Product Description

Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who started a prison breakout with 74 men, armed with kitchen knives. It grew into a full scale rebellion against Rome, the most famous slave revolt in history. With an army of gladiators, ex-slaves and other desperadoes, he managed to defeat a succession of Roman armies and bring the Republic to its knees. Today, he is best known from Stanley Kubrick's 1960 feature film, SPARTACUS, starring Kirk Douglas. The real Spartacus certainly had the charisma of the chisel-chinned actor, and he was a star gladiator (he appears on a fresco found at Pompeii). However, Spartacus was a good deal more ruthless than a Hollywood hero. He had one of his Roman prisoners crucified before a battle, to remind his followers what they could expect if they lost! Barry Strauss has explored the areas of Italy where Spartacus fought and died. Professor of History at Cornell University, he is an authority on Ancient Rome, whose popular histories of TROY and THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS have won him worldwide recognition. SALAMIS has been translated into six languages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56996 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
'With his trademarks of extensive knowledge, insights and great story-telling ability, Barry Strauss brings us as close as we can get to the enigmatic Spartacus, the slave who defied the Roman Republic.' (Adrian Goldsworthy - pre-publication quote )

"This is a colourful and thrilling account that deserves the widest possible readership" (Christopher Silvester DAILY EXPRESS - 03.04.09 )

"Barry Strauss adds an ironic twist to this story of political competition...offers a racy narrative of the rebellion." (Mary Beard THE SUNDAY TIMES - 12.04.09 )

"Strauss makes every last scrap of information count....fine biography." (Tom Hollland THE WASHINGTON POST 05.04.09 )

About the Author
Barry Strauss read History at Cornell and gained a Ph.D at Yale in 1979. He is now Professor of History and Classics at Cornell University. The author of nine books, he has appeared in many TV documentaries, and has contributed op-ed pieces to the WASHINGTON POST and LOS ANGELES TIMES.

Customer Reviews

Revolting Slaves & Spartacus, a legend from limited sources
On page 166 the author asserts, "Spartacus was a failure against Rome but a success as a myth maker... Who, today, remembers Crassus? Pompey. Even Cicero is not that well remembered. Everyone has heard of Spartacus." Well yes they have but that's probably because of the Kurbick film (the one where Michael Douglas's dad played the eponymous hero). And we do remember a great deal of Roman history - Cicero has a following both factual and fictional.

Barry Strauss has written an account of the rebel slave rebellion but the problem is he has next to nothing to tell us that is not speculation. What happened between 73-71 BC is fragmented and often contradictory. Perhaps padding, Strauss presents much basic information on Ancient Rome. Often his comments are reductive to the point of being unhelpful. For example in describing the life of a gladiator, it was more complicated. As for Crassus, who dispatched Spartacus after a six-month campaign, he went on to suffer one of Romes' greatest military defeats. He was presented as a one-dimensional character.

Strauss wrote an excellent book - The Trojan War A New History - where he interpreted Homer (the Iliad and Odyssey) with the archaeological evidence and made clever deductions. He told a great story, good scholarship written with clarity. There is no significant written source or material evidence about Spartacus, the coalition of Thracians, Celts, Germans and the politics of holding a large revolt together. Drawing on bits of information, he speculates about the possible objectives of the rebels, details their flight North, then South, the near escape to Scilly. Their defeat by trained legionnaires, brutally disciplined and well equipped was inevitable. It was a bloody business, half a dozen Roman generals humiliated, skirmishes and battles. Who, when and where aside, the revolt was made far more dangerous given Rome's wars in the West (Spain) and East (Mithridates). Could Rome have imploded? No need to speculate, it did not.

I wonder if Strauss would have been better to take the "Troy formula" and apply it to an area where the written sources are better, perhaps Josephus and the Great Jewish Revolt or Caesar's Gallic War. Here is a substantive body of contemporary writings to review and interpret, apply his deductive expertise. This book is entry level Roman history. A lot of us read on holiday or on a plane, this is not a criticism rather a recommendation for this book if you want to enjoy a low intensity myth and legend history. If you know a little of Rome, this will encourage you to read further but if you know more, and it is not Strauss' fault, this is a frustrating book given the poverty of sources.

Adds genuine new perspectives to the story of Spartacus
I have read just about all the english speaking, biographies on Saprtacus and feel that this book offers perhaps the most in-depth analysis and is the most thorough in terms of research - though is perhaps not the most exciting version on the market. A worth while read and fascinating due to the subject matter alone but could have been even better - greater insight into battle strategies of rebel 'thracian' warfare tactics/ or similar tactics by hill side warriors of the time, photos of some of the sites perhaps, greater insight into the lives of gladiators generally, less emphais on 'the wife of Spartacus' - a chapter which I felt was over-played considering the historical source material available. What does modern day Bulgaria have to say about Spartacus or Thracian life in roman times? I feel Saprtacus' decison to not cross the alps was lacking in coverage and incomplete - is it possible to get weather reports for this age? Was the weather the factor for not crossing or was heading for the north a ruse to collect an army and then head for Sicilly - the breadbasket for Ancient Rome and site of major slave rebellions prior to that of Spartacus. I felt big issues warranted more debate and proposals. I had so many questions and items I was longing and hoping to see covered but were not. A good read yes but unfulfilling in many ways - which to be fair may be as much down to the lack of historical sources as to the writer himself. Probably the most comprehensive account for those who have not read a biography on Spartacus but doesn't add a great deal to what others have already said in other biographies.

The truth is out there
Regrettably, my main source of reference surrounding the life, the death and the legacy of Spartacus has been garnered from films featuring Kirk Douglas and, later, Russell Crowe - so not much, really.

The problem, it seems to me, is that any available information seems to follow the same route. Now Barry Strauss seems to have redeemed the situation. His book is filled with detail about his life, his fighting abilities and tactics, his death which we learn was not on a cross but in battle. But, inevitably, what he was fighting for is still rather nebulous and open to further discussion.

The fact that he had, in earlier years, served in the Roman army gave him an insider's knowledge to create the rebellious breakout from the gladiator training camp and go on to cause mayhem against the mightiest army at that time, although maybe not against its mightiest generals. However, from this point of escape, the book flows like a thriller. I am no historian so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the detail in the author's book but I did get the feeling that he has written an exceptional account for anyone interested in action-packed history - and for adding a great deal more to the legend of Spartacus.