Many theories have been proposed, but the best explanation was already hinted at in the ancient sources. Additionally the Roman governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, had fortified some of the best landing spots. It surrounds the real man cast to play the hero. These fighters carried a large oblong shield (scutum), and used a sword with a broad, straight blade (gladius), about 18 inches long. With each of Spartacus victories, however, Roman leaders started to take the group more seriously. When his men refused to leave Italy, he returned to Lucania and sought to cross his forces over to Sicily but was thwarted by the new Roman commander sent against him, Marcus Licinius Crassus. Anthropology, Archaeology, Arts and Music. Yet Whitfields own response was different. Five out of twenty Kings of the Thracian Spartocid dynasty of the Cimmerian Bosporus[13] and Pontus[14] are known to have borne it, and a Thracian "Sparta" "Spardacus"[15] or "Sparadokos",[16] father of Seuthes I of the Odrysae, is also known. In 1960 Stanley Kubrick directed a historical epicstarring Kirk Douglas. History Hits Rob Weinberg has been along to Shakespeares Globe to find out more about the last Pharoah of Egypt from Farah Karim-Cooper, Head of Higher Education and Research at Shakespeares Globe, and Diana Preston, author of Cleopatra and Antony. This did not work out well for the rebels. Andy travels to India to a retreat; spends time with his father. Around 6,000 of his followers who escaped were hunted down and crucified. Furthermore, the Romans considered the rebellion more of a policing matter than a war. While the Starz show was praised for its historical accuracy, that doesn't quite mean that it got everything about the man right. It is estimated that there were 90,000 to 100,000 men in all. Andy Whitfield (season 1 and prequel) and Liam McIntyre (seasons 2-3) as Spartacus - a Thracian slave who becomes a gladiator in the ludus of Lentulus Batiatus before leading a slave uprising. The life of an amazing, real-life gladiator. Find out more about how the BBC is covering the. Spartacus may have received news of Roman advances in Thrace that made him doubt that he and the other Thracians in his army could return home safely. Two volumes. Spartacus suddenly rushed at them and engaged them in battle. Andy Whitfield knew for at least three months that, at age 39, he was going very soon to pass away. The Spartakiad was a Soviet bloc version of the Olympic games. Spartacuss force was now divided and increasingly surrounded and the stage was set for the final battle. Crassus was put in charge of eight legions, numbering upwards of 40,000 trained Roman soldiers;[37][38] he treated these with harsh discipline, reviving the punishment of "decimation", in which one-tenth of his men were slain to make them more afraid of him than their enemy. Andy Whitfield, the British star of US TV drama Spartacus: Blood and Sand, has died at the age of 39. He appears to have served in a Roman auxiliary unit for a time, deserted and became either a bandit or insurgent against the Romans. Though the show finds a clever way to spin the ending of the show with the actual theories around his death, audiences still get to see Spartacus final moments. As anyone who has ever looked up from the plain toward the rock wall of the Italian Alps knows, the mountains are overpowering, writes Strauss. Stay in the now and enjoy every moment.". National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. Fighting in the Fog: Who Won the Battle of Barnet? Initial treatment indicated remission. The rebels were now under siege and cut off from their supplies. Instead, they blocked off the main route up Vesuvius, pitched camp and tried to starve him out. Thousands of others were killed by the army of the Roman general Pompey, who then claimed the credit for suppressing the rebellion. He tried to leave the army. He was captured and subsequently sold as a slave. Spartacus was sold as a slave to a gladiator . In reality, his forces had sneaked off and were able to orchestrate an ambush.. Spartacus was eventually defeated by a much larger, 8-legion army under the leadership of Crassus. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. While the enslavement part is certainly true, only theories exist that suggest the two sides originally worked together. He is remembered for his rebellion against the oligarchical Roman reign during 73-72 BC. Under the leadership of the former gladiators, the slave army dealt Glaber a crushing defeat. In March 2010, however, after the first season of the hit series, Whitfield was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He deserted the army, was outlawed, captured, sold into slavery, and trained at the gladiatorial school of Batiatus in Capua. Like most deserters, he was caught. Furthermore a split emerged in the rebel camp. Gradually, more escaped slaves joined their . The accounts vary about Spartacus' death though it is most likely he died in battle, though the film Spartacus depicts him as being cruxified along the Appian way with 6,000 other escaped slaves. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. The Romans despatched a praetor named Gaius Claudius Glaber to form an army to crush the slaves. Actor Liam McIntyre took over Whitfield's role in the TV series when he became ill. "On a beautiful sunny Sydney spring morning, surrounded by his family, in the arms of his loving wife, our beautiful young warrior Andy Whitfield lost his 18-month battle with lymphoma cancer," his wife said in a statement. It moulds and constructs the soul; it orders our life, guides our conduct, shows us what we should do and what we should leave undone Without it, no one can live fearlessly or in peace of mind. Spartacus was now isolated further. Throughout the series, the two seemed locked into battle against each other as Spartacus sought revenge against Glaber. After defeating two Roman forces in succession, the rebels overran most of southern Italy. However, according to Cicero (Ad Atticum VI, ii, 8) at the beginning his followers were much less than 50. communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus, "Oeuvres 53, vol. Eventually Spartacus lined up his men for battle and Crassus his. Rome in the 1st century BC By the 1st century BC, Rome had gathered supreme control of the Mediterranean in a series of bloody wars. Spartacus waged a brilliant guerrilla campaign against a strong and well-organized enemy, but he could not prevail against a fully mobilized Rome. Spartacus, a Thracian man, wasn't born to wealth or power. The details surrounding the death of the real Spartacus remain a mystery to this day. All sources agree that he was a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader. As a consequence Crassus selected every tenth man from the consular legions by lot and had him executed, wrote Appian. Chris Albrecht, president and chief operating officer of US TV network Starz, said he was "deeply saddened" by Whitfield's loss. The body of Spartacus was apparently never identified. