Rome sent another army of around 6,000 soldiers. They killed nearly all 3,000 of the Roman soldiers. He and the gladiators used the vines from local trees to repel down the side of the mountain and sneak up behind the Roman forces. Spartacus, however, had a different idea. Glaber surrounded the slaves at Mount Vesuvius and decided to wait them out. Rome sent an army of 3,000 men under the leadership of Claudius Glaber. They fled to Mount Vesuvius near the city of Pompeii gathering more slaves to their small army as they went. They were able to steal their weapons and armor and fight their way free. In 73 BC, seventy gladiators, with Spartacus as their leader, escaped from the gladiator school. He became tired of risking his life for the entertainment of others. He must have been both a good fighter and lucky to survive. He was then put into the arena to fight animals or other gladiators. He was sent to a gladiator school where he constantly trained to fight. He was basically a slave who was forced to fight for the entertainment of the Romans. When he was caught leaving, he was sold into slavery as a gladiator. He was a Thracian who joined the Roman army as a young man.
Not a lot is known about Spartacus' early life.
