Spartacus

~111–71 BCE · Thracian (modern-day Bulgaria/Greece) · Late Roman Republic

Known for: Gladiator-slave who led history's most famous slave revolt—the Third Servile War against Rome

Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who escaped from a training school in Capua with approximately 70 fellow gladiators and sparked the largest slave revolt in Roman history. His army grew to over 70,000 escaped slaves and impoverished free people who defeated multiple Roman armies.

For two years (73–71 BCE), he controlled large portions of southern Italy. He defeated several Roman forces, including two consular armies, with improvised weapons and guerrilla tactics. His goal may have been to escape over the Alps, but his army preferred to stay and plunder Italy.

He was finally defeated by Marcus Licinius Crassus, and 6,000 captured slaves were crucified along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome—one of history's most horrific mass executions. Spartacus's body was never identified.

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