Spartacus: Rebellion (59 page)

In the decade that followed, Crassus continued to strengthen his position through politics while Pompey did the same by undertaking more military campaigns on the Republic’s behalf. Both were very successful in their fields. Their rivalry appears to have simmered beneath the surface, never disappearing entirely. The gradual rise to prominence of Caesar eventually led to the pair accommodating a third party, forming what was known as the second triumvirate. Together the three men ruled Rome until Crassus departed for the east in 55
BC
, his intention to win a major victory over Parthia, a desert region to the east of Syria and Judaea. As many of you know, his decision was unwise. At the battle of Carrhae in the summer of 53
BC
, Crassus, one of his sons and twenty thousand legionaries were killed. Anyone interested in the story of that campaign would do well to read
The Defeat of Rome
by Gareth C. Sampson, or a novel called
The Forgotten Legion
!

As I wrote in the first book, the list of references for Spartacus is shorter than normal, because of the aforementioned lack of material. Apart from my standard Roman history texts, the main sources I used were (as previously mentioned)
The Spartacus War
by Barry Strauss;
Spartacus and the Slave Wars:
A Brief History with Documents
by Brent D. Shaw, which details every little scrap of ancient text about the man;
Spartacus and the Slave War 73–71
BC
, an Osprey book by Nic Fields;
The Thracians
by Chris Webber, also published by Osprey, and the same author’s textbook
The Gods of Battle
, which I recommend highly. The brilliant website RomanArmyTalk.com has to be mentioned too – it’s a wonderful place to find out anything and everything about the Roman army, and its members are always quick to answer any queries. There’s also a great site called UNRV.com, which deals with all things Roman, not just the army.

There are many, many people whom I have to thank as well. Rosie de Courcy, my editor; Charlie Viney, my agent; Nicola Taplin, Ruth Waldram, Amelia Harvell and Jen Doyle, Richard Ogle, Rob Waddington, Andrew Sauerwine, Jane Kirby, Monique Corless, Kasia Thompson, Dave Parrish, Richenda Todd and Steve Stone. In the USA, Keith Kahla, Jeanne-Marie Hudson and Jessica Preeg at St Martin’s Press. Without you all, my job would be impossible. Thank you! As ever, I’m grateful to Claire Wheller, my first-class physio, and to Arthur O’Connor, my friend and critic. I appreciate the friendship and help of all the re-enactors I know too, from the legionaries of Legio XX in Deva to those of the Ermine Street Guard, Legio II Augusta and others further afield in Italy, Spain and the USA. To you, my readers, I raise a glass in huge appreciation of your support. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be writing. Your emails, Facebook comments and tweets brighten my days at my desk. Please pop by my website benkane.net any time, where your opinions are always welcome. You can also look for me on Facebook, or Twitter: @benkaneauthor. Lastly, I have to thank my wonderful wife Sair and my two lovely children, Ferdia and Pippa, whom I love so very much.

Glossary

acetum
: sour wine, the universal beverage served to Roman soldiers. Also the word for vinegar, the most common disinfectant used by Roman doctors. Vinegar is excellent at killing bacteria, and its widespread use in Western medicine continued until late in the nineteenth century.

Alba Longa: an ancient city near modern-day Castel Gandolfo that preceded the founding of Rome and other Latin cities. It lost its primacy in the seventh century
BC
.

amphora
(pl.
amphorae
): a large, two-handled clay vessel with a narrow neck used to store wine, olive oil and other produce.

Apulia: a region of south-east Italy roughly equating to modern-day Puglia.

aquilifer
(pl.
aquiliferi
): the standard-bearer for the
aquila
, or eagle, of a legion.

Ariminum: modern-day Rimini.

as
(pl.
asses
): a small bronze coin, originally worth two-fifths of a
sestertius
.

Asia Minor: a geographical term used to describe the westernmost part of the continent of Asia, equating to much of modern-day Turkey.

atrium
: the large chamber immediately beyond the entrance hall in a Roman house. This was the social and devotional centre of the house. It had an opening in the roof and a pool, the
impluvium
, to catch the rainwater that entered.

auctoratus
(pl.
auctorati
): a free Roman citizen who volunteered to become a gladiator.

aureus
(pl.
aurei
): a small gold coin worth twenty-five
denarii
. Until the time of the early Empire, it was minted infrequently.

auxiliaries: Rome was happy to use allied soldiers of different types to increase its armies’ effectiveness. For most of the first century
BC
, there was no Roman citizen cavalry. It became the norm to recruit natural horsemen such as German, Gaulish and Spanish tribesmen.

ballista
(pl.
ballistae
): a two-armed Roman catapult that looked like a crossbow on a stand, and which fired either bolts or stones with great accuracy and force.

Basilica Aemilia: a large covered market off the Forum in Rome.

Bithynia: a territory in north-west Asia Minor that was bequeathed to Rome by its king in 75/4
BC
.

Brennus: the Gaulish chieftain who is reputed to have sacked Rome in 387
BC
. (Also a character in my book
The Forgotten Legion
!)

Brundisium: modern-day Brindisi.

Bruttium: the modern-day Calabrian peninsula.

bucina
(pl.
bucinae
): a military trumpet. The Romans used a number of types of instruments, among them the
tuba
, the
cornu
and the
bucina
. To simplify matters, I have used just one of them: the
bucina
.

caldarium
: an intensely hot room in Roman bath complexes. Used like a modern-day sauna, most also had a hot plunge pool. The
caldarium
was heated by hot air which flowed from a furnace through pipes into hollow bricks in the walls and under the raised floor.

caligae
: heavy leather sandals worn by the Roman soldier. Sturdily constructed in three layers – a sole, insole and upper –
caligae
resembled an open-toed boot. Dozens of metal studs on the sole gave the sandals good grip.

