The Spartacus Revolt – Is Spartacus a True Story

or Gaul. But the soldiers were less wise than the chief. They demanded that Spartacus remain in southern Italy, where there was much to plunder. Spartacus moved towards the southern end of the peninsula. In the meantime in Rome, there was great panic.

Finally, the lender Mr. Licinius Crassus, the future triumvir, took command of the Roman troops. He first restored strict discipline in the legions; then he gradually pushed Spartacus and his army back into the South. Spartacus tried to deal with the Cilician pirates who were then masters of the Mediterranean, in order to pass to Sicily where he hoped to provoke a general uprising of slaves; but the pirates deceived him. He then resigned himself to the supreme battle. Crassus had locked him up, south of Rhegium, in a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the sea, and whose isthmus he had closed with a retrenchment and a ditch. Spartacus managed to escape on a dark night, thanks to a snowstorm; but Crassus pursued him. A decisive battle began in Lucania. Spartacus was defeated and killed (71). The prisoners were crucified. His decimated army was divided into small groups, which were massacred one after the other. One of them fell under the blows of Pompey, who was hastily recalled from Spain by the Senate. b) What are the historical sources ? Only two narratives of Plutarch and Appien quite detailed of the totality of the revolt have reached us. Plutarch places more emphasis than Appien on the Spartacus man. In ancient source, Spartacus was the one who had threatened Rome, the public enemy par excellence. However, he was not mentioned as the hero or symbol of the underprivileged he has become in modern times. He was more of a character to reject, expressing above all the fear of the Romans towards their slaves. They admit that he was sometimes granted, to as an individual, he has some merit, and strategic skills. He can be considered as the leader of a slave warfare, with not defined political purpose.

II. Spartacus on stage between myth and reality From the reading of the ancient texts it is impossible to constitute a biography followed by Spartacus, or even to give an explicit meaning to his purposes, other than escaping the chain of slavery. In some sources, it’s written that the rebels themselves were in disagreement between them, resulting in splits that have contributed to the weakening of the revolt. As for Spartacus\’ personality, little has happened to us. It is precisely this absence that has stimulated the writers\’ imagination, whether it is for the purposes of drama or fiction, they drew on the recipes offered to them by their art and the sensitivity of their time. This silence from the sources made the Spartacus myth possible. It\’s on the 18th century that the character leaves the old texts to experience a new one life. The first event is musical and takes place in Vienna, in an opera by Neapolitan Giuseppe Porsile. Altogether, the character of Spartacus has inspired many authors since it has been the subject of 15 tragedies, 12 comics, 11 films, 8 novels, a Soviet ballet, a Soviet ballet, a French comedy musical, and a television series. In this section, we will discuss two modern works that have contributed to the myth of Spartacus. One is literary, the other cinematographic. a) Spartacus, tragedy of Bernard Joseph Saurin In 1673, Racine refers to Spartacus, \”a slave, a vile gladiator\” in Mithridate (c. 822), but it is Saurin who has the initiative to compose a complete tragedy of which Spartacus is the hero. Spartacus, is represented for the first time at the Comédie Française on February 20, 1760, with success since it was performed nine times. The play, in five acts of a classical style, takes place in the camp of Spartacus, after the capture of Taranto. It should be noted that Saurin makes Spartacus a slave with prestigious origins, since he is the son of Arioviste. Saurin paid little attention to the truth historical. The course of events has nothing to do with what we know of the revolt through ancient sources: in the opening scene, its royal ancestry, the desire to avenge the death of his mother, a victim of Rome, has made doubt his fellow fighters about the sincerity of his commitment to freedom.

However, for the first time, the character of Spartacus is erected as a symbol of freedom. Even if, for the purposes of dramaturgy, he is at the centre of a Cornelian plot, where his sentimental life plays a major role, the hero prefers the freedom to love. In this tragedy and through the Spartacus character, Saurin was able to exalt the freedom and inhumanity of war, while strongly criticizing the greatness of ancient Rome.