The ancient arena's of death yielded entertainment for the masses, and vast riches for government leaders.
More then 2,090 years ago the last justified war in human history was fought. This war was between Murmillones and the Roman army. Men of enormous strength and spirit where called Murmillo's several decades before Jesus was born.
Lunatic leaders driven by greed roamed the pillars of pillage amidst the marbled floors of ancient Rome that embodied everything that's heartless and corrupt.
Ancient Rome just like all powerful cities and nations, past and present rose to power by violently bullying its weaker opponents, raping their young women, enslaving the young strong men, and killing the rest. Nothing is too holy or heinous for any government leader when it comes to the big pay day its and power, it's the harsh realities of human existence.
"The Spartacus War," written by professor Barry Srauss illustrates what a great man he was. Spartacus was truly an iconic man who represented truth, equality, love and a genuine passion for peace.
Hollywood is 100 percent accurate, claiming Spartacus was enslaved by the Romans, and a man of the sword, better known as a gladiator forced to fight in the arena's of atrocity. The four year Netflix series "Spartacus" was not only an excellent series, but it also adhered to vital facts.
As a slave for the Romans, Spartacus was forced to live and train in a gladiator encampment in the town of Capua, Italy, owned a operated by Cnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Vatia. Unlike Hollywood's tales, most gladiators died from their infected wounds after fighting for spectators in the arena. "The Spartacus War," corrects Hollywood in several other aspects as well. More often then not, even for Spartacus, many arena fights where between four men, two on each side.
A thumbs up for a losing fighter, unlike Hollywood meant death for the defeated fighter, a thumbs down and the defeated gladiator was spared. Most losing fighters were spared because they provided entertainment and money for their owners. Gladiator fights were also strictly refereed. If a fighter was wounded, the one causing the wound was forced to step back and allow recovery time for the hurt fighter.
Spartacus was a Thracian, most likely Bulgarian in modern times, and the majority of his followers were Celtic and Germans. Spartacus indeed met and became friends with Crixus, a Celtic while enslaved in Capua.The Netflix series "Spartacus" did a fantastic job embellishing the history of Spartacus, and the names of his main followers and foes are completely accurate.
Plutarch and Appian provided author and professor Barry Strauss the bulk of his information. Plutarch and Appian documented the accounts of the Spartacus war 150-200 years after the battles. No written documents from Spartacus, nor his followers have been recovered. All surviving documentation of Spartacus comes from the Romans and the Greeks, his victors. The simple fact remains, Spartacus was real.
Strauss, the author is a professor of history at Cornell University, and translated most of the ancient Greek and Roman writings about Spartacus himself.
At the time Spartacus was forced into slavery by the Romans, he was about 30-years-old. The Spartacus era was the zenith of misery for many Roman citizens, about 20 percent of the Roman population between 71 and 73 B.C. were slaves. It's unclear how many bouts in the arena Spartacus actually fought in, but one thing is clear, Spartacus was indeed a fan favorite in the ring, and even his enemies admired his physical and mental toughness, as jealous as they might have been.
Like Hollywood, victorious gladiators from Capua were rewarded with wine, women, moderate freedom and even money. Spartacus met his soul mate, Veronica while enslaved in Capua. Yes, in my mind, Veronica was the name of his lover. No official documentation of her name exists as of 2009 when "The Spartacus War" book was released. Whatever name his lover was given in the Netflix series or any other movie you see about Spartacus, it's a made-up or speculated name. I'm going with Veronica.
Strauss claims that in the summer of 73 B.C. there were approximately 200 gladiators under the supervision and captivity of Cornelius Lentulus Vatia while residing in the then city of Capua, Italy. Crixus and Spartacus were the masterminds of the slave revolt in Capua. At least 60 of the 200 or more slaves escaped and killed most of their enemies including Cornelius Lentulus Vatia. Spartacus, Veronica and Crixus were among the escapee's, and for the next two years, being a Roman soldier was extremely dangerous.
It's speculated that upon escaping from Capua, Spartacus wanted to flee as far away from Rome with his lover Veronica, but to be able to do so, he'd need the aide of Crixus and the other 60 men and women army. It's documented that Crixus wanted to go to war with the Romans, and Spartacus may have had little choice, but to back his friend.
I learn ed a lot from "The Spartacus War" book. The Spartacus war was the third major slave revolt in a 60 year span, and the most successful one, though in the end, the wealthy one percent proved there is no karma and everything is geared for the rich, while peace and harmony are just void words in a heartless world, but for two years, decades before Jesus was born, there was tangible evidence of goodness reigning in the world.
Many slaves in Rome were skilled fighters, even the farmers. Cattle, just like today is big business, and more than 2000 years ago, the slaves who herded and transported the cattle hundreds of miles by foot had to be armed and trained to use weapons because of thief's.