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. Spartacus was indeed a slave who led the Spartacus Revolt, which began in 73 BC. Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon Brilliant Rivals, Hitler vs Stalin: The Battle for Stalingrad, How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Humanity, Hasdrubal Barca: How Hannibals Fight Against Rome Depended on His Brother, Wise Gals: The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage, Bones in the Attic: The Forgotten Fallen of Waterloo, How Climate and the Natural World Have Shaped Civilisations Across Time, The Rise and Fall of Charles Ponzi: How a Pyramid Scheme Changed the Face of Finance Forever. There was a bit of Graffiti found in Pompeii showing Spartacus fighting written in the local Oscan language. Associate Professor in Philosophy, Deakin University, Matthew Sharpe works at Deakin. 283", "Tribes, Dynasts and Kingdoms of Northern Greece: History and Numismatics", A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, page 494", "AUSXIP Spartacus: Blood and Sand TV Show Lucy Lawless Sam Raimi & Rob Tapert", "DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Shawn Roberts in an unexpected guest appearance", Spartacus' Uprising and Soviet Historical Writing, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spartacus&oldid=1140917772, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2013, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Spartak Odesa, a football team competed in the, Spartak Kharkiv, a football team competed in the, The "Spartacus Overture" was written by composer, In the expandable miniature wargaming system. Know the courageous life and leader of the Gladiatorial War, Spartacus, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Spartacus-Roman-gladiator, HistoryNet - Spartacus, the Slave Warrior Who Threatened Rome, Spartacus - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). However, he was betrayed by the pirates, who took payment and then abandoned the rebels. At one point, explaining why he is not raging at his fate, Whitfield explains simply that there are two ways he could respond. Thank you to all his fans whose love and support have helped carry him to this point. Most people worship heroes like Hercules, or the Spartacus depicted for adolescents in series like Spartacus: Blood and Sand, for their great bodily strength and feats: However, unless our hearts are purified, what battles and dangers must then insinuate themselves in us, against our will! Additionally, according to ancient sources, Spartacus insisted on equally dividing the spoils, something that made recruitment all the more easier. At this point, many of the herdsmen and shepherds from the surrounding regions hard-bodied and swift-footed men came to join the slaves.. Castus and Gannicus were defeated by Crassus, likely sometime before April, at the Battle of Cantenna. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Gladiator & Slave. This success resulted in new recruits flocking to the force of Spartacus. I am like a butterfly with broken wings. Karl Marx listed Spartacus as one of his heroes and described him as "the most splendid fellow in the whole of ancient history" and a "great general, noble character, real representative of the ancient proletariat". Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why half of India's urban women stay at home. [50] If escaping the Italian peninsula was indeed his goal, it is not clear why Spartacus turned south after defeating the legions commanded by the consuls Lucius Publicola and Gnaeus Clodianus, which left his force a clear passage over the Alps. NEXT:5 Things That Are Historically Accurate In Peaky Blinders (& 5 That Aren't). 111 BC was a completely different time in human history. He then turned back south in an effort to reach Sicily but was defeated by Marcus Licinius Crassus. "[28], In these altercations, Spartacus proved to be an excellent tactician, suggesting that he may have had previous military experience. The village of Spartak, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, is also named after Spartacus. Plutarch wrote that, just before the battle, Spartacus got off his horse, killed the beast, and told his men that if he won the battle, he would have many fine horses that belonged to the enemy, but if he lost he would have no need of a horse. The battle went poorly. All rights reserved. Whitfield was born in North Wales and moved to Australia in 1999. Yet even Pierre Hadot, the philologist-turned-philosopher famous for re-emphasing the often-forgotten existential dimension of classical philosophy, at the end of his life begrudgingly admitted the extraordinary parallels between the kind of Buddhism which assisted Andy Whitfield in his final years, and ancient Stoic, sceptical and Epicurean ideas. This version of Caesar works closely with Roman General Marcus Crassus to help defeat Spartacus and his armies. Regardless of his true death, the story of Spartacus ends after the Third Servile War. He also certainly did not infiltrate Spartacus armies and spy on him in any manner. They were taken by surprise when Spartacus used ropes made from vines to climb down the steep side of the volcano with his men and attacked the unfortified Roman camp in the rear, killing most of the militia. Once again, the first season of the show reflects a lot of accurate history. With around 3,000 Romans in pursuit, the escapees headed for Mount Vesuvius, where heavy forest provided cover. 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. Let not your thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which you may expect to befall you: but on every occasion ask yourself: what is there in this which is intolerable and past bearing? After the battle at Cantenna he received news that Luculluss force had landed at Brundisium, crushing the hopes the rebels had for getting out of Italy by using that port. This was a remarkable achievement, even given that he had a massiveforce at his disposal. By the time Spartacus had reached the straits a new leader named Marcus Licinius Crassus had taken command of the Roman forces. Unfortunately, this famous saying is purely derived from the example set by Spartacus and isnt actually a part of his history. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Hereturned to the popular consciousness of Europe during the 1791 slave rebellion in Haiti.