The Spartacus War by Strauss Barry

Author:Strauss, Barry [Strauss, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2009-07-22T23:00:00+00:00

Spartacus’s men used what look like similar raft-building techniques, maybe as a result of recruiting local helpers. The fish-rich waters of the strait surely employed many boat-builders. A contemporary source describes the rebels’ rafts: ‘When they placed large, wide-mouthed jars under the beams, they tied them together with vine branches or strips of hide.’

Building rafts required finding jars, timber, vine branches and strips of hide, and that would have taken foraging in turn. Houses, shops, cellars, warehouses, farms and forests might all have been scoured for supplies. It seems unlikely that the rebels did this at their leisure or with their full attention. Some of their manpower had to be devoted to finding food and the rest had to handle security, in the event of a raid by Crassus.

Where Spartacus launched his rafts is not known. The currents favoured the ferry crossing at the Statio ad Statuam, but the Romans knew that, and they surely lined the opposite shore. Cape Caenys offered a narrower crossing and perhaps a chance to surprise the enemy on the beach in Sicily. The dangerous currents there would have made departure risky, but Spartacus was a risk-taker. A launch from Cape Caenys would help explain what happened next, but of course it is not possible to be certain. An ancient source picks up the story: ‘They tried to launch rafts of beams and large, wide-mouthed jugs tied together with brush and branches in the very swift waters of the strait - in vain.’ And: ‘The entangled rafts were hindering the provision of help.’

Nature, it seems, kept the rebels from crossing. In the fast and shifting currents the rafts got caught on each other, and no one was able to repair that tangle. They must have lost boats and provisions and maybe some men drowned too. Metellus had done better, but he no doubt chose the least dangerous place to cross the channel. He enjoyed superior logistical support than Spartacus and could get more experienced helmsmen. Few if any of the rebels had experience steering ships, but they might have persuaded or forced locals to help. Besides, Metellus might have crossed in summer or, if not, he could have waited for a day of good conditions to make the crossing, a luxury surely denied to Spartacus.

Spartacus’s attempt to cross the strait failed. He now had to turn his army around to force his way back through Roman Italy. The opposing general whom he would face, Crassus, had worked wonders with his legions but he had not yet turned them into a force that could hunt down and destroy Spartacus’s army. On the contrary, it seems that Crassus had done nothing to stop Spartacus at the strait. Instead, he held back and left the job to Verres. The governor of Sicily either had Neptune on his side or good strategy.

One ancient source gives credit elsewhere: Cicero. The orator praised Marcus Crassus, ‘that bravest of men, whose courage and good judgment saw to it that the fugitives were not able to tie rafts together and cross the Strait’.

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