Some seventy gladiators break out of the school of Lentulus Batiatus, armed with knives and spits taken from the kitchen.
Plutarch, Life of Crassus
The Ashworth Dispatch
The ancient world, as the sources tell it.
Every week, one story from history in your inbox: the people, the wars and the decisions that shaped the world, told from what the ancient writers actually recorded. By Julian Ashworth.
After the consuls' armies are beaten, the Senate hands the war to Marcus Licinius Crassus, the richest man in Rome.
Appian, Civil Wars
Six thousand captured rebels are crucified along the road from Capua to Rome.
Appian, Civil Wars
Books by Julian Ashworth
The Gladiator and the Richest Man in Rome
Spartacus, Crassus and the Slave War of 73–71 BC
Enemies of Rome
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About Julian Ashworth
Julian Ashworth writes narrative history about Rome and the people who stood against it: rebels, rival kings and the men who paid for the wars. His books follow the ancient sources closely and tell the story at the pace of a novel.
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One story from history. A rebellion, a battle or a fall from power, told in under ten minutes.
What the sources say. Who wrote it down, how long afterwards, and how far we can trust them.
The detail that changed it. The decision, the mistake or the money that decided how it ended.
Subject
Seventy men, kitchen knives and the road out of Capua
In 73 BC a band of gladiators broke out of a training school in Capua with little more than kitchen knives. Within two years they had beaten several Roman armies, and the richest man in the city had staked his career on stopping them.