Campania: a fertile region of west central Italy.

Capua: modern-day Santa Maria di Capua Vetere, near Naples. Site of an excellent amphitheatre, built upon the one that Spartacus would have fought in.

Caudine Forks: the narrow valley in which a Roman army was trapped and defeated by the Samnites in 321
BC
.

centurion (in Latin,
centurio
): the disciplined career officers who formed the backbone of the Roman army. In the first century
BC
, there were six centurions to a cohort, and sixty to a legion. See also entry for cohort.

Ceres: a goddess of growth.

Charon: the ferryman over the River Styx in Hades.

Charybdis: the whirlpool just off the eastern coast of Sicily that sat opposite the cave on the mainland in which the monster Scylla lived.

Cilician pirates: corsairs from a region in southern Asia Minor who, in the second and first centuries
BC
, caused severe problems to shipping in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cimbri: a Germanic tribe who in the second century
BC
migrated to southern Gaul, where they encountered the Romans, winning several large-scale victories in the process. They were annihilated by Marius in 102
BC
.

Cinna, Lucius Cornelius, died 84
BC
: little is known of the early life of this four-time consul. An ally of Marius, and an enemy of Sulla, he was killed in a mutiny by his own troops in 84
BC
.

Cisalpine Gaul: the northern area of modern-day Italy, comprising the Po plain and its mountain borders from the Alps to the Apennines.

cohort: a unit of the Roman legion. There were ten cohorts in a legion in the 70s
BC
, with six centuries of eighty legionaries in every unit. Each century was under the command of a centurion.

consul: one of two annually elected chief magistrates, appointed by the people and ratified by the Senate. Effective rulers of Rome for a year, they were in charge of civil and military matters and led the Republic’s armies into war. Each could countermand the other and both were supposed to heed the wishes of the Senate. No man was supposed to serve as consul more than once. But by the early decades of the first century
BC
, powerful nobles such as Marius and Sulla were holding on to the position for years on end. This dangerously weakened Rome’s democracy.

contubernium
(pl.
contubernia
): a group of eight legionaries who shared a tent or barracks room and who cooked and ate together.

corona civica
: a prestigious award made of oak leaves, given for the saving of another citizen’s life.

Crassus, Marcus Licinius (
c.
115–53
BC
): an astute Roman politician and general who joined with Sulla and whose actions at the Colline Gate on Sulla’s behalf helped to take Rome. Despite being known as the richest man in Rome, he lived modestly. He made much of his fortune by buying and seizing the properties of those affected by Sulla’s proscriptions.

Curia: the building in Rome in which the Senate met.

Delos: a small Greek island. By the first century
BC
, it had become a free port and the largest slave market in the Mediterranean.

denarius
(pl.
denarii
): the staple coin of the Roman Republic. Made from silver, it was worth four
sestertii
, or ten
asses
(later sixteen).

Dionysus: the twice-born son of Zeus and Semele, daughter of the founder of Thebes. Recognised as man and animal, young and old, male and effeminate, he was one of the most versatile and indefinable of all Greek gods. Essentially, he was the god of wine and intoxication but was also associated with ritual madness –
mania
– and an afterlife blessed by his joys. Named Bacchus by the Romans, his cults were secretive, violent and strange.

Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. The twin sons of Zeus, they shared one immortal life between them, living half their lives on Mount Olympus and half in Sparta.

Elysium: a paradise inhabited by the distinguished or good after their death.

Enna: an ancient city in central Sicily.

Epirus: the ancient north-western area of Greece.

Falernian: a wine from the fertile area of north Campania, the Falernus ager.

fasces: see lictor.

fides:
essentially, good faith. It was regarded as an important quality in Rome. The system whereby citizens sought the patronage of the rich and powerful had been around for centuries. In return for loyalty, the client could expect the guidance and protection of their patron.

Fortuna: the goddess of luck and good fortune. Like all deities, she was notoriously fickle.

Forum Annii: a farming settlement on the Via Annia to the east of Paestum, the location of which has been lost to history.

Gaul: modern-day France.

gladius
(pl.
gladii
): little information remains about the ‘Spanish’ sword of the Republican army, the
gladius hispaniensis
, with its waisted blade. It is not clear when it was adopted by the Romans, but it was probably after encountering the weapon during the First Punic War, when it was used by Celtiberian troops. The shaped hilt was made of bone and protected by a pommel and guard of wood. The
gladius
was worn on the right, except by centurions and other senior officers, who wore it on the left.

Great Rider: almost nothing is known about Thracian religion. However, more than three thousand representations of one mysterious figure survive from Thrace. These depict a deity on horseback who is often accompanied by a dog or a lion. He is usually aiming his spear at a boar hiding behind an altar. Invariably, there is a tree nearby with a snake coiled around it; often there are women present too. Other carvings depict the ‘hero’ god returning from a successful hunt with his dogs or lions, or returning to the altar in triumph, a bowl held in his hand. No name for this heroic deity survives, but his importance to the Thracians cannot be understated. I have therefore given him a name I thought suited quite well.

gugga: In Plautus’ comedy,
Poenulus
, one of the Roman characters refers to a Carthaginian trader as a ‘gugga’. This insult can be translated as ‘little rat’.