() – Archaeologists working in southern Italy They identified a Roman fortification built to contain slave revolt leader Spartacus and his army.
Researchers concluded that the wall, which extends for 2.7 kilometers, was built by the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus in 71 BC. c.
Spartacus served in the Roman army before becoming a bandit and being captured and sold into slavery.
He escaped from a gladiator school in 73 BC. C., with 70 other slaves, and ended up leading a slave revolt that took over most of southern Italy with about 90,000 men.
Spartacus died in 71 BC. C., in a pitched battle against the forces of Crassus.
Locals already knew about a small section of the ancient wall, but no research had been done to confirm who built it and why, local government archaeologist Andrea Maria Gennaro told on Tuesday.
“When we realized what it was, it was very exciting,” Gennaro said. “It’s not every day you get to experience history firsthand.”
Gennaro stated that “multiple and converging lines of evidence” led to the conclusion that the wall was built to contain Spartacus.
These include ancient literary sources and a series of artifacts discovered during inspections at the site by a team led by Paolo Visonà, an archaeologist at the University of Kentucky, using ground-penetrating radar, known as LIDAR, magnetometry and soil core sampling.
They found broken iron weapons, sword hilts, large curved blades and javelin tips, and Visonà believes he has identified the area where Spartacus and his forces attacked the wall.
“There is an area where it looks like the wall was breached,” he said, adding that there is a large concentration of broken weapons around that part of the wall.
At one point, the wall rotates 180 degrees in an L shape, which facilitates defense against enemy advance, Visonà explained.
“It is a very well-planned fortification,” he stated.
With Roman forces controlling the coastal routes, Spartacus was forced to cross the Aspromonte mountain.
“That’s why Crassus built this line of fortification here,” Gennaro said.
Visonà told that “the terrain is extremely rugged.”
“You can get into serious trouble if you’re not equipped,” he added, but the strength of the Roman presence on the coast forced the rebels’ hand.
“Spartacus had no other option but to follow the mountain path,” said Visonà.
The plan is to carry out archaeological excavations to reveal more of the site’s secrets, but Gennaro said that, “in this first phase, our main concern is to protect the site from possible looters.”
Visonà believes that there is much to learn from the site.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” he said.
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