The dry, metallic sound of chains breaking can be heard. Immediately begins a great uproar of shouts and warriors begins, united in a single spasm of freedom. It is only possible to envision that din, at the opening of the gates of the ludus gladiatorius of ancient Capua, vehemently disturbing the quiet of the place. At the head of some improvised rioters, the living merchandise of the lanista Lentulus Batiatus, and armed with spikes, cleavers and cooking tools, was Spartacus the Thracian1. Who were these gladiators to challenge the power of Rome?
Be a gladiator
The term munus indicated a type of social duty, a gift, that wealthy families addressed to society: ritual games officiated in celebration of a deceased person were also munera. These were mortal fights between armed wrestlers, which were attended by the community. Perhaps the practice had Etruscan origins, an assumption that is expressed through the archetypal figure of Phersu, a masked character who appears frequently in funerary paintings depicting sporting games2. Rather, some modern authors argue for a Campanian origin3, since numerous fight scenes are depicted in Paestum tomb paintings, and the first gladiatorial schools were born there.
The munera in Rome
Only later Romans adopted the practice of munera. The fighting became more complex, involving different types of wrestlers, called gladiators. In imperial times, such practices acquired a mass ludic character, commissioned by public figures and the emperor to entertain Roman citizens. Thus the munera were included in the ludi, the public games organized on festivities (ordinaria) or for special events (extraordinaria)4.
Ludi gladiatorii were not the only popular show in Rome. Venationes, for example, were a type of entertainment based on hunting of wild animals; ludi circenses were races between chariots drawn by horses (quadrigae or bigae, depending on the number of the animals) and driven by charioteers; and finally, ludi scaenici were acting plays.
” […] duas tantum res anxius optat panem et circenses”
“[…] the People […] anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses”
Nothing better than this famous locution of Juvenal, contained in Satire X (1st century), can call to mind the social function that ludi held in ancient Rome.
The social role of gladiators
Nevertheless, the ludi gladiatorii were the most acclaimed spectacles. The fighters had a real social function. They represented a formidable instrument for maintaining the established order. The richest men of Rome used Munera to obtain political consensus and to represent the subjugation of barbarian peoples. They were often slaves from distant and peripheral provinces, captured during revolts or military campaigns. In spite of their function, they were as a commodity, the property of unscrupulous and dubious men, the lanistas. The lanista owned the slaves in gladiatorial schools. These were authentic barracks, such as the ludus of Capua from which Spartacus’ revolt started. Hence, they rented them out if necessary in exchange for a compensation.
Living in Rome as a gladiator meant being considered an infamis according to the law but, at the same time, a hero by the people if one was a good fighter in the arena. The hard and gruelling physical training activities carried out within the ludus marked the rhythm of their day.
The gladiator show
The munera were preceded by a ceremony, in which the magistrate or politician who organised them also participated (editor). A ludic procession (pompa) was led by the lictors, and the lictor’s fasces represented power over life and death. Then the parade consisted of flute players and trumpeters playing a fanfare. Followed by the bearers of gladiatorial weapons: helmets, shields and the gladius, from which the fighters derived their name. The real spectacle opened with a venationes. Only afterwards there was the damnatio ad beastias, a practice during which those condemned to death were thrown to the beasts. In the afternoon the gladiator fights started.
The gladiator figures
In the Republican era, when Rome was expanding, fighters were divided into recognisable types according to ethnicity. Thus, the Samnites were distinguished by the possession of a curved shield, the Gauls were bare-chested, while the Thracians were equipped with a small shield and a Sica, a characteristic broadsword.
By the imperial age, starting with Augustus, Rome had conquered most of the provinces it had fought against. For this reason, gladiators assumed codified roles no longer linked to their ethnicity. The fights themselves were predetermined according to type and weaponry. Now, the Thracian fighter wears a helmet with a visor surmounted by a griffin and shin guards; the provocator has a round helmet on his head and no hilt, since he has to fight against the retiarius, who might otherwise wrap him in his net. Furthermore, the retiarius fights bare-chested, protecting his neck with the galerus, a solid spaulder; the best armed gladiator is the murmillo, equipped with a large vertical shield, greaves and a feathered helmet with crest and visor. When the murmillo fought against the retiarius, he was a secutor and had a helmet with narrow eye openings.