Upon their escape from Capua, Spartacus and Crixus easily found farmers, who were also skilled warriors to join them. The 60 member Spartacus army swelled to at least 60,000, and some historians claim it escalated to more then 150,000 fighters. After escaping from Capua, Spartacus and his crew traveled 1200 miles to a beach and began the brain work for war.
Soon after the slave revolution and escape, the Roman army was summoned to kill Spartacus and the rest of his followers. The first two battles between the Roman army and the Spartacus fighters were lopsided victories in favor of Spartacus's troops. Indeed Spartacus had the mind of a great general for any generation of foot soldiers in the prime of battle. Spartacus also had many Germans and Celtic's on his side.
The Germans who fought for Spartacus were true warriors and born for war. Many of the German fighters for Spartacus drank the blood from the skulls of their defeated rivals immediately after battles. Most of the Celtics were also opposed to Roman rule and it's evil ways. Celtic women were also great soldiers back in the day, many wife's of Celtic men fought side by side with them in vicious battles, including the ones in Spartacus's army.
Unlike Netflix's "Spartacus," Crixus and Spartacus separated very soon upon escaping, each man taking a large number of soldiers. The reason for the two separating is not fully documented, but the most reasonable explanation was that it would be easier to find food for their armies. Within the first few months of escaping, Crixus and his army were killed or forced back into slavery, the Roman army killed Crixus.
For more then two years, Spartacus, Veronica and the rest of his army defeated the Roman warriors in nine battles. In 72 B.C., the Romans gave Marcus Lincinius Crassus virtually unlimited power to kill Spartacus and end the war. Crassus was nicknamed the decimeter, and indeed he was. Crassus wanted his army to fear him more than Spartacus. Crassus had several of his own soldiers clubbed to death for failing in battles. Ten percent of the casualties to the Crassus army occurred from the clubbing's.
Although the Crassus army of Rome far out number the Spartacus army, it still took at least another year to defeat the ones who were fighting for justice and peace. Sadly, the harsh facts remain, there is no justice and there will never be world peace and harmony. Greed and power are savage emotions that reign on.
Veronica was a priestess of Dionyness claims Strauss. Dionyness was a son Zeus, and the only god to have a mortal parent. Dionyness was the god of love claimed Neil Peart in the 1978 Rush song "Hemispheres." Other sources claim Dionyness was the god of fertility, wine, superhuman strength, long life and vitality, the ability to heal quickly from wounds.
Sometime in 73 B.C., the Spartacus army was indeed decimated by Crassus and his other soulless followers, but the facts remain. Spartacus's body was never found, so in my mind, Veronica and Spartacus live on in a universe far from Earth. A universe, perhaps Andromeda, our neighboring galaxy, the only known galaxy moving closer to our current one. For humans to reach the glaxy of Andromeda, aka Annie, we'd have to travel through the Milky Way for twelve years at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second! (Stephen Hawking, "The Grand Design," 2010)
Peace, kindness, beauty, truth, love and laughter are the ruling emotions in Annie's solar system. No leaders or followers in Andromeda. Money is nonexistent in Andromeda. Joy and creativity is the currency in the world of Annie. (prove me wrong)
Spartacus was never rich, a political leader and he truly believed and strived for love and justice. People still revere mass murders like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great because they had political fame and money.
Caesar had many sex slaves and was responsible for the death of at least tens of thousands of innocent people, many of whom were women an children. Caesar was assassinated by getting stabbed in the groin several times. ("The Conquest of Gaul," book by Jane P. Gardner and S. A. Handford)
Currently there are more than 50 wars going in in the world, but they are not called wars; Operation Iraqi Freedom, nearly 7,000 dead Americans & counting, so we can continue poisoning the planet with oil. Well over 30,000 young American men and women have arms and legs missing in the current Operation Iraqi Freedom fiasco.
The Conflict in The Congo, a conflict in which dozens if not hundreds of women in Africa are brutally raped daily and many millions of innocent people have been killed in this on going conflict, WAR! Wars are all about power, how it's distributed, and money for the sadistic one percent of the world, and the general public continues to buy into the governments lies, and willingly allows its leaders to send their children to die in war, while the President's children go off to college.
Alexander The Great was another soulless prick, but money and fame have their ways of brain washing the masses. Alexander The Great like all leaders before and after him, relished in genocide and ruling in a falsely named civilized culture. Before he was 25-years-old, Alexander The Great was responsible for mass murder, which all all government leaders are. He was nothing more than a pathetic evil drunk, he killed his best friend in a drunken stupor. He was never great, just a heartless alcohol kid with too much power.
Spartacus was a great man with a sensational soul, yet too little is said about him because he actually believed in love and equality, there's no money in that line of thinking.
"Pacifism is a nice idea, but it can get you killed. Look at all the people who were killed for advocating peace, Jesus, Gandhi, Kennedy, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and John Lennon, boom your dead." George Carlin said. He forgot to mention Spartacus.
