The Slave Revolts : Spartacus And The Slave Wars

Most of the gladiators were criminals or prisoners of war that were forced to fight in the arena. Although they were considered slaves, they surprisingly had a better standard of living than most lower class Romans. Because they were financial investments, they had access to doctors and medicine, better food, and exercise. As the gladiator became more and more popular, he would attract greater crowds, making him more valuable, which led to getting him a better lifestyle. For this reason, some free citizens, aristocrats, and even emperors would join in hoping to increase their own wealth. Even slaves would train and fight hard because they could purchase their freedom once they accumulated enough wealth.

Spartan government, in contrast, is oligarchical. People were most often brought into slavery as a result of being conquered in battle, however some were brought in to battle through their familial lineage. Upon being brought in to slavery, a Spartan slaves’ main duty was to aid in battle. In Sparta, the government and voting was held by select elites. These elites would most likely make decisions for themselves, without considering the well-being of other citizens not wealthy enough to vote. This would be undesirable for Spartan slaves and common people as their voices are not heard, and they have no rights in their freedom to vote.

Athens and Sparta shared the same sources of income, agriculture and slave labor, but they managed them in different manners. The slaves in Sparta were called helots and since they had no rights, they were often treated as tools rather than as human beings. The helots belonged to the state not to their landlord, so they can be considered a part of the agricultural technology. Since Spartans major obligation in life was serving in the army, they left the management of their land to

The changes of slavery shown through American history from the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, dealing with the horrific brutality and inhumane treatment accepted by much of society, all of the way up to present day, as we just recently had America’s first black president Barrack Obama elected in 2008, show drastic improvements on a national crisis that can be heavily credited to the great historical abolitionist of their time and even still the modern day abolitionists continuing to fight. The abolitionist movement was not simply pushed forward by groups of individuals who agreed on the basis that slavery and what was going on at the time was wrong, but instead was heavily impacted by key individuals who typically had experienced first person what it was like on the side of the chained captive workers who were seen as nothing more than mere property they owned. And while for a multitude of those held captive the only life they

According to Shaw in “Spartacus and The Slave Wars”, prisoners of war enslaved at the end of the Second Punic War rebelled in 198 B.C. This slave uprising in central Italy is the first reliable report of one, although it was surely not the first actual slave uprising. There were other slave uprisings in the 180s. These were small; however, there were 3 major slave revolts in Italy between 140 and 70 B.C. These 3 uprisings are called the Servile Wars, since the Latin for 'slave' is servus. However these 3 slave wars did not all end in victory. As a matter of fact, the 3 slave revolts failed, ending in murder of the leaders. The reason why the slaves were defeated in the end was basically due to the fact that there was no ultimate goal. They

Slavery has been a problem to mankind much further back than the 1600s. Man has been enslaving other men for thousands of years. This has brought controversy to many and has led to lots of unhappy people. Some would try to negotiate but when that didn’t work, they took matters into their own hands. Rebellions and riots broke out, and all hell broke loose. Spartacus was one of those people.

Athens and Sparta, the two largest and most powerful cities in ancient Greece (between 800 and 323 BCE) were two different models of polis, their social, political and cultural values and ways of life were dramatically different. (Brand, n.d.)

One significant event within classical history that occurred within and had an impact on how Roman society functioned was the slave revolt of Spartacus. This war was the third in a cycle of three - named the servile wars. These wars began away from Rome, in Sicily, but later directly threatened the senate when Spartacus began the third servile war that lasted from 73-71BC and involved many slaves who escaped their punishment to fight, although none were recorded to have survived after the final battle where Spartacus died in battle.

The history of Sparta was the great exception to the political evolution of the city-states. Despite the fact that Spartans in the end were all Greek, Sparta failed to ever move in the direction of democratic rule. Instead, its government evolved into something more closely resembling a modern day dictatorship. If the Spartans had followed the other Greek city-states in their political practices they might have been able to avoid their own downfall and could have even become stronger.

Chapter 3 contains the aftermath of the ending of slavery in Washington and Turnage's lives and how they proceeded their lives as the "first freed". Of course, being in charge of their own lives a lot of responsibility came along especially since they had families to care for. For example, finding shelter in safe grounds, and feeding themselves.

Life in Sparta was difficult for young boys and men. At an early age, children would begin their education in reading, writing, music and philosophy. The Spartans valued combat and the art of war above all else, but firmly believed that knowledge was an asset as well in times of battle. In order to ready themselves for their life as a soldier, males would receive rigorous and harsh training to invoke discipline, physical strength and complete loyalty to the state nearly violating the natural moral laws of family life. Their military training included boxing, swimming, wrestling, and javelin tossing. The concept that a soldier must learn to be stealthy was enforced by having the boys go out into the world and steal food. If they were caught, they were severely punished. Militaristic morals of the Spartans encouraged them never to retreat in the face of death. For the Spartan, it was an honor to die on the battlefield. Females

There were a number of Roman laws regarding slavery, and these too, changed over time. In the Republican period, slaves had no rights and were always subject to the whims of their owners. They did have some legal standing, however. They were allowed to act as witnesses in trials, and could gain freedom either through their owner's gratitude after loyal service or by buying it through the meager earnings they might collect over a lifetime of service. For example, owners in the Republic had the right to kill or mutilate slaves at a whim, but later imperial laws took this right away, though in practice this law could be largely ignored. This represents how valued slaves were to the Roman people.

Previous Roman actions have raised the question whether they recognized their slaves as things or people. Of course, there are economic advantages in support of slavery. However, when human lives are under constant danger and torture, the economic advantages must be forgotten. Although the slaves of Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the society, their actions were never approved. After careful consideration, it is evident that the Romans recognized slaves as things rather than people. This conception is mainly due to three factors. They include: slaves being put on the market, the physical cruelty towards the slaves, and the slaves being mistreated to the point of revolt.

By birth a Thracian, Spartacus was slaved by the Roman Army then trained as a gladiator. He served in an Roman auxiliary unit for some short time, vacated his duties and became an insurgent against the Romans. Upon his escape, he became the leader of 90,000 men in a revolt against Rome. The war started in 73 B.C., when Spartacus aided those in the Gladiator school to escape by utilizing kitchen utensils as weapons. The gladiators then took refuge on the side of Mount Vesuvius (which is near modern day Naples) led by Spartacus and his aides Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and

Slavery was the practice of taking a human being and making them do the work of another by force. This was practiced through out the ancient world and especially in Rome and Greece. Slaves were nothing more than just property to the ancient peoples. They didn't have the rights of citizens nor were they able to do what they want in most cases. Slaves had many tasks that they had to do, many of which included taking care of the masters house and kids, cooking and cleaning that house, herding the cattle for the farming families, being guards for some prisons, fighting for entertainment of the masses, and more common was sexual activities with the slaves.