![]() As gladiators, these men had nothing to lose, so they fought with little fear. Spartacus won at least three more military engagements. Although records from the time are unreliable, they may have swelled the rebel army's ranks to tens or even hundreds of thousands. Both men and women, of very different backgrounds, saw Spartacus as a way to fight back against their oppressors. Other slaves – and prisoners of war – ran away to join the uprising. "When Spartacus beat a Roman praetor though, all of a sudden there was another option there was a group you could flee to that had managed to not just stand against Rome, but had actually managed to defeat a Roman officer on the battlefield," he says. People were so resigned to their sorry fates that they didn't even require supervision.īut Spartacus and his men provided the spark of hope that became a wildfire of armed rage. ![]() There was nowhere to escape to, Irvin points out, no equivalent of the northern states during the U.S.'s slavery period. ![]() Before that, slaves in Rome felt so hopeless in their lives that they rarely tried to escape. This victory proved monumental in Roman – and human – history. "Glaber perhaps brought a small force of professional soldiers, but relied primarily on a local militia, and was soundly defeated by Spartacus and the escaped gladiators." A praetor (a high-ranking government official) by the name of Claudius Glaber was sent to put down Spartacus, says Irvin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |