However, upon Spartacus' arrival, he learned that the general who had led and defeated Mithridates, Lucullus, was present in the same region, having also returned from war and summoned as reinforcements. In the wake of this denial, Spartacus attempted to flee a final time to Brundusium with Crassus hot on his tail. He rebuffed Spartacus' proposal, choosing to take his chances with continued war. Crassus, however, aware of the prestige that would come with defeating Spartacus, wanted the glory for himself as much as he wanted to ensure Pompey wouldn't obtain it. Because of this second, and somewhat more fearsome legionary threat, Spartacus attempted to reach an agreement with Crassus to avoid complete decimation. According to Appian, Pompey was asked by the Roman Senate to provide backup for Crassus' army, as they believed the threat of Spartacus was still growing and Crassus wasn't yielding the best results quickly enough. In 71 BCE, the successful general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (‘Pompey the Great’) returned to Rome and took an interest in Spartacus' uprising. Instead, he was betrayed for his money and left behind.Īround this time, the wars in Hispania and Pontus were coming to an end, both Roman successes. Spartacus bargained with the Cilician pirates to take him and his men across to the island, thereby also escaping the efforts of Crassus. He went instead to the sea with the intent to take Sicily, according to Plutarch, by starting another servile war there. One of the great mysteries of Spartacus begins here, as it appears Spartacus was leading his men back into southern Italy for unknown reasons after having just beaten Publicola out of Gaul. Crassus took his troops to "the borders of Picenum, expecting to receive an attack of Spartacus… Mummius, however, at the first promising opportunity, gave battle and was defeated." Following this decisive moment, when Crassus' best legate (a general in the Roman army born of the senatorial class) saw failure and lost many of Crassus' men, Crassus himself led his armies against Spartacus. Crassus offered to prepare and train new troops with his own finances, strategically setting himself up for political maneuvering if he were to return to Rome successful. Crassus' Crusade Against SpartacusĪ Roman politician and former general under Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a powerful and distinguished Roman general, Crassus was the wealthiest man in Rome. With the Senate believing that the Roman state was truly in danger, Marcus Licinius Crassus was chosen next to bring the slave revolt to an end. Having successfully fled their training school in Capua, Spartacus and his men plundered their way through Italy, defeating Roman legion after Roman legion. As a Thracian, forced into slavery by the Roman legions he had once fought beside, Spartacus was angered by the stripping of his freedom and took matters into his own hands by gathering his fellow gladiators in rebellion.
Anadabatae wore helmets without eyeholes.Led by the Roman gladiator Spartacus, the Third Servile War stretched on from 73-71 BCE – it was an attempt by thousands of Roman slaves to escape the gladiatorial ring.Noxii were criminals who fought animals or each other: They were not really armed and so not really gladiators.
The laquearii ("lasso men") used a noose or a lasso.The hoplomachii ("armored fighters") wore a helmet and basic arm and leg protection, a small round shield called a parmula, a gladius, a short dagger known as a pugio, and a gladius graecus, a leaf-shaped sword used only by them.The essadarii ("chariot men") fought with a spear or gladius from war chariots in the fashion of the Celts and introduced into the games by Julius Caesar when he got back from Gaul.Reports of the armor they carry range from nothing but a loincloth or a belt to a wide variety of armor including chain mail. The dimachaerii ("two-knife men") were armed with two short scimitar blades ( siccae) designed for slicing attacks on an opponent.