The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion (13 page)

Spartacus led a revolt of the two hundred gladiators imprisoned at the school in what would later be called the Third Servile War. Lentulus Batiates, the owner of the school, heard about the imminent uprising and segregated his gladiator prisoners. Regardless, Spartacus successfully escaped with a total of seventy-eight gladiators and a handful of household slaves and wives.

The men grabbed weapons and equipment from a cart on the Capua streets, fought the men guarding the city gate, escaped into the countryside, and headed toward the dormant Vesuvius volcano, which became their fortress.

Claudius Glaber, the Roman commander in the Vesuvius area, led his military forces up a narrow path leading toward the volcano, and they then blocked access, figuring Spartacus and his men would be trapped without food or water. However, Spartacus was waiting for troops to find him, and he’d prepared for it. He and his men had made rope ladders from the vines growing at the volcano site, and the rebel force dropped on the ladders down the cliffs and escaped Glaber’s clutches. A brilliant tactician, Spartacus then led his men around the mountain and attacked Glaber’s army from the rear.

At this point, Rome sent a senior officer, Publius Varinius, and thousands of troops to defeat Spartacus and his small gladiator force. But ever the brilliant military tactician, Spartacus was ready for this move by the Romans, too. He gathered thousands of escaped slaves to help his men defeat the Romans, and again, the slaves defeated the Roman troops.

Tens of thousands of slaves—not only men, but also women and children—from all over southern Italy left the farms and workshops where they were imprisoned and joined forces with Spartacus. The rebels marched to Thurii, which is now known as Terranova.

Desperate, the Romans sent Consuls Lucius Gellius and Lentulus Clodianus with four legions of men to head off and destroy the rebels. They did manage to kill one group of rebels led by Crixus. But again, Spartacus and his forces overcame and defeated the men under both consuls. In a cruel twist of fate, Spartacus forced hundreds of Roman prisoners into gladiator battles, where they killed each other.

Spartacus moved on. The rebels defeated another Roman leader and his men, this time to the north, and then Spartacus turned back toward the south. He had originally planned to march over the Alps.

Campania fell to Spartacus, as did Lucania.

Now even more desperate, the Romans sent Marcus Licinius Crassus and another army of men after Spartacus. Crassus had served in the military and had sufficient skill to avoid an open clash against the rebels. Instead, he wore them out. He chased them for weeks, and he killed those seeking food and supplies. Spartacus was driven to the deep south, into the very toe of Italy. Crassus’s plan was to trap Spartacus’s forces by the sea and watch them starve to death.