Second Servile War
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The Second Servile War was an unsuccessful slave uprising against the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
on the island of
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
. The war lasted from 104 BC until 100 BC.


Background

The
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
Gaius Marius Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...
was recruiting soldiers for the war against the
Cimbri The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate that ...
and
Teutones The Teutons ( la, Teutones, , grc, Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with th ...
in the North. He requested support from King
Nicomedes III of Bithynia Nicomedes III Euergetes ("the Benefactor", grc-gre, Νικομήδης Εὐεργέτης) was the king of Bithynia, from c. 127 BC to c. 94 BC. He was the son and successor of Nicomedes II of Bithynia. Life Memnon of Heraclea wrote that Nic ...
near the Roman province of Asia, and was refused, on the grounds that every able-bodied man in Bithynia had been enslaved by Roman tax-gatherers for being unable to pay their dues. The Senate replied by issuing orders that no slaves were to be taken from among allies of Rome, and that all such slaves should be immediately freed.A. H. Beesely, ''The Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla Epochs of Ancient History'', (Kindle edition), ch. VI., p. 57 The
propraetor In ancient Rome a promagistrate ( la, pro magistratu) was an ex-consul or ex-praetor whose ''imperium'' (the power to command an army) was extended at the end of his annual term of office or later. They were called proconsuls and propraetors. Thi ...
Publius Licinius Nerva, in obedience to the edict, at once freed around 800 slaves in his province of Sicily; aside from awakening discontent among slaves from other nationalities who were not freed, this had the effect of alienating the rich Sicilian plantation owners who saw their human chattel unceremoniously being taken out of their hands. Alarmed, Nerva revoked the sentence of
manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...
(the freeing of the slaves), which provoked the slave population into revolt.


Salvius Tryphon

Nerva failed to react decisively; by false promises he was able to return one body of the rebels to slavery, while neglecting to address a more serious outbreak near Heraclea. Eventually, Nerva dispatched a detachment of 600 soldiers to take care of the rebels near Heraclea but they were beaten and slaughtered; the slaves now gained confidence, having won a large supply of armaments and a strong leader, a former slave called Salvius. Taking the previous slave-leader
Eunus Eunus (died 132 BC) was a Roman slave from Apamea in Syria who became the leader of the slave uprising in the First Servile War (135 BC–132 BC) in the Roman province of Sicily. Eunus rose to prominence in the movement through his reputation a ...
for his example, who had proclaimed himself an Antiochus of the Seleucid line, he assumed the name Tryphon, from
Diodotus Tryphon Diodotus Tryphon ( el, Διόδοτος Τρύφων), nicknamed "The Magnificent" ( el, Ό Μεγαλοπρεπής) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire. Initially an official under King Alexander I Balas, he led a revolt against Alexander ...
, a
Seleucid The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
ruler. After his victory, Salvius besieged the city of Morgantia. Nerva now marched against him with Sicily's militia but he was also defeated. The slaves then managed to take the city. After Morgantia, Salvius' slave army swelled to 2,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot. Meanwhile, another revolt had broken out in western Sicily; there Athenion, a Cilician slave with a career analogous to Cleon's, rose in revolt. He marched his slave army to join with Salvius upon hearing of the Morgantia victory.


Lucullus

In 103 BC the Senate sent the praetor Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who had just put down a revolt in Campania (the Vettian Revolt), to quell the rebellion. Lucullus, at the head of a 17,000 strong Roman and allied army, landed in western Sicily and marched on the rebel stronghold of Triocala.Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'', 36.8.


