The Spartacus War
Mar 2009 · Simon and Schuster
3.9star
19 reviewsreport
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288
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About this ebook
An authoritative account from an expert author: The Spartacus War is the first popular history of the revolt in English.
The Spartacus War is the extraordinary story of the most famous slave rebellion in the ancient world, the fascinating true story behind a legend that has been the inspiration for novelists, filmmakers, and revolutionaries for 2,000 years. Starting with only seventy-four men, a gladiator named Spartacus incited a rebellion that threatened Rome itself. With his fellow gladiators, Spartacus built an army of 60,000 soldiers and controlled the southern Italian countryside. A charismatic leader, he used religion to win support. An ex-soldier in the Roman army, Spartacus excelled in combat. He defeated nine Roman armies and kept Rome at bay for two years before he was defeated. After his final battle, 6,000 of his followers were captured and crucified along Rome's main southern highway.
The Spartacus War is the dramatic and factual account of one of history's great rebellions. Spartacus was beaten by a Roman general, Crassus, who had learned how to defeat an insurgency. But the rebels were partly to blame for their failure. Their army was large and often undisciplined; the many ethnic groups within it frequently quarreled over leadership. No single leader, not even Spartacus, could keep them all in line. And when faced with a choice between escaping to freedom and looting, the rebels chose wealth over liberty, risking an eventual confrontation with Rome's most powerful forces.
The result of years of research, The Spartacus War is based not only on written documents but also on archaeological evidence, historical reconstruction, and the author's extensive travels in the Italian countryside that Spartacus once conquered.
The Spartacus War is the extraordinary story of the most famous slave rebellion in the ancient world, the fascinating true story behind a legend that has been the inspiration for novelists, filmmakers, and revolutionaries for 2,000 years. Starting with only seventy-four men, a gladiator named Spartacus incited a rebellion that threatened Rome itself. With his fellow gladiators, Spartacus built an army of 60,000 soldiers and controlled the southern Italian countryside. A charismatic leader, he used religion to win support. An ex-soldier in the Roman army, Spartacus excelled in combat. He defeated nine Roman armies and kept Rome at bay for two years before he was defeated. After his final battle, 6,000 of his followers were captured and crucified along Rome's main southern highway.
The Spartacus War is the dramatic and factual account of one of history's great rebellions. Spartacus was beaten by a Roman general, Crassus, who had learned how to defeat an insurgency. But the rebels were partly to blame for their failure. Their army was large and often undisciplined; the many ethnic groups within it frequently quarreled over leadership. No single leader, not even Spartacus, could keep them all in line. And when faced with a choice between escaping to freedom and looting, the rebels chose wealth over liberty, risking an eventual confrontation with Rome's most powerful forces.
The result of years of research, The Spartacus War is based not only on written documents but also on archaeological evidence, historical reconstruction, and the author's extensive travels in the Italian countryside that Spartacus once conquered.
Ratings and reviews
3.9
19 reviews
A Google user
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October 3, 2009
The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss is a wonderful book. The story of Spartacus is of course ancient history; but the themes of freedom, war of insurgency, poverty versus affluence, politics of power, inhumanity between men and leadership are all told in a way that is relevant today. Barry Strauss tells more than the story of Spartacus; he tells the story of Rome:How common peasants and slaves lived; how Rome's politicians thought; how general's raised army's and implemented strategies, how mountains were impassable and pirates betrayed. Strauss has given us a very rich view of the history that was Rome without us ever resisting; because he does it so well and to the point of Spartacus's situation at the moment. My only prior understanding of Spartacus was from the movie with Kirk Douglas and from the novel Gladiators by Arthur Koestler (which is about Spartacus and his Slave War against Rome). Now I will have to see the movie again and reread the novel to see how true both are to the history. It has been such a pleasure to learn about Spartacus and ancient Rome from a historian who is not so much about dates and events as about telling a rich story of how people lived, dreamed, struggled and died. I'm sure all of the history(dates and such event facts) are correct as is currently known; but it is Barry Strauss's rich description of Roman life that makes this book so enjoyable from the very first page.
review by Thomas Neil Neubert, author of A Critique of Pure Physics and The Magician of Time
Antonio Rodriguez
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August 11, 2015
FOR CRIXUS !!!
Isaac Morton
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May 21, 2014
Is not be in this email is not the new York
About the author
Barry Strauss is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies Emeritus at Cornell University, and a leading expert on ancient military history. He has written or edited several books, including The Battle of Salamis, The Trojan War, The Spartacus War, Masters of Command, The Death of Caesar, and Ten Caesars. Visit BarryStrauss.com.
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