Previously, we covered the First Servile war and the leaders Eunus and Cleon’s fight
against their Roman masters. Although the revolt had little tangible effect on the Republic,
they did become an inspiration for later slaves seeking to overthrow their masters. In 104BC,
just thirty years after the First Servile War, Sicily would once again be plunged into
the chaos of a slave uprising.
The Roman Republic had spent the last few years in long and difficult wars: the Jugurthine
War of 112-106BC, and the ongoing Cimbrian War, which started in 113BC. Following the
conclusion of the Jugurthine War, its victor and one of Rome’s best generals, Gaius Marius,
had been given command of the Cimbrian War. The war had already cost Rome and her allies
almost 60,000 men, forcing Marius to conduct a mass recruitment campaign in order to bolster
his numbers. As a result, he had asked Nicomedes III of
Bithynia for soldiers, however, Nicomedes replied saying that he would be unable to
do so, as the majority of Bithynians suitable for military service had been seized as slaves
by Romans for not being able to pay their taxes. The Senate responded by issuing a decree
that no citizen of an allied state could be held as a slave in a Roman province. This
decision was made in the hopes that it would provide Marius the manpower he would need
to defeat the Cimbri, but would also cost the Republic dearly.
In 104 BC Publius Licinius Nerva, the Propraetor of Sicily, wanting to quickly carry out the
Senate’s decree in his province, immediately set around 800 slaves of allied nations free.
This decision not only alienated slaves of other nations, but also angered the nobles
who owned large amounts of slaves, worried that they were going to lose their workforce.
Through bribes and political pressure, Nerva quickly caved to the nobles, refusing to free
any more slaves, and sending those that appealed back to their masters.
As a result of this, 180 slaves outside of Syracuse revolted, killing their masters,
taking up arms, and fortifying a hilltop location. Nerva quickly mustered together a force of
soldiers and marched on the slaves. However, he did not have enough men to fully conduct
a siege of their fortifications. Instead, he used loyal slaves to pretend to defect,
enter the fortifications, and then betray the rebels, allowing the Romans to storm the
fortifications. Some of the slaves were killed in the fighting, whilst others, fearing capture,
took their own lives. Nerva disbanded his troops shortly after.
However, a much larger rebellion had taken place almost simultaneously. 80 slaves had
risen up and killed Publius Clonius, an equites, and, having been left to their own devices,
had managed to gather 800 slaves on Mount Caprianus outside Heracleia in just one week.
As Nerva had not been aware of this uprising, and so had not taken any action against them,
rumours spread that he was a coward, and by the time Nerva did find out, the force outside
Heracleia numbered almost 2,000. The Propraetor quickly headed to Heracleia,
but hearing of the size of the enemy force, he ordered the garrison commander of Enna,
Marcus Titinius, to take 600 of his men to confront the rebels. Titinius responded quickly
and marched to Mount Caprianus, drawing his men up for battle. The mountainous terrain,
however, did not lend itself to the formation focused style of battle the Romans were accustomed
to. Moreover, alongside their superior numbers, many of the slaves were armed with slings,
and the higher terrain gave them a distinct advantage.
The battle was short, as the Romans were quickly broken, many being killed and others abandoning
their weapons and fleeing the battlefield along with Titinius. This was a great victory
for the slaves; not only were they able to collect hundreds of arms and pieces of armour
from the battlefield, their triumph also inspired others to join their cause. In just a few
days their numbers swelled to over 6,000.
With their numbers growing, the slaves decided to elect a king, and still inspired by Eunus,
they elected a man named Salvius, who, like Eunus, was famed for his divinations and prophecies.
As his predecessor had, Salvius took the name of a Seleucid king, dubbing himself Tryphon
, after Diodotus Tryphon. He immediately sent his force to pillage the
countryside, seeking to attack the large estates and gather more slaves to his banner. Soon,
he was able to amass a force of 20,000 men, and even 2,000 horses that had been taken
from the estates. He now felt confident enough to attack the cities of Sicily. He marched
and besieged Morgantina.