The show ended with a fighter’s death or his surrender. Hence, the winner was presented with a palm branch, while the editor had the power to decide on the life and death of the loser, “thumbs down”.
“Verso pollice vulgus cum iubet“
Juvenal, Satires
The Amphitheatre of Capua
Originally, the munera took place along the streets, sometimes in the city forum, or in temporary wooden structures. By the 1st century B.C., Roman cities began to have a permanent elliptical structure: the amphitheatre. The gladiatorial school of Capua (today Santa Maria Capua Vetere) also had its own building for the ludi. The current structure, the Amphitheatre of Capua, dates back to the end of the 1st century A.D. It was erected to replace the previous arena (130-90 BC), located nearby and where Spartacus also fought. The Amphitheatre of Capua was the second largest after the Colosseum, its architectural model.
The new amphitheatre of Capua
An elliptical building, with axes of 165 metres and a length of 135 metres, stood on four tiers of cavea: ima, media and summa cavea, attic. Each level of the cavea was crossed by galleries in opus latericium and reached by special staircases. Marble slabs entirely covered the levels. Even the entrances (vomitoria) were decorated with bas-reliefs depicting scenes of venationes and myths. There were eighty monumental limestone portico arches opening outwards, some of which are still visible today. At the four cardinal points they were wider and served as entrances for the spectators: the Porta Triumphalis welcomed the procession of gladiators, while the Porta Libitina was used to bring out the defeated.
Half-columns sculpted in Tuscanic order and busts of deities at the keystones decorated the amphitheatre. A complex system of carceres with canals, corridors and niches ran through the basement of it, allowing for spectacular stage plays.
Spartacus’ revolt
It is not certain that Spartacus was the only one to lead the Capuan rebellion. Sources report at least two other leaders5 – the Gauls Oenomaus and Crixo – who led seventy-eight fugitives into the bush on that day in 73 B.C., perhaps exasperated by the prohibitive living conditions they were subjected to.
The slaves quickly assaulted a chariot full of gladiator weapons, probably destined to another ludus, and prepared for battle. They were aware that legions would be sent to capture them. Hence, they have any hope than a few days of freedom. But history almost never has linear and predictable paths. Rome did not realise the danger represented by Spartacus. It underestimated the superhuman yearning for freedom that arose in the slaves and ignored the warrior excellence of the fugitives. They were well trained in combat, called munera, but besides their rude strength there was an unsuspected tactical sagacity. Appian reports that Spartacus had served as an auxiliary in the Roman army, which explains why he was the leader of the revolt.
The first skirmishes between Spartacus’ men
Spartacus’ men defeated the garrison of Capua, sent by Rome convinced that the revolt was just a local criminal phenomenon. And even when three thousand legionaries, following Praetor Claudius Glaber, arrived in Campania, the situation was no different. Glaber noticed that gladiators had taken refuge on top of a cliff at Vesuvius, accessible via a single path. Legionnaires camped on the slopes of the volcano, convinced that they would defeat the rebels by starving them to death. Spartacus and the gladiators built stairs out of the local climbing plants and descended the steep sides of the cliff. In short time they reached Glaber’s camp and, taking him from behind, massacred all three thousand Roman legionaries.
The news probably echoed far beyond the slopes of Vesuvius, and Spartacus’ improvised escape turned into an opportunity. Brigands and fugitives from all over Campania joined the gladiator army, wielding the weapons taken from Glaber’s unfortunate soldiers. When these were no longer sufficient, Publius Annius Florus reported of shields made of wicker and leather. Also, new weapons were made from the chains of slaves new weapons6. Thus, when the second praetor sent from Rome, Publius Varinius, arrived in Campania with a larger contingent than Glaber, he had to face a huge army. Also, he suffered a resounding defeat.
The Third Servile War
The revolt of Spartacus and a few other men had shattered all expectations of warlike resistance. It lasted for no less than two years (73-71 B.C.). It steadily escalated and involved thousands of peoples along the Italic peninsula, finally becoming known as the third servile war.
