Spartacus
A Thracian soldier, captured and sold into slavery, known as Spartacus is the most famous of the gladiators. The man who purchased him, Lentulus Batiatus of Capua had the intention of transforming Spartacus into a great gladiator. He did not know that Spartacus was not going to give up his freedom so easily.

In 73 B.C. Spartacus led a revolt with seventy other gladiators, including Crixus. Lentulus Batiatus did not survive the revolt and the escaped gladiators went to Mount Vesuvius, setting many other slaves free along the way.

Many Roman armies went after Spartacus and his new army of 70,000 freed slaves. In 71 B.C. Marcus Licinius Crassus was finally able to trap and kill Spartacus in Southern Italy.