A Thracian shepherd who became a skilled warrior in the defence of his land from Roman invaders. Eventually becoming a Roman mercenary in local campaigns, he was later captured and enslaved by them. Trained as a gladiator he became a renowned fighter and crowd puller. Rebelling against the condition of slavery and the brutish life of the gladiator he led a revolt and escaped with a small band of comrades. Finding refuge in the crater of Mount Vesuvius he discovered a sizable community of outcastes, escaped slaves, heretics and outlaws there. These people saw Spartacus as a great liberator and planned with him a wider revolt that would lead to their freedom. Spartacus trained this ragtag army into an effective fighting force which he led in a campaign against Imperial Rome. Defeating legion after legion (mostly through the first recorded use of guerrilla warfare, gladiator skills, superior weopens, produced from the wealth of their booty, and indepth knowledge of Roman tactics), Spartacus became the leader of a general slave revolt as more and more rebels flocked to his side. Almost bringing Rome to its knees and sacking many cities he fought on (despite oportunities to cross the Alps into freedom) till finally overcome by superior numbers as Rome called its legions home to tackle the crisis.

Spartacus' body was never found (feeding myths that he would return) but all of his surviving army were crucified along the Appian Way.

According to some sources Sparticus decreed the sharing of all wealth by his followers and desired the creation of a utopian community. This naturally made him the hero of later revolutionaries from Karl Marx to Adam Weishaupt of the infamous Bavarian Illuminati (who used his name as a codename).

According to classical sources Sparticus' female companion was a priestess in the Dionysian Mysteries, who was said to have initiated him and declared him an avatar of Dionysos Liber, the Liberator. It is thus possible that Spartacus was assisted by high placed Romans within this Mystery Religion, who were suspected of subversion by the authorities.