Crixus

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Crixus, a Gaul, had been a slave for several years before the revolt. He had fought for the Allobroges against the Romans and had been captured. He would go on to fight alongside Spartacus and Oenomaus as one of the leaders of the rebellious slaves in the Third Servile War, from BC 73-72. Like his companions, Crixus had trained as a gladiator in Capua. In several early engagements, his company of Celtic gladiators changed the tide of battle by attacking weak points exposed by the slave army.

Initially the slave army proved very successful, defeating the forces the Roman Senate sent to put down the insurrection. However, Crixus separated from Spartacus towards the end of the year. Spartacus wanted to flee for the slaves' homelands in Gaul and the Balkans, but Crixus is said to have set his heart on plunder, and stayed on in southern Italy.

In the spring of 72 BC one of the two Roman consuls sent to quash the rebellion, Lucius Gellius Publicola, caught up with Crixus and his forces, known as the Celts and Germans, in the region of Apulia. In the ensuing battle Crixus used his Germanic infantry to soften the up the Romans before commiting his elite Celtic gladiators, however his Germans were routed and Crixus was forced to fight a losing defensive action. Crixus was killed and his 30,000 strong army defeated.^[1]

In the manner of Roman aristocrats, Spartacus honored the memory of the ex-gladiator Crixus with funeral games at which 300 Roman prisoners-of-war were forced to fight to the death like gladiators.^[2]

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[edit] References

• Appian, Civil Wars 1.116
• Livy, Perochiae 96
• Florus, Epitome 2.8.20 [1]
• Sallust, Fragmenta Historiarum 3
• Smith, William (1870), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Vol 1 p. 896
• Bradley, Keith. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-7134-6561-X.