Spartacus and the Slave Rebellions: What the Sources Tell
The slave rebellions that took place from circa 135-71 B.C.E. shook the Romans’ idea of stability and peace immensely. The First and Second Servile Wars led people to believe that the senate and consuls had less control over the people of Rome. After the Servile Wars were put to rest by Roman armies and consul M. Aquilas, several decades past and Romans began to forget of the severity of the conditions in Sicily that led to these clashing of forces. The Third Servile War, otherwise known as the Spartacus Rebellion, was the third and final revolt of slaves within the Roman Republic. There are many ancient sources that help historians understand how the slave rebellions took place, several of which are more specific to Spartacus and Roman society, all of which indicate Spartacus and the slave rebellions to be realistic rather than legend. There is a small pool of sources that are used for referencing these events, but whether these sources are reliable or not is questionable. Shaw’s book gives readers plenty to choose from, but after investigating I
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Cicero wrote mostly about Verres’ failings in Sicily while Publius Rupilius and Manius Aquillius attempted to save Sicily from complete destruction. Cicero wrote, “Is not Verres’ entire treatment of Sicily of such a kind that even if Athenion himself, the king of the fugitive slaves, had won the war, he would not have acted this way?”. In another passage, Cicero stated, “And during the war with the fugitive slaves, Manius Aquillius even had to make loans of cereal grain to the cities of Sicily”. Cicero essentially ‘bashed’ Verres and his treatment of Sicily and how much turmoil it had created, having left no one unaffected, including Manius Aquillius who had helped defeat the Second Servile
The social structure of Sparta consisted of the Helots, Perioikoi and Spartiates. Enslaved in the wars of Messenia were the Helots, considered as the property of the state, and released on rare occasion as Neodamodeis ’new citizens’. Tyrtaeus’ compares the enslaved Helots to ’donkeys worn down by heavy loads’, a downtrodden minority group with no great power. However, Thucydides accounts for their de-facto influence in Spartan administration, with ’most of their decisions with a view to precautions against the Helots. Finley supports this assessment, identifying certain advantages Helots held over other slave groups in this era. The basic rights of the Helots included the right to their own possessions; the ability to retain a percentage of their crop; and ’in general, all the normal human institutions except their freedom’. Rights afforded may have been in response to fears of a Helot uprising, as their obedience was paramount to a functional Spartan society, and vastly outnumbered the Spartan
The slave insurrection began in August 1791 in Saint-Domingue. Though many conflicts flared in Martinique and Guadeloupe a few years prior, they were not as well coordinated and massive. Not expecting so many to come and attack at once, white planters were overwhelmed.
The first crisis that the late republic had to face was the slave revolt in 73 B.C. The slave army had about 70,000 men led by a gladiator named Spartacus. He was a gladiator who escaped from a training facility and attracted t...
The slave revolt that took place in Southampton, Virginia and this was when black slaves overthrew their white masters. This was done out of deep hatred to the way blacks have been treated at that point in American history. Nat Turner was supposedly the leader of the slave rebellion. He was said to be the mastermind, coordinator, and encourager behind the
In the ancient times slavery was a common and normal thing. In 70 A.D it was estimated that there were slaves in Rome. There were no troubles or controversies over it. Slavery was widespread and most families owned at least one slave. Today there is only one real way to become a slave but in Roman Times (rise of Rome) there were three. 1=Slavery due to crime committed. 2=Not being a Roman citizen. 3=Taken prisoner by Romans. An example is war.
In Colonial America indentured slavery happen gradually. The colony of Virginia was one place the “terrible transformation” took place. There were Africans and poor whites that came from English working class, black and whites worked side by side in the fields. They were all indentured servants as servants they were fed and housed. After their time was served, they were given “freedom dues,” with that came a piece of land and supplies. Black and whites became free. The English would not enslave non-Christians slaves; they could be set freed by converting to Christianity (PBS Online, nd).
Slavery was so important and spread in because of agriculture and economic value that occurred in the Southern Colonies. When the North was developing economic foundations, the root of it was shipping and manufacturing industry whose primary workforce consisted of poor families. Slaves were not used in shipping because you needed qualified and skilled sailors, were unskilled manual laborers could not be used. The families who owned farms had a work ethic that emphasized personal independence, which didn't agree with slavery in general. Most Northerners couldn't afford to own slaves because the farms in the North were family farms that produced grains, vegetables, and livestock that supported the families, communities, and cities, not emphasizing
Frederick Douglas’s 1852 short story, “The Heroic Slave”, was loosely based the true story of a slave rebellion that occurred on the American ship named Creole. Divided into four parts, the plot of this story follows a slave named Madison Washington, who would eventually be the leader of the story. At the start of the short story, a “northern traveller” named Mr. Listwell saw and overheard Washington in a field. As Mr. Listwell observes him, Washington is performing a soliloquy, in which he verbalizes his wishes of gaining freedom (Douglass 174-182). In part two, Washington acts upon his grievances and finally escapes from bondage. Coincidentally, he arrives at the home of the same traveller who eavesdropped
The book The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss is an in depth look at one of Roman history’s most legendary events, the gladiator revolt led by Spartacus. Spartacus has become a legend, creating a storyline that has inspired many movies and television shows, such as Stanley Kubrick’s epic Spartacus in 1960, starring the legendary Kirk Douglas. Spartacus has inspired a perfect mix of men over time with various backgrounds and beliefs, from Stalin and Marx, to Voltaire, and even to Ronald Reagan. How though, did Spartacus create a massive revolt of slaves that would create a massive problem for the mighty Rome? Strauss attempts to create a chronology of the Spartacus War using his vast knowledge of the Italian landscape, ancient documents, and archaeological evidence, as well as provide the reader with the historical reasons that might have created a perfect combination of causes to create the Spartacus legend.
