Source Analysis: Plutarch (2^nd century CE)

This week I have spent most of my time looking through my different sources trying to figure out exactly which direction that I am wanting to go with my topic; I'm obviously a little behind here. I have narrowed it down to what I think will hopefully be approved, but in order to do so I still have a lot of sources to go through. As for my main focus this week, I am waiting on a source by Plutarch that will discuss the Spartacus war in a little bit more in depth from the Roman point of view, as it has more to do with Marcus Crassus. I decided for this post to go into a source by Plutarch though to explain the Spartacus story in a little more depth to explain why I like to study it as much as I do.

In this source Plutarch basically just gives an outline of the entire Spartacus war. Spartacus was a gladiator who was able to, with the help of 73 other gladiators, escape the house of his owner, Lentulus Batiatus, with the use of kitchen tools. The gladiators were then lucky to come across a cart headed for another lunista that was full of swords and other gladiator weapons (Shaw, 131). The men were then cornered on Vesuvius and were able to escape by making ladders out of grape vines and going down the side of the mountain. Spartacus’ men beat several of the Roman Consuls, and were threatening the welfare of the entire Republic. Because the empire was fighting other wars as well, the senate then hired Marcus Crassus to raise and lead an army to defeat Spartacus. There are many stories that go into detail of these two’s armies going to battle within Plutarch’s writing. (Shaw, 132-133)  

The most interesting part of the whole story to me though is the final battle where Spartacus meets his end. Plutarch, as well as others, go into mass amount of detail about this final battle. Spartacus kills his horse before it begins in front of his men as a sort of battle cry. Spartacus then charged after Crassus himself with just a few around him. Spartacus was eventually killed in the attempt, and shockingly enough his body was never identified. (Shaw, 136-137) To me this is the type of history that has a tendency to become a sort of legend, as it has. Though much of what Plutarch has to say can seem hard to believe, we have other sources that agree with him; Appian as an example. In my paper I am going to look into the circumstances that allowed this war to occur, and Plutarch will be one the main authors that I use to do so.