Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic.
13 Facts About Spartacus
2.
The name Spartacus is otherwise manifested in the Black Sea region.
3.
One modern author estimates that Spartacus was around 30 years old at the time he started his revolt, which would put his birth year around 103 BC.
4.
Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school near Capua belonging to Lentulus Batiatus.
5.
In 73 BC, Spartacus was among a group of gladiators plotting an escape.
6.
At its height, Spartacus's army included many different peoples, including Celts, Gauls, and others.
7.
Spartacus now turned his forces around and brought his entire strength to bear on the legions in a last stand, in which the rebels were routed completely, with the vast majority of them being killed on the battlefield.
8.
Plutarch, Appian and Florus all claim that Spartacus died during the battle, but Appian reports that his body was never found.
9.
Plutarch writes that Spartacus wished to escape north into Cisalpine Gaul and disperse his men back to their homes.
10.
Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, often referred to himself as Spartacus within written correspondences.
11.
In modern times, Spartacus became an icon for communists and socialists.
12.
Spartacus has been a great inspiration to left-wing revolutionaries, most notably the German Spartacus League, a forerunner of the Communist Party of Germany.
13.
Spartacus's name was used in athletics in the Soviet Union and communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.