Who was sparticus and why was he important?

Answer 1

Spartacus was from Thrace, Greece, an area in the northeastern part of the country. He was captured by the Romans and sold into slavery. He seemed to have good fighting skills and would find himself at a gladiator training school in the Roman city of Capua. In 73 BC BCE Partacus escaped from Capua along with 70 other slaves. These 70 men were all trained gladiators and fled in the direction of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius. Among Spatacus' comrades were Gauls, Cimbri, Teutons and Thracians.

The Romans sent out a small force to gather in the slaves as this rebellion was not taken as a serious threat. The Romans were defeated and Spartacus captured weapons and horses. Many slaves heard about Spartacus and his small group of men and also escaped their bondage to join him. Soon there thousands of escaped slaves all willing to fight for their freedom.

Each time, Rome underestimated the size of this slave army and the slaves defeated each Roman military unit sent to capture them. Again Spartacus was able to capture more horses and weapons. As their success became better known, more and more slaves joined Spartacus.

Finally the Roman Senate decided to end this rebellion as soon as possible. They appointed Marcus Licinius Crassus to command a group of legions to supress the rebels. Crassus was one of the richest men in Rome and had good military experience, having served with distinction under the former dictator Sulla.

Spartacus and his army, now numbering about 100,000 men headed south trying to escape to Sicily. That effort failed so Spartacus headed for the port of Brindisi, at the "heel" of the Italian peninsula. His idea was to find a way to cross the Adriatic Sea and escape. As it happened, he ran into bad luck as a Roman army, under Pompey was returning from Greece, so Spartacus was forced to move north. It was now 71 BC BCE and the slave army had existed almost 2 years now.

Crassus now had Spartacus trapped. In 71 BC BCE a final battle of the slaves came to an end. Spartacus was thought to have fallen in battle. His remains were never identified.

Rome wanted to make an example of slave revolts, so about 6,000 of the captive slaves were crucified along the Appian Way from Rome to Capua, where the rebellion began.

Spartacus was an unlikely and most likely a slave history would never have known about. He was important as he showed great organizational skills and had a degree of success against Rome.

Answer 2

Spartacus escaped from his gladiatorial school along with about 70 others, stole weapons, and went on a rampage throughout Italy, gathering more followers as he went.