CLASS 20B Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Lentulus Batiatus, Gladiator, Praetor
The Spartacus Rebellion
- 73-71 BC led by gladiator Spartacus
- Lentelus Batiatus had a school of gladiators that he kept in confinement unless for
gladiatorial combat
- Some escaped while others armed themselves with gladiators’ weapons & elected 3
leaders
- First one was Spartacus, Thracian of Nomadic stock
- Said that when he was first brought to Rome to be sold there was a serpent that
coiled his face while he slept
- His wife is a prophetess who saw it as a symbol of power
- Gladiators fought soldiers that came against them & traded their gladiator weapons for
those of real warfare
- Gladiatorial weapons were seen as dishonorable & barbarous
- Clodius the praetor was sent from Rome to lay siege to them on a hill
- Top of the hill was covered with vine that the gladiators were able to cut and
make ladders from
- This allowed them to descend safely
- One man was left at the top to throw arms down before coming down himself
- After descent the gladiators surrounded the Romans & attacked
- Shepherds & herdsmen joined the gladiators in the rebellion
- Spartacus also defeated praetors Publius Varinus & Cossinius
- Captured lictors & the very horse he rode
- Spartacus didn’t expect to overcome the Romans so he wanted to retreat to the Alps to
go back home to their country
- His men were strong in numbers & did not listen to him; continued fighting
- Defeated consuls Gellius & Lentelus & governor Cassius
- Crassus was put in charge of the war & he ordered Mummius to follow the enemy but
not attack
- Mummius attacked at the first opportunity but the defeat was horrific; most of his
army fled
- Crassus divided the 500 men who fled into 50 decades of death → ancient way of
punishing soldiers
- The whole army has to witness these deaths
- Crassus built a wall across the isthmus to surround → Spartacus’s provisions failed
- Spartacus wanted to go forth from the peninsula but realized he was walled in
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Document Summary
Lentelus batiatus had a school of gladiators that he kept in confinement unless for gladiatorial combat. Some escaped while others armed themselves with gladiators" weapons & elected 3 leaders. First one was spartacus, thracian of nomadic stock. Said that when he was first brought to rome to be sold there was a serpent that coiled his face while he slept. His wife is a prophetess who saw it as a symbol of power. Gladiators fought soldiers that came against them & traded their gladiator weapons for those of real warfare. Gladiatorial weapons were seen as dishonorable & barbarous. Clodius the praetor was sent from rome to lay siege to them on a hill. Top of the hill was covered with vine that the gladiators were able to cut and make ladders from. One man was left at the top to throw arms down before coming down himself. After descent the gladiators surrounded the romans & attacked.
