The Spartacus War

Ok, to be completely honest---I absolutely love this book. I've already read it three times through and I have no doubt I'll keep reading it over again and again, and what's not to love about it? Whenever one mentions the name "Spartacus", the image of gladiators comes instantly to mind and usually a close second is the terrific Kirk Douglas movie (admit it---you just said to yourself "I am Spartacus!" didn't you?) or more recently, the outstanding Starz TV series by the same name. While the name and person of Spartacus has come down to us linked with the concepts of freedom and justice, just how accurate is that image?Dr. Barry Strauss takes us to a time and place long ago; one that may even seem vaguely familiar to us but strangely alien at the same time. It was a world of drastic dichotomies between the rich and poor; between the powerful and the weak; and between the free and the slave. Roman, though still a Republic much like ours, was nearing its end; soon to be faced with a series of internal civil wars resulting from an economic, political, and societial breakdown, and in its place, the Rise of the Dictator along with Imperial Rome. Slaves revolts weren't unique, but none had the organization, planning that this one had. None were able to raise an army of over 60,000 slaves and freemen, and none had the brillance of a chrismatic leader like Spartacus. Dr. Strauss' telling of the story is masterful, from the wonderful descriptions of the countryside to the mindset of the Rome's leading Senators and generals and that of the man himself, Spartacus and his generals like Crixus, Gannicus, or Oenomaus. We learn about the possible causes of the revolt; how they trained and survived while being chased by Rome's mightly legions and ultimately defeated by the epitome of Rome herself, Marcus Licinius Crassus and the great Pompey.I could literally go on and on about this book. Suffice it to say that this book is for anyone interested in history---ancient or military, the Roman Empire, political movements, slavery and ancient economies, or just likes a great adventure book. This book also offers something more. It offers a possible glimpse at ourselves. The Roman Republic was on the verge of collapsing for some of the very reasons now facing us, and social injustice was growing rapidly. What happens when the dispossed has had enough? In 1919 Germany for instance, social democrats embraced the name of Spartacus in their fight for democracy; a fight which failed and eventually made way for the rise of the Nazis. Nevertheless, the name of Spartacus continues to inflame the imagination of the poor and powerless and inspires fear in rich and powerful.

A great book that provided all the detail that I thought existed and then some! Only gripe is a ridiculous one in that I wish there wasn't so much speculative speech like "one could gather" "imagine" "might have seen/thought/felt/etc" but that was obviously unavoidable when there is just so much detail that can only be guessed at.I became rather obsessed with Spartacus after watching through the series that aired on Starz. It was gory, sexual and exaggerated as well as largely fictional. However at the same time, the show did stick to quite a bit of history. From names of real people (albeit with alternative spellings on occasion). To fictional events that were set in the appropriate places (Capua, Vesuvius, Melia Ridge). It was an amazing show and instilled a great hunger for knowledge of the real man. Reading through the book, I couldn't help but picture the actors as the real people, like Liam McIntyre for the latter two seasons after the passing of Andy Whitfield. It was also pretty cool to imagine the real Spartacus maybe giving a speech similar to the one from the series finale in addition to the actual slaying of his horse prior to the real battle.The book also fills in bits of history that are related to the times, such as events that had happened nearby to the events of the Third Servile War, along with background of the various players throughout the war. I was also happily surprised to see the book not end after the description of the final battle and instead running a bit longer to discuss the aftermath of the war along with the eventual fates of those who were involved. (Spoiler alert, Caesar gets assassinated!! Lol). Mr. Strauss even took the extra time to mention this piece of art from Pompeii that may or may not be relevant to the legendary Thracian, which he certainly did not have to do.In summation, if you have even a passing interest in Spartacus, the Servile Wars or history during the Late Republic period, it's a good read. If you're like me and really want to know as much as you can about Spartacus, I recommend watching the show and reading the book, or vice versa. Maybe the show first since you could be bothered by the historical inaccuracies if you really absorb what the book offers.Read it!

