⚡ 60 Seconds That Changed History | Spartacus Escapes Rome From the book “The 20 Greatest Escapes in History” by Speedy History. In 73 BC, a Thracian slave named Spartacus escaped a gladiator school in Capua with only a handful of fighters and improvised weapons. Within months, that escape would ignite the most dangerous slave rebellion Rome had ever faced. The revolt that followed became known as the Third Servile War, and for a brief moment the Roman Republic faced an army of tens of thousands