Roman Wall Built to Contain Spartacus’ Forces Discovered in Italy

Archaeologists have found a stone wall in an Italian forest that the Roman army used during its standoff with legendary gladiator Spartacus, who led a slave revolt against Rome over 2,000 years ago.

The mossy wall is located in the Dossone della Melia forest in Calabria, a region in the “toe” of Italy’s boot, according to a statement from the Archaeological Institute of America. A team led by Paolo Visonà, an archaeologist at the University of Kentucky, found that the thin stone mound was over 1.7 miles long, and it once ran alongside a deep military ditch.

“The wall is a sort of barrier due to its topographic location and other factors, like the absence of gates,” Andrea Maria Gennaro, the archaeology superintendent at Italy’s culture ministry, tells Live Science’s Jennifer Nalewicki. “It divides the entire large flat area in two parts.”

The researchers studied the site using ground-penetrating radar, lidar, magnetometry and soil sampling. Based on their findings, they think the Roman army built these structures—which are characteristic of Roman military engineering—to contain Spartacus and his army in 71 B.C.E.

“When we realized what it was, it was very exciting,” Gennaro tells CNN’s Jack Guy. “It’s not every day you get to experience history first-hand.”

From enslavement to rebel gladiator: The life of Spartacus - Fiona Radford

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Born in Thrace (a region of the southeastern Balkans), Spartacus served in the Roman army and may have eventually deserted. He was then captured and sold into slavery, ultimately ending up at a gladiatorial training school owned by his new master in Capua, southeast of Rome. Here, he and other men were taught to compete as gladiators: the enslaved individuals and criminals who fought wild animals and each other to the death for the entertainment of audiences.

In 73 B.C.E., Spartacus organized a prison break from the gladiator school, escaping with over 70 members of his cohort and starting the Third Servile War (also known as the Gladiator War). In early clashes, the men—who were eventually joined by thousands of others—successfully fought off the Roman army.

Researchers think the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus built the wall in an attempt to trap the rebels, according to the statement. Spartacus may have confronted the Romans at the wall, attacking them and breaking through at a spot that “seems to have been breached,” Visonà tells CNN.

Nearby, the team also found broken iron sword handles, curved blades, javelin points and a spearhead. The trove of ancient weapons suggests a battle occurred at the site. “We started studying weapons recovered along the wall, and the closest comparisons are with weapons from the late Republican period,” Gennaro tells Live Science. “We believe we have identified the site of the clash.”

Gennaro adds that the wall is mentioned in historical sources, such as the Greek philosopher Plutarch’s book The Life of Crassus.

The rebellion was ultimately quashed in Lucania, some 35 miles southeast of Naples. Here, Crassus’ forces finally killed Spartacus in 71 B.C.E. As National Geographic writes, his story lived on as “an inspiration to those seeking to revolt against oppressive rule.”

Sonja Anderson | READ MORE

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.