because of this, Pompey sent a dispatch to the Senate, saying that while Crassus certainly had conquered the slaves in open battle, he himself had ended the war, thus claiming a large portion of the credit and earning the enmity of Crassus.

While most of the rebel slaves had been killed on the battlefield, some 6,000 survivors had been captured by the legions of Crassus. As an object lesson, all 6,000 were crucified along the road between Rome and Capua.

Pompey and Crassus reaped political benefit for having put down the rebellion. Both Crassus and Pompey returned to Rome with their legions and refused to disband them, instead encamping them outside Rome. Both men stood for the consulship of 70 BC, even though Pompey was ineligible to do so because of his age, nor had he ever served as praetor or quaestor. Nonetheless, both men were elected consul for 70 BC, partly due to the implied threat of their armed legions encamped outside the city.

References

Books

Classical works

• Appian, Civil wars, Penguin Classics; New Ed edition, 1996. ISBN 0140445099.
• Florus, Publius Annius, Epitome of Roman History. Harvard University Press, 1984. ISBN 0674992547
• Frontinus, Sextus Julius, Stratagems, Loeb edition, 1925 by Charles E. Bennett. ISBN 0674991923
• Livius,Titus, Periochae, K.G. Saur Verlag, 1981. ISBN 3519014890
• Orosius, Histories.
• Plutarchus, Mestrius , Plutarch's Lives, "The Life of Crassus" and "The Life of Pompey". Modern Library, 2001. ISBN 0375756779.
• Sallust, Histories, P.McGUSHIN (Oxford,1992/1994) ISBN 0198721404

Modern works

• Bradley, Keith. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN 071346561X.
• Broughton, T. Robert S. Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2. Cleveland: Case Western University Press, 1968.
• Matyszak, Philip, The enemies of Rome, Thames & Hudson, 2004. ISBN 0-500-25124-X.
• Pennell, Robert Franklin, Ancient Rome : from the earliest times down to 476 A. D., IndyPublish.com, 2003. ISBN 140438006X.
• Strachan-Davidson, J. L. (ed.), Appian, Civil Wars: Book I, Oxford University Press, 1902 (repr. 1969).
• Mommsen, Theodor, The History of Rome, Books I-V, project Gutenburg electronic edition, 2004. ISBN 0415149533.

Multimedia

• Fagan, Garret G., "The History of Ancient Rome: Lecture 23, Sulla's Reforms Undone", The Teaching Company. [sound recording:CD].

Online resources

• Grout, James, Gladiators article of the Encyclopaedia Romana. URL accessed March 8, 2006

Notes

• References to the Mommsen text is based on the Project Gutenburg e-text edition of the books. References are therefore given in terms of line numbers within the text file, and not page numbers as would be the case with physical books.
• References to "classical works" (Livy, Plutarch, Appian, etc.) are given in the traditional "Book:verse" format, rather than edition-specific page numbers.

External links

• Livy Histories. 95:2
• Livy Histories. 96:1 and 97:1.
• Appian's The Civil Wars at LacusCurtius.
• Plutarch's, Life of Crassus at LacusCurtius.
• Plutarch on Spartacus at Livius.org.
• Appian on Spartacus at Livius.org.
• Florus on Spartacus at Livius.org.
• Spartacus: Historical Background