Her name is lost to time, but her story survives through the writings of the Greek historian Plutarch. In his Life of Crassus , we find the only significant mention of her. She was, Plutarch tells us, a woman of prophetic gifts, sharing not just Spartacus’s tribe (the Thracian Maedi) but his fate.
Their marriage, however, was shattered by the machinery of Rome. At some point before the great revolt of 73 BCE, Spartacus was enslaved. So too was his wife. They were torn apart and sold to different masters. did spartacus have a wife
She ended up as a slave in Rome, while Spartacus was sent to the ludus (gladiatorial school) of Lentulus Batiatus in Capua. It was there, in the heat and dust of the training grounds, that they were reunited. Somehow, Spartacus arranged for her to join him—a testament to his resourcefulness and love. Her name is lost to time, but her
When we think of Spartacus, we picture a gladiator, a general, a symbol of resistance. But behind the legend was a real man with a real family. So, did Spartacus have a wife? The historical record offers a clear, if haunting, answer: Yes, he did. Their marriage, however, was shattered by the machinery
Plutarch tells us that as Spartacus was chained, waiting to be sold into the gladiator’s life, his wife managed to get close to him. Entwined in the vines of a wild forest, she had a vision. A serpent coiled itself around his head as he slept. In her culture, this was no omen of evil, but a sign of great, terrible power. She declared that he would lead a vast army and emerge from his chains as a force of nature.
“This woman,” Plutarch writes, “shared in his escape.”