The life of slaves in Rome
Slaves were very numerous in the Roman world. They worked in the house of their rich master in exchange for their food. In Rome, about eight out of ten people were slaves. Very wealthy masters owned between 500 and 1000.
Roman citizens had three names:the praenomen , the nomen and the cognomen . The slaves possessed only the cognomen. Some were slaves because their parents were already slaves. The majority of them became slaves following their capture as prisoners of war
In Rome, it was common to have black slaves from Africa, because the Romans had taken them prisoner in wars of conquest. Like commodities, they were sold in the public square at auction. They wore a sign around their neck indicating their country of origin, their qualities and their qualifications.
Slaves were not considered human beings, so they had no rights; they had no authority over their children because they belonged to the master, and they could not marry or appeal to justice. The master had the right of life or death over his slaves. Their role was to do the daily work in a house that the master and mistress of the house did not do, such as cooking, helping to wash, gardening, etc. In general, they were much in demand during banquets given by their master where everyone had to be present. But some of them had to fight in an arena, fights that brought money to their master:the gladiators.
Spartacus:the rebellious gladiator
Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator. In Rome, we liked to see fights in the arena, between two men or against lions, sometimes also bears. But revolted against slavery of which he was one of the many victims, Spartacus led 150,000 slaves to rebel with him.
In this improvised army, the slaves had the role of soldiers and the gladiators that of leaders. The insurrection began with Spartacus, Crixus and Oenomaus breaking down the doors of the school of Lentulus in Capua, aided by about thirty companions. After reuniting relatively quickly ten thousand men of the same condition, they left to settle on Vesuvius. But besieged by Clodius Glaber, “they let themselves slide, with the help of bonds made of vine shoots, through the gorges of the crater of the mountain to its very base. The camps after the others, they attacked them all - or almost. They also carry out the massacre, as well as the looting in certain cities, such as those of Nole and Nucérie, Thurium and Métaponte. And the more successful the massacres, the more the slaves dare to join the army. Spartacus' project even becomes that of "marching on Rome".
Spartacus' death is mixed. Some historians say that while trying to escape to Sicily on rafts, he would have died in battle, like a true hero. But another more tragic end is also attributed to him. Spartacus' army would have been repressed by superior forces, and the former gladiator would have ended up on a cross, about a hundred years before the death of Jesus Christ, whose punishment was the same.