Plutarch attests that the first group of rebels, from the school of Lentulus Batiatus, were mainly from Thrace and Gaul7. Thracian slaves arrived in Capua between the end of the 2nd and the 1st century B.C., probably captured during raids in Macedonia. Gauls had risen against the Romans in conjunction with the descent of the Cimbri and Teutons into the northern territories of the Republic. Frontinus8, Paulus Orosius9 and Plutarch10 mention, in fact, the presence of Germans in the troops of gladiators, captured while still children during Gaius Marius’ victory over the aforementioned invading peoples.
Spartacus’ army: a multitude of people
This varied group of people was, however, only apparently uneven. The Celts had already fought with both the Germans and the Thracians. Above all they had shared their fate with the Maedi, the group of Spartacus. There was much more complicity than suspected: gladiators shared a background of established collaboration between their peoples.
Concerning the arrival of brigands and fugitives, following the victory of Vesuvius, Plutarch prefers to note the names of shepherds and herdsmen11. Orosius also provides another valuable clue for understanding who these men were; he reports that these people converged along the road between Metapontum and Consentia12. Probably they were hermits from the Bruttians, reduced to a semi-servile condition by the Romans after supporting Carthaginian Hannibal in the Second Punic War. Orosius quantifies Spartacus’ army at forty thousand fighters; Appian even at seventy thousand men13.
Differences in views
As the number of soldiers increased, so did the difficulties of managing the rebel army. Hence, disagreements between Spartacus and the other leaders began to arose. Appian reports that, after his victory over Publius Varinius, he moved towards the Alps14. Possibly Spartacus aimed at crossing them to return to Gaul and Thrace. Contrariwise, Crixus preferred to continue plundering Roman possessions in the south. This is explained by the fact that many Gauls and Germans, especially those captured as children and living under Rome, did not have their own idea of a homeland. They were now Italics and felt no need to return to their countries of origin. Some of them wanted to dedicate themselves exclusively to a life of brigandage. Others, like the Bruttians, were really born in the south of Italy.
During such plundering in the south, Oenomaus found death. Crixus took with him Celts and Germans – ten thousand men for Orosius, thirty thousand for Appian – went to Apulia, in disagreement with Spartacus. The choice revealed to be unfortunate. Once arrived on Gargano (72 BC), the troops of consul Lucius Gellius Publicola attacked the army and annihilated it. Appian informs us that Crixus was killed himself and that, following this event, the remaining part of the rebels, led by Spartacus, was also reached by the Romans15.
The fate of Spartacus’ army: sources disagree
From this moment on, the sources disagree: according to Appian, Spartacus defeated the army of Lucius Gelius and also that of another consul, Gnaeus Lentulus Clodianus16; according to Plutarch, he only fought against the former, trying to advance northwards in an attempt to cross the Alps and bring his men home17. In fact, Florus corroborates the facts and adds the significant detail of a battle fought near Modena against the governor of Cisalpine Gaul, Cassius18.
However, something happened that is very difficult to explain. Spartacus, despite having won the battle and having his way to the north, decided to led his army back south. The reasons that drove the Thracian to this sudden reconsideration are unclear. Some historians speculated that Spartacus had convinced himself to march on Rome, or that his own troops had requested it. After all, the rebel army had been invincible until then, and had inflict merciless defeats and humiliation on the Romans. Florus, for example, relates that Spartacus celebrated munera in honour of the dead Crixus and employed Roman soldiers captured in battle as combatants19.
The aims of the rebels
Thus, in this historical counterpoise that claimed three hundred victims, there was a belief that fate could be reversed. Why then not overthrow Rome as well? Spartacus, at a certain moment commanding one hundred and twenty thousand men20, had to think seriously about it. His wife, enslaved with him and described by Plutarch as a prophetess devoted to the ecstatic worship of Dionysus, had predicted that he would do great things. Another hypothesis is that Spartacus had decided to establish an independent power in Italy. There was already a historical precedent: the Syrian slave Eunus. He had triggered the first servile war (135-132 BC), he had settled in Sicily and founded a kingdom with the capital Taormina, proclaiming himself king under the name of Antiochus.
This was perhaps the reason that motivated Spartacus to descend the Italian peninsula and move towards Sicily21. The rebel army arrived near the Strait of Messina and had to land on the island with the help of the Cilician pirates. Nevertheless, the pirates did not arrive at all. Crassus’ army, sent by Rome to put down the gladiator revolt definitively, reached Spartacus.