The Battle of Scirthaea

When Salvius Tryphon, the Slave King, heard of Lucullus‘ arrival he wanted to hold out against the Romans inside Triocala. His general Athenion, however, persuaded him not to hide but instead face the Romans in open battle. Marching to meet Lucullus, the rebels encamped at Scirthaea, twelve miles distant from the Roman camp and, the next day, the two sides lined up for battle. According to
Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ;  1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...
, Tryphon's host numbered around 40,000. After much skirmishing, the main battle began as the two armies closed the gap and came together. At first it seemed as if the rebels would drive the Romans back, with Athenion and his cavalry inflicting heavy losses upon Lucullus‘ flanks. However, just as it seemed that the slaves might be victorious, Athenion was wounded and fell from his horse. He was forced to feign death in order to save himself. The rebels, believing their general to be dead, lost heart and fled. Salvius Tryphon, seeing his army routed, turned and joined them in flight back to Triocala. Later that night, under cover of darkness, the wounded Athenion escaped the battlefield. With thousands of slaves cut down in the rout, Diodorus estimates that, as night fell, around 20,000 rebels lay dead, half of Tryphon's army.


The Siege of Triocala

After the battle, Lucullus slowly but surely worked his way to Triocala, restoring Roman Rule while he marched. At Triocala the rebels had dug in; Lucullus started a siege while waiting for his command to be extended, but when he heard that he had been replaced he spitefully ended the siege, burned his siegeworks, camp and provisions, retreated and disbanded his army. Lucullus did this to render the task harder for his successor, Gaius Servilius the Augur; Lucullus intended, by ensuring the failure of his successor, to prove his own innocence from any alleged incompetence.Mike Duncan, ''The Storm before the Storm'', p. 140.


Athenion

In 102 BC Athenion, who had succeeded as slave-king after Salvius' death (he had passed after the earlier battle) was able to take Gaius Servilius's camp by surprise; Servilius' army was routed and dispersed, undoing all of Lucullus' previous success.A. H. Beesely, ''The Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla Epochs of Ancient History'', VI, p. 58.


The revolt suppressed

Finally, in 101 BC, the Roman consul Manius Aquillius was given the command against the insurgents in Sicily. The Senior Consul, Gaius Marius, donated several cohorts from his army in Gaul to Aquillius. With these and the troops he recruited, equipped and trained en route he succeeded in defeating Athenion's slave army upon arrival. He supposedly killed Athenion by his own hand. The revolt was quelled, and 1,000 slaves who surrendered were sent to fight against beasts in the arena back at Rome for the amusement of the populace. To spite the Romans, they refused to fight and killed each other quietly with their swords, until the last flung himself on his own blade. It was the second of a series of three slave revolts in the Roman Republic fueled by the same abuses in Sicily and Southern Italy.


Second Servile War in literature

* F. L. Lucas's short story "The Boar" ( ''Athenaeum'', 10 September 1920) is set in Sicily in the aftermath of the Slave War. *In
Steven Saylor Steven Saylor (born March 23, 1956) is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and classics. Saylor's best-known work is his '' Roma Sub Rosa'' historical myster ...
’s novel Arms of Nemesis (the second book in his
Roma Sub Rosa ''Roma Sub Rosa'' is a series of historical mystery novels by Steven Saylor set in ancient Rome and therefore populated by famous historic roman citizens. The phrase "Roma Sub Rosa" means, in Latin, "Rome under the rose." If a matter was ''sub ros ...
series) the Second Slave War (Servile War) is mentioned in detail during a dinner party with Marcus Licinius Crassus who is about to campaign against the rebel slaves of
Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...
in the Third Slave War. *In Colleen McCullough‘s novel The First Man in Rome (the first book in her
Masters of Rome ''Masters of Rome'' is a series of historical novels by Australian author Colleen McCullough, set in ancient Rome during the last days of the old Roman Republic; it primarily chronicles the lives and careers of Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Su ...
series) the Second Servile War is mentioned several times. It figures as the background for the story line about Lucius Appuleius Saturninus.


References

*Shaw, Brent (2001). Spartacus and the Slave Wars: a brief history with documents. pp. 107–12
(at google books)
{{Authority control .02 Servile War 02 100s BC conflicts Servile War 02 Servile War 02 Roman Republican civil wars