Who was Spartacus and how is he remembered?
He was a Gladiator, possibly from Thrace and possibly a desserter of the Legions (or more likely the auxiliary). He and several fellow gladiator/slaves revolted and fled to Mt. Vesuvius near Naples and were quickly joined by run away slaves, shepherds and the very poor of the country side. This led to Rome’s second so-called Servile War. The forces he gathered (around 70000 at their height) put the whoop a$$ on several Legions. Spartacus led the slave army north, probably with the idea of dispersing and going to their homelands when reaching Gaul. However, many of the slave army wanted to continue to pillage and plunder Italy. Heading back south he attempted to cross to Sicily but was denied. Eventually a future Triumvir, Crassus, led an Army that was able to defeat Spartacus. Crassus had some 6000 slaves crucified along the road to Rome. Another future Triumvir, Pompey, came in for the clean up operations and tried to claim the victory himself. Spartacus has been seen in popular cultu
