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Spartacus d.71BC
Roman gladiator and rebel

Born in Thrace, he was a shepherd who became a robber, but was captured and sold to a trainer of gladiators at Capua. In 73BC he escaped and built an army of c.90,000 slaves and the dispossessed, with whom he defeated several Roman armies and devastated much of southern Italy. He was defeated by Marcus Licinius Crassus near the river Silarus in 71, and executed by crucifixion with his followers. The remnants of his army were annihilated by Pompey on his return from Spain.