The Spartakiad

Aelita

Aelita

"In variis volvntatibus regnari tamen omnes volebant, libertatis dvlcedine nondum experta." Titus Livius, Ab Vrbe Condita Libri, I, XVII(1)

From the Annals of Tacitus, Book I
Roma at the beginning was ruled by kings. The first freedoms and the consulship were established by Lucius Brutus. Dictatorships were held for a temporary crisis. The power of the decemvirs did not last beyond two years, nor was the consular jurisdiction of the military tribunes of long duration. The despotisms of Cinna and Sulla were brief. Rome's borders were expanded, and the republic took corn, land, riches, arts and slaves from her neighbors. The core of Rome was assaulted during the Punic Wars, after the invasions of Hannibal. Corralled within the city, or made slaves themselves, the hearty stock which had build the republic withered.

The slaves revolted, and the blood of slaves dying for their liberty renewed the republic. The leader of the freedmen, Spartacus, was made Tribune. He won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap corn, and all men with the sweets of repose, and so grew greater by degrees, while he abolished the Senate and concentrated it's functions in the executive council of the legislative assemblies, and brought the magistrates, and the laws into compliance with this new order.

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So, just a taste for now. This is the introduction to a new TL I'm working on when I'm not working on Reds! It's very much a secondary project, so don't expect too frequent of update. That said, some general notes on the TL.

The basic conceit of this TL is that while a slave, being trained as a gladiator, Spartacus is befriended by another slave, a former plebian Roman citizen who had been forced into slavery to pay his debts, and had been associated with the Populares reformers. The end result, of course, is Spartacus marching on Rome with an army of freedmen and plebians, and eventually overthrowing the old order.

This TL will cover the period leading up to that civil war, as well as the period afterwards, to maybe about the 2nd century CE. The translation convention will be in full effect, but I'll still be working to avoid linguistic anachronisms. Place names and most proper nouns will be left untranslated wherever possible, but I'm still deciding on how much of Classical Latin I want to incorporate, espescially with names (I.e., should I really expunge every 'u' or 'j' I find from proper nouns?

Anyway, comments are always appreciated. Cheers, and I hope this whets your appetite.
1. "Notwithstanding this diversity in their views, yet all concurred in wishing for a king, for they had not yet tasted the sweets of liberty."
 
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Basileus Giorgios

An interesting idea- but is it plausible? The Romans were an extremely conservative people, and I suspect that the idea of a slave army abolishing the Senate would go down very badly indeed with the majority of the citizenry.

Also, does Spartacus make himself Tribune? Because, as a non-citizen, he's not legally entitled to the position...
 
Aelita

Aelita

Basileus Giorgios said:
An interesting idea- but is it plausible? The Romans were an extremely conservative people, and I suspect that the idea of a slave army abolishing the Senate would go down very badly indeed with the majority of the citizenry.

Also, does Spartacus make himself Tribune? Because, as a non-citizen, he's not legally entitled to the position...
Click to expand...
I will endeavor to make it so.

Remember, this first piece in-universe, and I modeled it off OTL's Tacitus and his literary style. Basically, it's a preface of sorts, so it glosses over plenty of details.

It's also important to remember that what the actual Roman people wanted was largely irrelevant in Rome. It was the ruling classes who were very conservative, and constantly at odds with the threat of an uprising from below.

What the law was before the revolt will very much be different than what it is afterwards. And so will who is a citizen and who isn't.
 

Marja

I was imagining something different. Suppose that, after the battle of Mutina, many/more of the rebels from the north, including whole families, escape over the Alps, although Spartacus and most of the rebels from Italy turn south and are defeated as in our time line.

What would it take for numbers and/or solidarity among the escapees to have a lasting effect in central Europe? So that these communities raise Spartacus et al. to the status of mythic founders, much like the Romans raised Aeneas et al. What would it take, if it is possible at all, for this to undermine slavery and/or undermine the slave trade in Roman-Age Europe?

As regards the original timeline: after Sulla, the Senate included representatives of the 600 richest families; I doubt the poor peasants had much love for the plutocracy.
 

Faeelin

Banned
Mmm. I have my concerns too. I could see him trying to set up an independent, "free" state (the notion was floating around the Mediterranean at the time). Aristonicus, around 133 BC, created the city of Heliopolis, and populated by Heliopolitae, Citizens of the Sun.

One of the kookier ideas floating around is that it was inspired by Blossius of Platae, a Stoic who also influenced the Gracchi.... which is probably absurd and therefore true.

(One of the ideas I have for Answers for Milinda was a Spartacus crucified after a holding action that bought slaves time to escape beyond the Alps, but becoming the messiah of a millenial cult of freedom).
 
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