Spartacus: The Greatest Slave Rebellions In Roman History

Maximus becomes enslaved in a foreign land and is forced to fight for his life as a gladiator. Maximus’ fame as a gladiator grew within Rome as his skill at combat became apparent. Commodus fears that Maximus will turn the Roman people against him and return rule of Rome to the Senate.

Spartacus: (c. 109–71 BC) One of the slave leaders who led a major revolt against the Roman empire, in the Third Servile War. Spartacus has become symbolic of

After this victory, Spartacus and his forces continued to surprise and defeat multiple praetors and their legions, but eventually another leader by the name of Crixus would join Spartacus in leading the gladiators and slaves and convince the army to continue plundering instead of trying to cross the Alps.

Spartacus was said to have lead the slave riot along with two other slaves by the names of Crixus and Oenamus (Czech). Spartacus and his fellow leaders led a revolt of about 200 gladiators, armed with kitchen utensils and anything else they could find to fight with. Although they had large numbers they only made it out with about 70 men (Czech). After the army made it out of the school they hit the streets and found a wagon full of gladiator weapons that they used against Roman officials (Gill). They then took the much better weapons from the officials they had killed (Gill). These escaped gladiators used their skills in the streets of Capua, raiding houses and finding anything they could for supplies. Picking up rural slaves as they went, their numbers and confidence grew. When they finally stopped their raids they started to make their way up a volcano by the name of Vesuvius

Spartacus, translating to “from the city of Sparta” in Latin, was a Roman gladiator who began as a “Thracian, born among pastoral nomadic people” according to Plutarch. This northern area of Greece that holds the title of Spartacus’ birth place was believed to be one of Rome’s earliest enemies. Historians suspect his birthdate to be around that of 109BC and know his date of death to be 71BC. This gives him a lifespan of around 37 years. Minimal information is documented prior to his rise to fame. One of the first pieces discovered about Spartacus timeline was in 78BC when he was incarcerated and forced to train as a gladiator. This enslavement was most likely due to either deserting his cause or committing a crime and sold as a slave as a form of punishment, although often the accusations that put people into slavery were unfair and biased due to aspects such as race and gender. Because of

To begin this examination of a gladiator’s life first we must ask who they were. New recruits to the gladiator schools were conscripted from slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war from the many different places that Rome conquered including Britannia (now England and Wales), Spain, France, Greece, the Middle East, and a rather large part of North Africa. These individuals had no choice in the matter of whether they would become gladiators or not, and some were sentenced to damnati ad gladium which meant they were condemned to death by execution by sword or to fight to the death as a gladiator, meaning they had

Who were the gladiators? Gladiators were condemned criminals, prisoners of war or slaves in Ancient Rome except for a few professional gladiators that were free men who volunteered hoping to get fame, and wealth. They trained to fight in gladiator schools with the armor and weapons of their choice. Gladiators fought in big arenas only once or twice a year from 105BCE to 404CE.

Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) gives audiences a spectacular showing of two opposing ideologies coming head to head. In Spartacus, the Roman Empire faces one of the greatest threats to the empire it had ever faced. That enemy was named Spartacus. Spartacus was the unlikeliest of heroes. He was a simple slave who showed no extraordinary skills or talents, except for his fierce rebellious spirit. When push came to shove, that spirit did not allow Spartacus to stand by and do nothing as the Romans continued to do as they pleased with whomever they wanted. In a moment of rage, Spartacus kills the trainer of the gladiators and as consequence, inspires the other gladiators to fight back against the oppression they had been forced to live under.

most gladiators were slaves, if you were a slave why would you fight other slaves other than having no other choice. Another piece of evidence is that gladiators were just trying to fight for survival because, they knew that if they refused to fight they would be murdered or beaten. Finally most slaves of the roman empire were captured soldiers so sometimes they would be forced to fight their own friends, family, and comrades! This shows, that gladiators were not heros because, they were captured and sold to gladiatorial schools so they could be beaten and used as bloody entertainment.

Here its provided a temporary goal of Spartacus that tell us he wanted to build up his forces to fight Rome and what it stood for at the time. This is exactly what they continued to do throughout part two. They go from village to village grabbing the necessary supplies and volunteers to the cause. Doing all of this while fighting off roman troops that are dispatched to take care of Spartacus. According to Florus, Plutarch, and Appian, “Spartacus had a battle against Varinius who was lucky to have survived, but it still went disastrous for the romans with their lictors who were attendants to the praetors being captured along with their symbols of command or Fasces showed the strength of Spartacus’s force” (51).

A gladiator is a fighter, a slave, they were bought to fight to the death. Gladiators mostly were slaves from villages that Rome raided, these slaves were usually men but occasionally some women wondered there way into the Colosseum. They were picked out by their strength, and were motivated about becoming rich and being free.

Since Spartacus was classified as a gladiator and gladiators had to fight to their last breath and had to train everyday. Spartacus was intelligent according to a trainer in the gladiator school, Marcellus, because he was “smart enough” to not kill him after Marcellus said “kill me”. He is worthy enough to know not to kill his comrades because they weren’t the enemies, the Romans were. Spartacus has something in common with ⅓ of the population of Italy, they are slaves and were forced to become slaves.

Hi, I am Spartacus. I was born in 111 BC in a town called Thrace. There is little known about my early life. One day I joined the Roman Army, but things didn’t work out. Soon after, I tired to run away, but was caught and sold as a gladiator. I was taken to a school for gladiators, where they constantly train you to fight, and I was put in the arena to fight animals and other gladiators.

Gladiator is in the manner that the main characters became slaves/gladiators and the aspect of how “freedom” is earned. Maximus on the other hand, was a Roman General that refused to serve for the Roman new emperor, Commodus, who had murdered his father, Marcus Aurelius, in order to obtain control of the Roman Empire. The biggest difference between Gladiator and Spartacus is the manner in which their respective freedom is earned. Gladiators freedom is earned thru defeating Commodus, who sentences Maximus to be executed. The story begins after he escapes his captors and rides off to his farm. This is after he discovers that his family has been murdered by said King/Emperor Commodus. Maximus collapses from exhaustion and is then picked up by slave traders and sold to Proximo, thus leading to his voyage of becoming a Gladiator and his fight against the King. Another difference is that Spartacus is pressured into fighting the best gladiator of the Roman army, upon the conclusion of his training however, he is defeated. Afterward he becomes leader of the Army of Slaves and in an effort to gain the slaves freedom back, he leads them to battle. After being captured, Spartacus ultimately has to fight it out with a slave who is also captured and the winner will be crucified. In Gladiator, Gladiators from all over the Roman

In the movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe plays a battle hardened Roman General who, through a series of unfortunate events, becomes a gladiator. He starts out on the front lines of a battle against barbarians. The war against them has been going on for some time however this is the final battle that will end the war. The battle rages and the Romans come out victorious. The Caesar then emerges and praises Maximus (Russell Crowe) for his leadership. The Caesar then asks him if he will become Caesar after his death because his son Commodus is not fit to rule. Commodus hates his father’s decision and kills him so his wish will die with him. Commodus then orders Maximus to be killed, he escapes and rides as fast as he can back home but is too late. He comes home to find his wife and son burned alive. He is then captured and sold into slavery where he becomes a gladiator and moves up in the ranks as a skilled fighter. He makes friends with a black slave and they both move together up to larger arenas. He makes it to the Coliseum where he reveals himself to Commodus declaring he will have his vengence. Commodus accepts Maximus’ challenge after delivering a fatal wound to his back. He fights Commodus despite the injury and kills him but then dies himself.