I am Spartacus!

14. Forest of Sila

Roma, Lazio

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Now trapped in the toe of Italy, Spartacus' troops made camp on the edges of the Forest of Sila, and it was here that Crassus found them. To keep his troops occupied and to prevent Spartacus' army from being able to successfully forage for food, he decided to contain the enemy behind a defensive wall. Outside Rhegium, the Romans set about building a 32-mile stone wall, topped with wooden palisades to defend a 15-foot wide ditch. Spartacus hatched a plan to further increase his force and hopefully break out of Southern Italy by crossing to Sicily and raising an army of slaves on the island. He met with a group of Sicilian pirates who agreed to transport Spartacus and 2,000 of his men across the straits. However, even though he had paid the pirates a vast sum of money and treasure, upon reaching the agreed departure point the rebel leader found that the pirates had tricked him. They had reneged on the deal, taken the money and left Spartacus and his men stranded. A disconsolate Spartacus then met up with his main force again north of Rhegium, who were now effectively under siege and cut off from any source of food and supplies. Things took a turn for the worse with the news that General Pompey and his legions were returning over land, having successfully put down riots by the troublesome Spanish, and that Marcus Licinius Lucullius, with his battle-hardened troops from Macedonia, had landed at the port of Brundisium. This focused the minds of both leaders. Spartacus didn't want to face the might of two battle-hardened Roman armies, while Crassus was determined that Lucullius and Pompey wouldn't steal the glory of victory from him.