What if the Cilician Pirates whom Spartacus had paid to take him to Sicily hadn't bailed on him, and took him to Sicily?
It might be a temporary reprieve for the slave army, but the Romans ruled Sicily as well, and would only deploy a couple of legions there in persuit. To be truly shot of the Romans, Spartacus and his followers would have to be taken away further than Sicily. And being of very diverse origins, there are plenty of different places that the renegade slaves would want to go.
I believe Spartacus himself came to the conclusion that if they were to split up and go home, they'd just be picked off a few at a time.
That was why I was intrigued by the ideaI think everyone is ignoring why he wanted to go to Sicily. It had a large population fo slaves Spartacus would have encouraged to rise up.
I think everyone is ignoring why he wanted to go to Sicily. It had a large population fo slaves Spartacus would have encouraged to rise up.
Though I imagine if Spartacus and his slave army would make it to Sicily and entice the slave population there to rebel against the Romans there and manages to set up some form of slave state in Sicily, it won't last long. It would be Crassus, Pompey or even Caesar demanding to have command of the army to destroy the revolt. So you kill off a couple tens of thousands of slaves. Big deal. Now the POD is interesting as to how it affects the dealings of the late Roman Republic.
Wasn't Sicily the bread basket of the Republic?
Crassus and Pompey have an arm wrestle/sword duel/massive political struggle which threatens to engulf the Roman Republic and cause Marcus Tullius Cicero to make an epic speech over who gets the fleet over and crushes Spartacus once and for all.
Still, who knows? If Crassus gets the command for the final charge, and the ensuing Triumph, maybe he hates Pompey a bit less for stealing his victory. Maybe his legionaries discover the nefarious activities of Gaius Verres, and are somehow not bribed off? (Thus, the said M. Tullius Cicero may not gain a position of any prominence at all.) Who can say...
I think everyone is ignoring why he wanted to go to Sicily. It had a large population fo slaves Spartacus would have encouraged to rise up.
I think everyone is ignoring why he wanted to go to Sicily. It had a large population of slaves Spartacus would have encouraged to rise up.
Absent a friendly outside power willing to provide a navy, the slaves are doomed in any case. Rome will simply cross over and crush them. In my THE THIRD HITTITE EMPIRE timeline, there is a friendly outside power (Hatti) which transports the slaves to Sicily and then protects them from Roman pursuit. Spartacus is able to set up a slave kingdom in Sicily which lasts for quite a while, until Hittite weakness permits Rome to put an end to it, once and for all.