Slave Revolts or Servile Wars

There were three major slave revolts in Italy between 140 and 70 B.C. These are also called the Servile Wars, since the Latin for 'slave' is servus.

First Slave Revolt 135-132 B.C.

One leader of the first slave revolt was a freeborn slave named Eunus, who adopted a name familiar from the region of his birth -- Syria. Styling himself "King Antiochus," Eunus was reputed to be a magician, and led the slaves of the eastern section of Sicily. At the same time, in the western part of Sicily, a slave manager or vilicus named Kleon, also accredited with religious and mystical powers, gathered slave troops under him. It was only when a slow-moving Roman senate dispatched the Roman army, that it was able to end the slave war.

Second Slave Revolt 104-100 B.C.

A slave named Salvius led slaves in the east of Sicily; while Athenion led the western slaves. Slow action on the part of Rome again permitted the movement to last four years.

The Revolt of Spartacus 73-71 B.C.

While Spartacus was a slave, as were the other leaders of the earlier slave revolts, he was also a gladiator, and while the revolt centered in Campania, in southern Italy, rather than Sicily, many of the slaves who joined the movement were like the slaves of the Sicilian revolts. Most of the southern Italian and Sicilian slaves worked in the latifundia 'plantations' as agricultural and pastoral slaves. Again, local government was inadequate to handle the revolt. It took three Roman armies to put an end to the Spartacan War.