Nerva had not been idle. He too had been gathering together an army, amassing 10,000 allied Italian
and Sicilian troops. This force assembled, he marched to Morgantina in order to relieve
the city. Salvius had not expected such a quick reaction, and had focused the majority
of his forces on the siege, leaving only a handful of slaves to guard the camp. Nerva
was able to quickly seize the camp, killing the guards and seizing the booty and women
that Salvius had left there, before heading to confront Salvius outside Morgantina.
Not wanting to be caught between Nerva’s army and the cities defenders, Salvius abandoned
the siege, preferring to defeat Nerva first. His army took up position on a small hill
en route from Nerva’s location to the city and prepared for battle. Nerva’s force soon
also arrived and formed up. Salvius was quick to seize the initiative however, charging
down the hill with his cavalry flanking the Roman force. It was a disaster for Nerva;
his army, being taken aback by the impetus and ferocity of the charge, and with the slave
cavalry bearing down on their flank, put up little resistance. When Salvius announced
across the battlefield that any man who dropped his weapons would be spared, Nerva’s army
broke completely, many throwing down their arms and running. Only 600 of the Italians
and Sicilians had been killed in the battle, but more than 4,000 had been taken prisoner,
others fleeing with Nerva.
This was an astounding victory for Salvius; not only had he won the field, but his promise
to spare any man who abandoned his weapons allowed him to fully arm his army. He once
again turned to besieging Morgantina. The slaves inside in the city had been promised
their freedom if they would assist in the defence. However, Nerva once again made a
disastrous decision, announcing that no more slaves would be freed until the revolt was
contained. As a result, the slaves inside the city quickly betrayed the defenders, opening
the gates and allowing Salvius to capture the city. Salvius was now effectively in control
of the East of Sicily.
Meanwhile in the western part of the island, yet another revolt had started. A slave called
Athenion had been inspired by both the First Servile War and Salvius’ uprising, and had
managed to build an army of over 10,000. Athenion was a man noted for his courage, and also
professed to have prophetic powers, endearing slaves to his cause as Eunus had previously.
He too was crowned a king, but unlike his predecessors and Salvius, Athenion did not
accept every slave who wished to revolt into his army. Instead, he picked those who had
experience of warfare, whilst using the others as workers in order to keep his force well
fed and supplied. By doing this he was able to create an almost paramilitary force, with
which he began besieging the city of Lilybaeum. This proved too big a task however, as Lilybaeum
was a well-fortified city, and was easily able to resist the slaves until a relief force
of Mauretanian auxiliaries relieved the city, forcing Athenion to retreat.
Despite this setback for the slaves, the entire island was effectively now in chaos. The wealthy
Roman citizens were forced to remain in cities for their own safety, whilst the slaves and
lower class citizens rampaged across the countryside. Amongst this chaos, Salvius strengthened his
position. He gathered his force, now totalling 30,000, outside of the city of Triocala and,
paralleling Eunus and Cleon, summoned Athenion. Athenion answered the summons, bringing 3,000
of his more experienced slaves with him. Possibly out of a desire to mimic Cleon, or
simply intimidated by the size of Salvius’ force, Athenion pledged loyalty, acting as
his military advisor and general. Together, they captured Triocala, once again through
the help of disgruntled slaves inside, and began fortifying the city. Salvius declared
the city his royal capital, established a cabinet of advisors, and even wore a purple
toga with lictors preceding him; in effect making himself into the thing the Republic
feared most: a Roman king.
Nerva had proved himself incapable of handling the situation and, as a result, at the end
of his term as Praetor at the start of 103BC, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, father of the famous
Roman general of the same name, was sent to replace him. The Senate had assigned Lucullus
a sizeable force of 14,000 Roman and 3,000 allied soldiers. Salvius wanted to wait in
Triocala to fight from the city walls, but Athenion instead advised to fight the Romans
in the open, rather than risk being forced into the same disastrous situation as those
in Tauromenium 30 years earlier. Salvius accepted this advice and gathered still more slaves
to his banner before marching to Scirthea with a force of 40,000.
The slave force made camp just over a mile from the Roman camp and the two armies began
slowly closing the gap between them. Fierce skirmishes broke out between the two forces,
each harassing the other with cavalry and lighter missile troops. When the two main
lines met, the fighting was furious, both sides suffering heavy casualties, and neither
being able to gain the upper hand. However, on the flanks, Athenion was having much more
success, winning his side of the battle and threatening the Roman centre.
