First Servile War - Servile War

Servile War

The chief of the slaves had at one time two hundred thousand men and women as his followers, probably including children. He was a Syrian named Eunus, and he had been a prophet and conjurer among the slaves.

While still a slave his master employed him as an entertainer at symposia. He would put on a sleight-of-hand magic show that included breathing fire. During the performance he kept up a patter – thought humorous by his listeners – saying that Sicilian society would experience a role-reversal, in which his aristocratic audience would be killed or enslaved and he would become king. To those who gave him tips he promised that they would be spared once he came into his kingdom. During the revolt he did spare the lives of at least some of those individuals.

Little is known about Eunus's actual participation in the war. Only his enemies left accounts of him, and they gave credit for his victories to his general, a Cilician named Cleon. But Eunus must have been a man of considerable ability to have maintained his leadership position throughout the war and to have commanded the services of those said to have been his superiors. Cleon fell in battle, and Eunus was captured, but he died before he could be punished.

The war lasted from 135 until 132 BC. It was the first of a series of three slave revolts against the Roman Republic; the last and the most famous was led by Spartacus.