Orosius narrates that there was a new secession in the following days, although the reasons for it are unknown: the Gauls and Germans, led by Castus and Gannicus, abandoned Spartacus and engaged in direct combat against the Romans22. It is Frontinus who tells us about the battle that saw the rebel forces of Castus and Gannicus and those of Crassus face each other at Cantenna in 71 BC23. The Romans severely defeated the Gauls and Germans. Nevertheless, Plutarch wrote that of the 12300 fallen only two suffered back wounds, demonstrating the courage shown in battle.
The end of Spartacus
According to Orosius the final battle between Spartacus’ forces and the Romans took place near the river Sele. Instead, according to other historians it occurred in Lucania. Plutarch describes the final fight in an epic manner. He tells that Spartacus, before the clash, killed his horse in front of the soldiers. The gladiator said that if he had won, he would have had as many horses as he wanted. Contrariwise, if he had lost, he would not have needed any. The historian recounts that Spartacus ran on foot in search for Crassus, all along the battlefield and, not finding him, was finally shot down by the legionary army; his body was never found24. Appian also gives an epic and glorious description: Spartacus, wounded in the thigh by a spear, continued to fight, albeit on his knees, until he was overwhelmed by the advancing Roman legions25.
At the end of the battle Crassus had captured six thousand men. They were crucified along the Via Cassia, from Capua to Rome, as a warning to those who intended to rebel. Part of Spartacus’ army escaped, but the new legions under Pompey’s command reached the fugitives.
The consequences of Spartacus’ revolt
The gladiators’ revolt, although it ended tragically, had a great echo throughout Rome. Indeed, in its epicness, it challenged the established social order. Many questioned if the living conditions of the gladiators were fair and the deprivation of freedom could cause new revolts. The third servile war had developed precisely on the basis of the oppressive constraints that Lentulus Batiatus had imposed on his gladiators26. In this sense, the figure of the slave was re-evaluated, but not in relation to the dignity due to the person, but rather to the social system that had made the revolt possible.
Senate control
Thus in 65 B.C. the Roman Senate, fearing that Caesar might use gladiators to gain consensus by force – he had in fact organised a munus in honour of his deceased father twenty years earlier – imposed a limit of three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators from his private ludus in Capua27. This limit concerned all citizens, effectively reducing the influence of the lanista in social and political life. In a law of 22 B.C., Augustus also stipulated that the Senate had to authorise the games and the praetors their organisation. Finally, he further reduced the maximum limit of gladiators in a ludus to one hundred and twenty pairs.
The auctoratus
One of the factors that had exacerbated Spartacus’ revolt was that the rebels belonged to ethnic groups foreign to Rome. Gauls and Germans, for instance, were represented by numerous groups of slaves who had joined forces as they shared language, customs and habits. In the imperial age, an attempt was therefore made to increase the number of volunteer gladiators, who were more unlikely to give rise to revolts. These were free citizens who submitted themselves to the legal status of the auctoratus, i.e. they enjoyed a mitigated freedom: in exchange for a fee, they became the property of a lanista and enrolled in a ludus.
Samuele Corrente Naso and Daniela Campus
Map of places
Notes
- Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Crassus and Pompey. ↩︎
- R. Bloch, Les Étrusques, 1954. ↩︎
- K. Welch, The Roman Amphitheatre: From Its Origins to the Colosseum, Cambridge University Press, 2007. Futrell A, A Sourcebook on the Roman Games, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2006. ↩︎
- S. Facchini, I luoghi dello sport nella Roma antica e moderna, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato, 1990. ↩︎
- Appian, Civil Wars. ↩︎
- Publius Annius Florus, Epitome, II, 8. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 1. ↩︎
- Frontinus, Stratagems. ↩︎
- P. Orosius, Historiarum adversus paganos libri septem. ↩︎
- Ibidem not1 1. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 1. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 9. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 5. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 5. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 5. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 5. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 1. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 6. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 6. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 5. ↩︎
- Ibidem notes 1 and 6. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 9. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 8. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 1. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 5. ↩︎
- Ibidem note 1. ↩︎
- Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia. ↩︎
