They raided Roman towns for food and supplies and trained for future battles. Over the winter of that year, Spartacus and his 70,000 slaves camped in northern Italy. They gathered weapons and armor from the defeated Roman troops. The gladiators used their fighting experience to train the other slaves how to fight. Spartacus and the slaves again defeated them.Īs Spartacus continued to succeed against the Roman army, more and more slaves deserted their owners and joined up, soon numbering over 70,000 slaves. Rome sent another army of 6,000 soldiers. They killed nearly all 3,000 of the soldiers. He and the gladiators used the vines from local trees to rappel down the side of the mountain and sneak up behind the Roman forces. Spartacus, however, had a different idea. Glaber surrounded the slaves at Mount Vesuvius and decided to wait them out. Rome sent an army of 3,000 men led by Claudius Glaber.

They fled to Mount Vesuvius near the city of Pompeii, gathering more slaves as they went. They were able to steal their weapons and armor and fight their way free. In 73 BC, Spartacus led seventy gladiators in an escape from the gladiator school. He became tired of risking his life for the entertainment of others. He must have had both fighting skills and luck to survive. He was ordered into the arena to fight animals or other gladiators. He was sent to a gladiator school where he was trained to fight. Spartacus was a slave who was forced to fight for the entertainment of the Romans.

He was a Thracian who joined the Roman army as a young man. Not a lot is known about Spartacus' early life.

Spartacus ancient rome roman gladiators