French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Schiavone, À la recherche de Spartacus
History, Politics and Society
Aldo Schiavone, À la recherche de Spartacus
Paris: Belin, coll. "L'antiquité au présent", 2014.
EAN 9782701161174.
158 p.
Price 19EUR
Publisher's overview:
The figure of Spartacus has passed into Western legend; a gladiator and condottiere, rebel and prophet, he has inspired memorable works in literature and cinema. However, Aldo Schiavone's book is not just another study on the myth of Spartacus. It is a biographical narrative, an investigation conducted as close as possible to the facts by confronting the scarce sources of ancient tradition that mention the man who led the most famous and threatening slave revolt in antiquity. In the Rome of the 70s BC, slavery—an omnipresent practice at the heart of the Roman economic "miracle"—was at its peak throughout the empire. It was then that a single man attempted to shake the Republic at the height of its power. Against this backdrop, which restores the full historical significance of Spartacus's enterprise, unfolds the gripping account of a daring adventure rich in twists and turns.
Aldo Schiavone, legal historian and specialist in Roman antiquity, is the author of numerous works, three of which have been translated by Belin: L'Histoire brisée (2003), IUS ou l'invention du droit en Occident (2009)—several times reprinted and released in paperback—and Histoire et destin (2009). Translated by Geneviève Bouffartigue
The study of ancient slavery and the rebellions that challenged classical Mediterranean empires forms a long-standing branch of historical and historiographical inquiry. Aldo Schiavone situates his biographical narrative within this broader tradition of examining the social and economic structures of Rome during the first century BC. By focusing on the scarce documentary evidence surviving from antiquity, the work engages with the methodological challenges inherent in writing about figures whose historical reality has been largely obscured by subsequent myth-making and cultural reception.
Readers interested in the history of Roman antiquity, ancient economic systems, and the historiography of slave revolts in the ancient world may find this volume relevant to their inquiries. The text reconstructs the context of the Roman Republic at the peak of its power, addressing the conditions of slavery that underpinned its economic structures and the momentous challenge posed by Spartacus and his followers.