Site of ‘Clash’ Between Spartacus and Roman Army Discovered in Italy

A stone wall built by the Roman army as a defense against slave revolt leader and gladiator Spartacus and his men has been identified by archaeologists in an Italian forest.

Local environmentalists who found the wall alerted archaeologists, who have now been able to provide greater insight using advanced radar and laser scanning methods, as well as soil sample analysis.

The ditch and mound (or fossa and agger, respectively) was a common Roman defense system. This stone wall and earthwork, for instance, stretches nearly two miles through the Dossone della Melia forest in Italy’s Calabria region. A deep ditch once ran parallel to the wall.

“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 with Italy’s Ministry of Culture who worked on the excavation, told Live Science. “It divides the entire large flat area in two parts.”

Since the discovery, researchers have determined that the wall and ditches were constructed by Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus in 71 BCE in an effort to contain Spartacus and his army. These efforts have been documented in several volumes, among them, The Life of Crassus by Greek philosopher Plutarch. Experts believe that Spartacus would have attacked the wall in order to break through Crassus’s trap.

“After trying to go to Sicily, Spartacus was not able to move along the coastal roads because of the presence of Romans, so the only way to go [to] the peninsula and escape was crossing Aspromonte,” a mountain in Italy, Gennaro explains.

Along with some 70 enslaved gladiators, Spartacus escaped from a school in Capua and engaged in a series of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic, known by historians as the Third Servile War. Though ultimately suppressed, Spartacus lead a number of successful battles through the Italian countryside, posing a great threat to the Romans and spurring the creation of the Roman Empire.

Additionally, the team has discovered several broken iron weapons such as sword handles, large curved blades, javelin points, and a spearhead—all indicative of fighting at the site, according to the Archaeological Institute of America.

“We started studying weapons recovered along the wall, and the closest comparisons are with weapons from the late Republican period,” Gennaro added. “We believe we have identified the site of the clash.”