FEMALE PROFESSOR: Spartacus was a real person who escaped from slavery and fought against the Romans. However, many stories that are told about the life of Spartacus are not historically accurate. The information in the reading relies on those inaccurate stories.
First, returning to their homes overseas was not the only goal of Spartacus and his men. You see, those first battles in which Spartacus’ army defeated the Roman army cleared a route by which Spartacus and his men could have escaped the Roman territory. But they didn’t take that opportunity. Instead, Spartacus’ men started marching towards the city of Rome. They probably wanted to conquer the city and take as many valuables from the Romans as they could. So, Spartacus was not fighting just to get home; he was interested in revenge and wealth—and those are less admirable goals.
Second, although Spartacus did win a few battles, he was not necessarily a military genius. What really happened was—the Romans didn’t take Spartacus and his army very seriously at first, so they initially sent only poorly trained and ill-equipped army units to put down the revolt. It was these weak units that Spartacus defeated. When the Roman army sent their best soldiers, Spartacus was quickly defeated, suggesting that Spartacus wasn’t a brilliant military leader.
Third, the story that Spartacus wanted to liberate all Roman slaves is not backed by historical evidence either. So, where did the story come from? Well, we know exactly who created this story, and why. It happened in eighteenth-century Europe. Eighteenth-century Europeans widely practiced slavery themselves, but there was also an antislavery movement—thinkers and writers who were strongly opposed to slavery. People in the antislavery movement wanted to have an inspirational hero from ancient times—and they thought Spartacus could be that hero. And so an eighteenth-century playwright wrote a play in which Spartacus fought to liberate all slaves. But it was just an inspirational story in a play, not the historical truth.