Slavery is an International crisis that continues to trouble our world. Our world has been facing slavery ever since the sixteen hundreds. We thought we once overcame slavery in the United States with the passing of the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws freed African Americans from their slave status, but the those laws didn’t stop the people that wanted slaves from retaining them. Slavery has gone on for many centuries, and sadly there is no end in sight.
Slavery has been a problem in many societies throughout all of history. It is not always out of prejudice or racism, often times people of the same ethnicity and nationality enslaved each other because of debt or some other reason. However in the instance of the African slave trade, it was without just cause and an extreme display of racism. Slavery in America was a horrible thing. Blacks were subject to overworking and humiliation by white men. Although this was not the case in every slave to master relationship, owning another person as property when they owe you no debt is still degrading, no matter how you treat the person. African Americans have suffered many hardships through slavery, were set free as a result of the Civil War, fought for their rights in the civil rights movement, and are on both sides of the coin when it comes to racism in America.
The film “Slavery by another name" is a one and a half hour documentary produced by Catherine Allan and directed by Sam Pollard, and it was first showcased by Sundance Film Festival in 2012. The film is based on Douglas Blackmonbook Slavery by Another Name, and the plot of the film revolves around the history and life of African Americans after Emancipation Proclamation; which was effected by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, for the purpose of ending slavery of African Americans in the U.S. The film reveals very brutal stories of how slavery of African Americans persisted in through forced labor and cruelty; especially in the American south which continued until the beginning of World War II. The film brings to light one of my upbringing
The experiences of enslaved women differed from the experience of enslaved men in ancient Rome; slavery within ancient Rome can be traced back to the first century BCE and was based primarily on the chattel slave system. Slavery within the ancient roman society was highly normalised as it was considered a part of roman culture. Slavery within ancient Rome was so heavily normalised that it is considered to be described as a “slave society” Joshel (2010, p. 6) states that “For slaves living in the Roman world, there was no outside – no place without slavery and no movement that declared slavery wrong. Slavery was a normal part of life, and this was true not only for the Romans but for every neighbouring ancient culture”. Not only was slavery considered a normal part of Roman life, but it affected a great proportion of the Roman population. According to historian Walter Scheidel (2007, p. 6) “ There were somewhere between 5 to 8 million slaves in the Roman empire, some 250,000 to 400,000 new slaves were required every year to maintain the numbers”. A majority of these figures were men, children and - women; either being enslaved through birth, kidnapping or captured through war. Roman slaves were not seen as victims nor was slavery considered to be a crime at that time, as slavery was considered to be to a ‘natural law of the nations’ as stated by Joshel (2010, p.6) “For the Roman lawyer, slavery is not a crime, and the enslaved are not victims; rather, as Gaius and other Roman jurists nations. Natural law applies to all animals, not only human beings, but it concerns little more than the union of male and female, procreation of children, and their rearing”. With an estimated 5 to 8 million slaves within the Roman Empire, whether...
The word “slavery” brings back horrific memories of human beings. Bought and sold as property, and dehumanized with the risk and implementation of violence, at times nearly inhumane. The majority of people in the United States assumes and assures that slavery was eliminated during the nineteenth century with the Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth; rather, slavery and the global slave trade continue to thrive till this day. In fact, it is likely that more individuals are becoming victims of human trafficking across borders against their will compared to the vast number of slaves that we know in earlier times. Slavery is no longer about legal ownership asserted, but instead legal ownership avoided, the thought provoking idea that with old slavery, slaves were maintained, compared to modern day slavery in which slaves are nearly disposable, under the same institutionalized systems in which violence and economic control over the disadvantaged is the common way of life. Modern day slavery is insidious to the public but still detrimental if not more than old American slavery.
...re. Although slave revolts were uncommon in Greece, there were several in Rome. The most historical revolt was led by Spartacus and lasted about two years. This came about because Spartacus and several other gladiators broke out and started fighting the armies that came after them. This led to a more kind way to treat the slaves with the hope that they would not rise up again. In some places a slave could earn their freedom by either purchasing it with the small amount of money that their owners let them make or they could be set free in a masters last will and testament.