Buy Alea Jacta Est Spartacus 73BC PC key

Alea Jacta Est Spartacus 73BC is set during the revolt led by the Thracian gladiator Spartacus. Roman conquests after the Punic Wars brought a large influx of enslaved people to Italy, where they replaced free workers in mines, quarries and the large estates of wealthy citizens. Meanwhile, poverty and anger among Rome’s free workers made them a political base for ambitious leaders. Earlier slave revolts in Sicily, in 133 and 101 BC, had grown into wars that took years to suppress.

Spartacus’s revolt

In 73 BC, Spartacus and fellow gladiators escaped from the Capuan school of Lentulus Batiatus, carrying torches that routed the local militia. They took refuge on the slope of Vesuvius, where Praetor Glaber’s troops besieged them. The gladiators used wild vines to cross the cliffs and surprise their opponents, driving them into retreat. Thousands of enslaved people, shepherds and poor people then joined Spartacus’s ranks.

War across Italy

The revolt set Italy ablaze and kept Rome in danger for three years, forcing the republic to mobilize its forces. The slave armies were eventually defeated by Crassus, at the cost of thousands of deaths and executions. Spartacus fell in battle, and his body was never found. Returning from Hispania, Pompeius crushed the last group in northern Italy and claimed the glory, although Crassus had won the war.