About the Third Servile War

Spartacus, along with seventy other gladiators, fled from their training school in Capua in 73 B.C. Initially a mere escape mission of some individuals, it turned into a massive rebellion as more individuals joined the revolution.

According to Britannica Encyclopedia, the group of rebels grew fast, and managed to defeat all the Roman forces dispatched against them. Their early successes proved that the Romans did not consider the rebellion seriously enough.

At last, the Roman leader Marcus Licinius Crassus was appointed to lead the Roman armies against Spartacus. Crassus defeated the rebel forces in 71 BCE, and had about six thousand of his captives crucified in the streets of Appian Way.