Just as it seemed as the Romans would be surrounded though, Athenion was wounded and dragged from
his horse. Believing that their general had been killed, the slaves broke and fled the
battlefield. Salvius was unable to stop the rout, and knowing the battle was lost, also
retreated. In this rout, many slaves were cut down by the Romans, and a total of 20,000
lay dead at the end of the day. However, Lucullus failed to pursue them any further, and the
other 20,000, including Salvius, were able to retreat to Triocala.
Perhaps more importantly, Athenion too was able to escape the battlefield. After being
wounded, he had pretended to lie dead and had then fled during the night to Triocala.
It wasn’t until nine days later that Lucullus marched on and besieged Triocala. Though the
slaves were disheartened by their defeat at Scirthea, they resolved to fight until the
end. Lucullus attempted numerous assaults on the city, hoping to take it by force and
so cut the head off the revolt, but the city’s strong fortifications allowed the slaves to
fend off every attempt, inflicting heavy casualties on the Romans. These victories only emboldened
the slaves and eventually Lucullus was forced to make camp outside the city, preparing for
a siege.
The Senate was not pleased. Seeing Lucullus’ failure to capitalise on his initial victory
at Scirthea, and his failure to take Triocala, as either the result of incompetence or corruption,
they decided to replace him as Praetor at the end of the year with Gaius Servilius.
Lucullus was enraged by this decision, seeing it as an unfair betrayal by the Senate. As
a result, when Servilius landed at the start of 102BC to take command, Lucullus ordered
his army to burn their camp, supplies and siege constructions and then disbanded them.
By doing this, he hoped to humiliate his successor by making sure he would not be able to make
any significant advances in the war and so dispel the charges of incompetency made against
himself.
The plan worked. Salvius died at some point during 102BC of unknown causes, and Athenion
succeeded him as overall leader of the revolt. Despite this set back, thanks to Lucullus’
actions, Servilius unable to coordinate a concentrated effort against him and Athenion
was able to rampage across Sicily, besieging and taking even more cities. At one point,
Servilius did manage to collect a large enough force to try and face Athenion, but Athenion
was able to catch the Praetor’s army by surprise in camp, taking the camp and forcing
Servilius to retreat. Despite Lucullus’ initial success the year previously, by the
end of 102BC the revolt was as strong as ever. Lucullus and Servilius were both charged by
the Senate for incompetency and were exiled as a result.
In 101BC Gaius Marius was once again elected consul, with Manius Aquillius as his colleague.
Gaius Marius was Rome’s greatest general at the time, and Manius Aquillius had fought
alongside him in the Cimbrian Wars and was a trusted and veteran leader. The revolt in
Sicily had now got the point of threatening a famine in Rome, thus jeopardising the ongoing
war with the Cimbri. As a result, it was decided that Aquillius be sent with a full consular
army, around 20,000 men including 2,500 cavalry, most likely diverted from the Cimbrian front,
to crush the revolt once and for all.
Aquillius immediately forced Athenion into a pitched battle. Perhaps due to his success
the year before, Athenion was confident that his army, numbering between 20,000-30,000,
would again prove victorious. However, confronted by an experienced army led by a skilled and
veteran general, the slaves stood little chance. The battle was short and bloody, with only
10,000 slaves managing to escape. During this battle, Aquillius and Athenion
found themselves fighting each other face to face, and though Athenion was able to wound
the consul, Aquillius finally killed the slave king. The remaining slaves fled leaderless
to numerous strongholds and fortifications throughout Sicily. Aquillius was relentless
in his pursuit. Each stronghold was besieged and the slaves inside starved into defeat.
When the last stronghold of just 1,000 slaves was left, Aquillius sent envoys to them, requesting
that they surrender and take their chances fighting animals in the arena. Rather than
face this humiliating fate, the slaves did as their predecessors in the First Servile
War had done and took their own lives, each man killing another, the last falling on his
sword.
Both Sicilian revolts achieved little. However, they would act as an inspiration for a much
larger, terrifying and dangerous revolt; the Third Servile War under the leadership of
the gladiator Spartacus. Our video on him is next, so make sure you are subscribed to
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