135 - 132 BC: Slave revolts in Sicily. (1st Servile War).
104 - 100 BC: Second Sicilian slave war (2nd Servile War).
c109BC: Spartacus is born in Thrace
c78BC: Spartacus serves as soldier in the Roman Army as an auxiliary
73 BC : Spartacus was trained at the gladiatorial school (ludus) near Capua belonging to Lentulus Batiatus, the slave trader and lanista.
73 BC : Spartacus trained as a lightly armed Roman gladiator referred to as a Thracian. A Thracian gladiator wore a helmet, padded leg protection and would have carried a circular or quadrangular small shield called a parmula
73 BC: Spartacus escapes from the gladiator school with 70-80 slave gladiators
73 BC: The gladiator band take refuge on the side of Mount Vesuvius (near modern day Naples) led by Spartacus with his aides Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and Oenomaus.
73 BC: The small group of gladiators plunder and pillage around the area and are quickly joined by large numbers of slaves, who flock to him from all quarters. He is soon at the head of a formidable slave army
73 BC: Outbreak of Third Servile War, led by the slave and gladiator Spartacus
73 BC: The praetor Clodius Glaber, with 3,000 soldiers, are sent by the Senate from Rome to quell the slave revolt. The over confident Glaber and his troops are defeated by the slave army
72 BC: After the success over Glaber many more runaway slaves join Spartacus and his gladiator army swelling the number to 30,000 escaped slaves. The slave army splits, separating into ranks according to their natural languages.
72 BC: The Senate sends the two consuls (Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus), each with two legions, against the rebel slave army.
72 BC: Battle at Picenum. Many Gauls and Germans are defeated by Publicola. Their leader, Crixus, is killed. Spartacus then defeats Lentulus and then Publicola
72 BC: Battle at Mutina. The slave army defeats another legion under Gaius Cassius Longinus, the Governor of Cisalpine Gaul. Spartacus counsels escape via the Alps but the Gauls and Germans refuse to go, wanting to the opportunity to rob and pillage more Romans
72 BC: Crassus is appointed to the supreme command of the war
72 BC: Spartacus keeps the slave army together moving to southern Italy where they can hire pirate ships to Sicily (the location of the first 2 Servile Wars). The slave army defeats two more Roman legions under Marcus Licinius Crassus
72 BC: Crassus inflicts the punishment of Decimation on his Roman soldiers for cowardice - this results in the Roman soldiers becoming more afraid of Crassus than of the gladiator army of Spartacus
72 BC: By the end of 72 BC, Spartacus is encamped in Rhegium near the Strait of Messina.
72 BC: Spartacus is then betrayed by the Cilician pirates and his plan to transport the slave army to Sicily falls through
71 BC: Crassus tries to trap Spartacus and his slave army at Calabria by building a ditch with a wall, nearly sixty kilometers long and five meters wide across the 'toe' of Italy from sea to sea
71 BC: Spartacus manages to break through Crassus's lines and escapes towards Brundisium
71 BC: Battle at the River Silarus. This is believed to be the final battle and the death of Spartacus. The body of Spartacus is never found
71 BC: Crassus wreaks a terrible revenge on the slave army and orders that 6,000 slave captives are crucified along the Appian Way from Brundisium to Rome. Their bodies are left to rot as an example to all slaves who rebel against Rome
71 BC: 5,000 slaves escape capture and flee north. The remainder of the slave army is destroyed by Pompey
71 BC: Pompey claims credit for ending the slave war and is granted a triumph. Crassus is given just an ovation
71 BC: The Third Servile War (also referred to as the Gladiator War and The War of Spartacus) is crushed by Pompey and Crassus
