Gaius Claudius Glaber was a

military commander The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the late

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

, holding the office of

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

in 73 BC. During his term he was defeated in the Battle of Mount Vesuvius against the forces of

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

during the

Third Servile War The Third Servile War, also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last in a series of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic known as the Servile Wars. This third rebellion was the only one that directl ...

History

Glaber was a member of a Roman

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

family. He might have a distant connection with the famous patrician

Claudii The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius ...

. Glaber, who was one of eight elected praetors in 73 BC, is only mentioned by classical historians in connection with his disastrous military leadership against Spartacus. They note his force of Roman militia (not professional legionaries)Appian, ''Civil Wars''
1:116
was destroyed because he was unable to adapt to the gladiators' unorthodox tactics.Frontinus, ''Stratagems''

an

After Glaber besieged the slaves on slopes of Mount Vesuvius, he failed to anticipate what they would do next. Spartacus' forces used

rappelling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

lines made from local vegetation to scale down the cliffs on the other side of the mountain. They then outflanked Glaber's militia, annihilating his forces. Roman records make no further mention of Glaber after this defeat. It is not known whether he was killed during the battle, or was simply considered too obscure for further mention by classical historians.Strauss, p. 61. Classics scholar Barry S. Strauss noted that his obscurity might also have been another sign of how little attention the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...

gave Spartacus in 73 BC.Strauss
p. 52

Portrayals in fiction

In screen adaptations of the life of Spartacus, Glaber has been portrayed: * by

John Dall John Dall (born John Dall Thompson; May 26, 1920 – January 15, 1971) was an American actor. Primarily a stage actor, he is best remembered today for portraying the cool-minded intellectual killer in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Rope'' (1948), and the ...

as "Glabrus", a character loosely based on Glaber, in the 1960 film ''

'' * by

Ben Cross Harry Bernard Cross (16 December 1947 – 18 August 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 film ''Chariots of Fire'' and for playing Billy Flynn in the or ...

as "Titus Glabrus" in the 2004 TV miniseries ''

'' * by

Craig Parker Craig Parker (born 12 November 1970) is a New Zealand actor, known for his roles as Guy Warner in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street'' (1992–96, 2007–08, 2020, 2023), Haldir in the ''Lord of the Rings'' films ''The Fellowship of t ...

in the 2010 TV series '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'', and its 2012 sequel '' Spartacus: Vengeance''. In contrast to other versions, Glaber is portrayed as Spartacus' personal enemy who is responsible for making him a slave, and who is killed by Spartacus in one-on-one combat.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Ancient sources mentioning Glaber include: *

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

, ''Histories'' 3.90-93 Maurenbrecher. *

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

, ''Periochae'' 95 *

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, ''Crassus'' 8-9 *

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontier ...

, ''Strategemata'' 1.5.21 *

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; ; ; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who prospered during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. He was born c. 95 in Alexandria. After holding the senior offices in the pr ...

, ''Civil Wars'' 1.116 *

Florus Three main sets of works are attributed to Florus (a Roman cognomen): ''Virgilius orator an poeta'', the ''Epitome of Roman History'' and a collection of 14 short poems (66 lines in all). As to whether these were composed by the same person, or ...

, ''Epitome'' 2.8.4

History

Portrayals in fiction

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading