Gaius Claudius Glaber
Gaius Claudius Glaber was an Ancient Roman military commander. A praetor and legate in 73 BC, he is known for being defeated in that year by Spartacus in a battle on Mount Vesuvius during the Third Servile War.
Life
Glaber is mentioned in sources describing the Third Servile War as one of the commanders sent by the Roman state to defeat Spartacus' rebellion. As one of the eight praetors, he was among the most high-ranking elected officials, second only to the two consuls. Little is known about him. A member of a plebeian family with at most a distant link to the famed Claudii, he did not rise to the consulate and had no descendants. According to Barry S. Strauss, "his obscurity was another sign of how little attention Rome gave Spartacus" in 73 BC.[1]
Glaber gathered 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."[2] Glaber's forces besieged the slaves on Mount Vesuvius, blocking the only known way down the mountain. With the slaves thus contained, Glaber was content to wait until starvation forced the slaves to surrender.
While the slaves lacked military training, Spartacus' forces displayed ingenuity in their use of available local materials, and in their use of clever, unorthodox tactics when facing the disciplined Roman armies.[3] In response to Glaber's siege, Spartacus' men made ropes and ladders from vines and trees growing on the slopes of Vesuvius and used them to rappel down the cliffs on the side of the mountain opposite Glaber's forces. They moved around the base of Vesuvius, outflanked the army, and annihilated Glaber's men.[4] Glaber is not recorded in the sources after that battle.[1]
Portrayals
In screen adaptations of the life of Spartacus, Glaber has been portrayed:
- by John Dall as "Glabrus", a character loosely based on Glaber, in the 1960 film Spartacus
- by Ben Cross as "Titus Glabrus" in the 2004 TV miniseries Spartacus
- by Craig Parker in the 2010 TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and its 2012 sequel Spartacus: Vengeance.
Bibliography
- Broughton, T. Robert S. Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2. Cleveland: Case Western University Press, 1968, p. 109 &115 n. 1.
- Bradley, Keith. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989, pp. 93–94. ISBN 0-253-31259-0
- Strauss, Barry S. (2009). The Spartacus War (1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-3205-7.
The ancient sources mentioning Glaber include:
- Sallust, Histories 3.90-93 Maurenbrecher.
- Livy, Periochae 95
- Plutarch, Crassus 8-9
- Frontinus, Strategemata 1.5.21
- Appian, Civil Wars 1.116[5]
- Florus, Epitome 2.8.4
References
- ^ a b Strauss, p. 52 Cite error: The named reference "Strauss 52" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Appian, Civil Wars, 1:116.
- ^ Frontinus, Stratagems, Book I, 5:20–22 and Book VII:6.
- ^ Plutarch, Crassus, 9:1–3; Frontinus, Stratagems, Book I, 5:20–22; Appian, Civil Wars, 1:116; Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic, p. 109. Note: Plutarch and Frontinus write of expeditions under the command of "Clodius the praetor" and "Publius Varinus", while Appian writes of "Varinius Glaber" and "Publius Valerius".
- ^ Appian conflates the names of Varinius and Claudius Glaber, writing Varinios Glabros, not Varinius Faber, as in the Ancient Sourcebook translation, cf. Broughton 2.115 n. 1