Essay, Research Paper: Spartacus

Spartacus



Spartacus was born in Thrace and was sold into slavery by his mother before he was 12. He had worked as a slave in a mine. When he tried to bite a guard's achilles tendon, he was tied down in the sun and was to starve to death. He was to be used as an example until a man named Bitiutus, came to the mine to buys slaves and train them to be gladiators.
Each slave was given a woman. Spartacus was given a woman named Verenia. He didn't do anything with her, and when others were saw this, they laughed at him.
Crassus came to the gladiator training facility and wanted to see a fight. He paid Bitiutus a lot of money to see two matches. In the second match, Spartacus was to fight. Dianus could've but didn't kill Spartacus and then he went after Crassus and was killed by some guards. Crassus bought Verenia. After the gladiator trainer made a comment to Spartacus about Verenia, he killed him. Then all of the gladiators attacked the guards and many of them escaped, including Spartacus.
Many slaves joined with the gladiators and created the slave army. Some of the slaves captured their masters and made them fight against each other. Spartacus didn't let them kill each other. He found Verenia while on their march to get more slaves to join them. Antinilus escaped from Crassus and joins the slave army. Bitiutus and a the richest man in Rome, who is part of the senate, Grakus, both hate Crassus.
Spartacus made a training camp so the slaves could learn to fight. Antinilus told Spartacus that he came to fight but he really admires Antinilus' ability to entertain with magic and singing. Spartacus scored with Verenia. Crassus gave Glaberus guard of Rome. Glaberus led the Roman army to go fight and the slave army attacked them while they were camped at night. Spartacus spared Glaberus and told him to go back to Rome and tell the senate that all they wanted was their freedom. The senate banned him from Rome when he returned for a 400 mile Radius.
Verenia became pregnant. Spartacus met with the pirate ship negotiator and gave him a chest full of valuables. This was for the ships so that they could leave Italy and become free. He later found out that Crassus paid the Pholecian ships to leave so they couldn't leave. Then with the next visit with the negotiator, he offered Spartacus and a few others a ship to be smuggled out of Italy. He declined to his offer.
The slave army went to battle with Rome's army. The were almost completely destroyed. Crassus wanted Spartacus and when he asked the survivors to show him who he was, they all said that they were Spartacus. About 6,000 slaves were crucified along the sides of the Athenian Highway. Crassus made Antinilus and Spartacus fight. Spartacus kill him so he doesn't have to suffer on a cross. Grakus steals Verenia from Crassus and sets her and her child free. Bitiutus takes them to leave Rome and she sees Spartacus on the cross. He gets to see his child before he dies.
I have to give Spartacus a lot of credit for at least trying to accomplish his dream of no slavery. He tried very hard and never gave up. It's very hard to believe how slaves were treated back then. I'm very glad things aren't like that today. I have found information about Spartacus on Microsoft Encarta '95. This greatly varies with the movie that we watched in class.


Spartacus (died 71 BC), Roman slave and gladiator, born in Thrace. He is thought to have been a deserter from the Roman army, and he was sold as a slave to a trainer of gladiators at Capua. In 73 BC he escaped with other runaway gladiators and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius, where he was joined by large numbers of escaped slaves. As leader of the historic insurrection of Roman slaves known as the Third Servile War, or Gladiators' War, he defeated two Roman armies, and his forces overran southern Italy. In 72 BC he defeated three more Roman armies and reached Cisalpine Gaul, where he planned to disperse his followers to their homes. They decided to remain in Italy for the sake of plunder, and Spartacus marched south again. In 71 BC the Roman commander Marcus Licinius Crassus forced Spartacus and his followers into the narrow peninsula of Rhegium (now Reggio di Calabria), from which, however, they escaped through the Roman lines. Crassus then pursued Spartacus to Lucania, where the rebel army was destroyed and Spartacus was killed in battle. Upon his death the insurrection came to an end, and the captured rebels were crucified. A few who escaped to the north were killed by Pompey the Great, who was returning from Spain.

"Spartacus," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.