University of California Press Blog

Slave Revolts in Antiquity

Theresa Urbainczyk is Senior Lecturer in Classics at University College Dublin and author of Spartacus, among other books. In her latest release, Slave Revolts in Antiquity (UC Press, May 2008), Theresa talks about slave resistance and the meaning of freedom in Ancient Rome and Greece. Furthermore, Theresa talks about the inspiration for her book in the blog below.

By Theresa Urbainczyk

I read somewhere that Stalin put forward the thesis that the revolt of Spartacus had brought down the Roman Empire. Whoever was commenting on this, remarked that 500 years was rather a long time-span for the effect to result from the cause.

I was reminded of this when reading in a recent book (Spartacus: Film and History edited by Martin M. Winkler, Blackwell 2007) that in 1960 the Universal film studios wanted an academic to write an article advertising Kubrick’s forthcoming movie, Spartacus, and in the specifications instructed, ‘If you feel that Spartacus’ revolt contributed to the downfall of the great Roman Empire, please emphasise this’. 

The response this generally evokes is similar to that some of us have to rather comical mistakes in students’ exam scripts but I was struck by two people making the same comment, especially since it was unlikely that the film executive was familiar with Stalin’s arguments.

Part of me hesitates to admit that another movie Gladiator was one of the reasons I started to study slave revolts. In fact I probably was too much of a snob to go and see Ridley Scott’s film at all if I hadn’t been living in New York and feeling lonely. Any invitation was (almost) better than none when you know hardly anyone in a new city so I went with a couple of classicists. The young American woman beside me murmured at the end ‘Oh that was wonderful.’ The older English man on the other side snarled ‘Spartacus was much better’. I hadn’t ever seen that film and when I did I assumed most of it was pure invention. Which was how I came to look at the ancient sources on slave revolts.

To me they were intrinsically interesting and worth writing about and I was mystified as to why my colleagues weren’t as fascinated as I was. And they most certainly weren’t.  After I gave what probably was an overenthusiastic talk on the unexpected (to me at any rate) amount of information there was on slave revolts in antiquity in our ancient texts, one professor chipped in ‘Yes but so what? What effect did the large slave wars have on the course of events of Roman Republic? None at all as far as I can see.’

Thinking about just how much effect the wars did have on this particular period of history, helped explain to me how in both the USA and the USSR the same seemingly ridiculous theory could have arisen. A common confusion for students is the way historians use the term Roman Empire. At the time of the Roman Republic, the Romans had an empire but it wasn’t the Roman Empire, in that they did not have emperors.  If we substitute the term ‘Republic’ for ‘Empire’, the theory is not so far-fetched. In fact, expressed in these terms, it’s a commonplace in our historians from antiquity. It’s only in more recent times that the threat of slave revolts has been played down.

How to Spot a Demagogue

by Loren J. Samons II, author of What's Wrong with Democracy?

During this election season, the following tips may be helpful to those wishing to identify the native North American demagogue (Demagogus americanus). This prolific creature inhabits all areas of the United States, but congregates especially in the mid-Atlantic coastal region, where the combination of warm (not to mention hot) air, popular politics, and movable wealth create a fertile environment for demagoguery. Demagogues are often found along with great numbers of the semiparasitic companion species the North American lobbyist.

The North American demagogue—descended, it is believed, from the ancient Greek demagogue and closely related to the great crested European demagogue—may be identified chiefly by his song. He tends to sing in refrains of a particularly short length (known to specialists as “sound bites”) and returns frequently to certain themes. The “my opponent’s radical views” theme and the “what the American people want/deserve” theme can be heard with particular clarity in the fall of each year. Every two years, the demagogues become especially vocal, and every fourth year their calls and the accompanying rites of display reach a fever pitch, a phenomenon that demagogologists have come to call “the big song and dance.”

The migratory habits of the demagogue have proved tremendously interesting. Not unlike the Atlantic eel (which returns to the Sargasso Sea, the place of its birth), the North American demagogue leaves the mid-Atlantic coast and returns to the place of its spawning for short visits. During these times, demagogues attend well-publicized events at quaint local establishments (especially schools, churches, and American Legion halls) and feed voraciously. The preferred diet of the demagogue consists of publicity and contributions, without a steady supply of which demagogues deteriorate quickly. Captured demagogues have been known to expire after a mere twenty-four hours without mass media exposure.

Demagogues, like white-tailed deer and telemarketers, have become a nuisance species in most parts of America. Multiplying wherever elections are held, they quickly become almost impossible to eradicate. Their highly repetitive and shrill calls tend to infect the songs of other species (especially those of the North American journalist and the closely related common pundit), until it becomes difficult to pick out the cry of the demagogue from the calls of those around him. Although demagogues can breed in almost any environment, they much prefer democracy and proliferate among a relatively apathetic and narcissistic population.

No one has yet devised an effective means for ending demagogue infestation, but some believe that they can be controlled through the introduction of a competitor species, the North American leader. This species can sometimes be recognized by its very unusual song, especially by refrains of “Ask not what your country can do for you,” and “I believe the majority of Americans are wrong about this.” However, only a character test can prove conclusively that a leader (which resembles the demagogue superficially) is present.

Unfortunately, a North American leader has not been positively identified in some years, and many specialists have concluded that the species has long been extinct.

Know Before You Go

Do you remember those dark days when well-read travelers were forced to learn about their future destinations from brisk summaries in the backs of geography books and ominous-looking brochures that appeared in the mail? Be prepared to forget.

On September 24, the Travel Magazine section of the New York Times ran an article on how to spend 24 hours in the “real” Los Angeles. The piece aimed to point naive out-of-towners towards the best of old Hollywood as well as some of the newer locales favored by celebrities. It also gave a suggested reading list for those wanting to freshen up on their LA history. Among such classics as You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again and City of Quartz, UC Press’s new title Pop LA: Art and the City in the 1960s was listed at number two.

Two more recently released UC Press titles join Pop LA in seeking to educate travelers beyond ordinary guidebooks. Designed for the international art tourist, Destination Art is the first comprehensive look at more than two hundred major modern and contemporary art sites around the world. In addition to listing practical information, such as directions to the sites and admission fees, this lushly illustrated book includes essays exploring fifty key destinations in depth.

Those more history-inclined travelers who are heading to Rome might want to grab the upcoming Rome and Environs: An Archaelogical Guide, which brings the masterful native scholarship of Filippo Coarelli to an English-language audience for the first time, complete with plenty of maps.

Being an educated tourist will never be the same.