I've read the book and I'm impressed by the ability of the author, he has gotten to make a book about something that doesn't have many things left about it.

This fairly short work effectively covers what we know about the course of the most famous slave uprising in history and the man who inspired and led it with a fair degree of success for two years until the Roman state's eventual triumph. In fact we know relatively few specifics about the detailed course of events and the individual battles involved, and very little indeed about Spartacus himself. In popular conception, Hollywood has of course filled in many of the gaps through the wonderful, though romanticised, classic film version starring Kirk Douglas (Spartacus actually fell in the final battle and his body was never recovered, although it is quite true that 6,000 survivors of that battle were crucified along the road from Capua, where the revolt started, to Rome). Strauss fills in some of the gaps through intelligent speculation and extrapolation from details of other Roman military engagements, analysis of the various Roman literary sources (none of which were contemporary), archaeology and even the topography of southern Italy. He doesn't fill space unnecessarily by writing extensively in general about the history of Rome, or of gladiators, as some authors might to make a book longer (the main text is 190 pages).In the introduction he briefly covers the symbolism of Spartacus's later reputation (he and Julius Caesar are probably the two most famous names from ancient Rome to the general public). He has been hailed as a freedom fighter both by the political left, albeit sometimes in a rather romanticised way, as his aim was freedom and a peaceful life outside Italy for his followers, not the abolition of slavery as an institution; but also by the political right in the form of Ronald Reagan. His ultimate failure was probably inevitable, as despite the success of his guerilla tactics against complacent Roman generals, especially in the early stages of the revolt, his only plausible aim was escape from Italy and he faced the inexorable iron might of the Roman military machine. Nevertheless, we should not underestimate his significance. Even the little we do know shows he was an inspiring leader, and his earlier background in the Roman auxiliary forces gave him an understanding of Roman military tactics his fellow rebels lacked. In the author's words, "What began as a prison breakout by seventy-four men armed only with cleavers and skewers had turned into a revolt by thousands. And it wasn’t over: a year later the force would number roughly 60,000 rebel troops. With an estimated 1-1.5 million slaves in Italy, the rebels amounted to around 4 per cent of the slave population". He was clearly a force to be reckoned with and the Roman state only beat him when it sent one of its top people, Marcus Licinius Crassus, against him. Even then, it was only when the slave army split due to ethnic and other tensions that Crassus really began to succeed. The revolt represents one of the most dramatic series of events in Roman history, even in the extremely eventful first century BC filled with the doings of Caesar, Pompey, Cicero, Octavian, Mark Antony and others.

Barry Strauss is a particularly good story teller. Although this is ancient history (I used to think the movie with Kirk Douglas was merely Hollywood fabrication with little historical fact supporting it), it is told in an inviting way, not unlike a novel. And you learn a lot along the way in such an easy manner than "learn" seems a bit too stuffy for what's going on in your head while reading. Strauss makes all this ancient history immediate and exciting. Where he conjectures something he supports it well. In in doing so, he peaks my interest in learning more about these little digressions. And definitely where there is anything written by Barry Strauss I'll read it for sure. He's a master at making ancient history relevant and interesting.

Barry Strauss's THE SPARTICUS WAR is the first factual book I've found on this completely fascinating gladiator. Strauss does what he can to make the book lively: we learn lots about gladiators, their ways of fighting, arms, along with lots of Roman history and personages (Cato--I refer you to my review of Goodman and Soni's CATO, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero and Crassus), but little about their sexuality. For that, I highly recommend the 1st year (and only the 1st year) of Spartacus Blood and Sand on DVD. Strauss invents nothing, telling us when information is factual or hearsay or unknown. My own books can be found on Amazon under Michael Hone.

I personally really enjoyed this book, finished it in about 3 days. my scrutiny is out of the box the first few pages were bent and folded, and a nice big dirty thumbprint on the third page. I assume it was from an amazon employee carelessly collecting the book. Also the text is way too small. nonetheless it took nothing away from the imaginative journey and story of the legend Spartacus and Crixus among countless other rebels lost to history