SPARTACUS AND A DECLINE IN SLAVERY

A Roman soldier named Spartacus became an outlaw, perhaps after having deserted. For survival he joined drifters in bandit raids, and he was caught. For punishment, Roman authorities sold him as a slave. He became a prisoner at a training school for gladiator contests in the city of Capua. And there, in 73 BCE, he and seventy-seven other prisoners and slaves escaped and seized control of nearby Mount Vesuvius. As before, news of the revolt encouraged other slaves to revolt, and they joined Spartacus on Mount Vesuvius - an army of from fifty to a hundred thousand. Thus began what historians called the Third Servile War.