The story of Spartacus has reached the point of popular culture, most recently realized in the Starz min-series Spartacus Blood and Sand. This series utilizes facts we know to be accurate and weaves them into a story designed to entertain. Here we will take a look what history tells us about the revolt (from Plutarch and others) and put it in the context of the Italian geography.
The slave revolt of 73 B.C. began when a group of gladiators (78 to be exact) broke out of the training camp of one Lentulus Badiates in Capua. Most of these men had been captured, held as slaves, and forced to fight for their lives in the arena. Few were Romans, the majority being Gauls, Germans, and Thracians. The gladiators escaped by breaking into the kitchen and stealing the cook’s knives and spits, which they were able to use as weapons to overpower the guards.