STRIKE

Ancient rebel with a cause.

Spartacus is one of the most popular figures of classical antiquity. And for good reason. An enslaved gladiator from Thrace, on the edge of the Roman Empire, he led an uprising of the oppressed and exploited that shook the pillars of Rome from 73 to 71 B.C.E. A historian at the University of Iowa, Bond recounts Spartacus’ brief but ferocious exploits, which have inspired enslaved men and women for millennia. In a compact book amply footnoted with helpful maps and illustrations, she shows that while Spartacus stood out from the downtrodden crowd, he was not a lone rebel and not the sole figure in Rome who rejected the allure of bread and circuses. In the tradition of E.P. Thompson, Bond offers history from the bottom up. She collapses the distance between past and present and enables readers to see the outlines of the contemporary world in antiquity and the shadows of the ancient world in the present. Bond also examines the power of the state, the nature of Roman repression, military might, and the force of imperial oligarchy. “Slavery was a deplorable part of Roman society from its very beginning,” Bond writes. There’s no doubt about her sympathies in the war between plebeians and patricians—and her feelings about strikes, then and now, to improve working conditions and raise wages. Her book removes layers of myth and fiction that have obscured Roman history. It offers a portrait of life at the heart of an empire that rose and fell and that has served as a paradigm for empires since, from the French and British to the American.

Essential reading for anyone eager to learn about a real-life gladiator.