Sandanski, Bulgaria

 -          Spartacus was born in about the 110^th year BC in Thrace. He was a Thracian form the Maedi tribe which lived along the middle stream of river Strymon  (Struma). The town of Sandanski (Bulgaria) is considered to be the place of his birth;

-          In 73 BC Spartacus organized and realized the biggest servile rebellion in Ancient Rome. An interesting fact is that in the ancient books the rebellion is not referred as  ‘a rebellion of the slaves’ but ‘a war of the gladiators’;

-          From 73 to 71 BC Spartacus was a leader of the rebellion. Under his command the rebels took part in three major battles against the Roman army: in the first battle against the consuls they won; in the second one they were defeated but managed to retreat to Rhegium; in the third battle they were totally defeated;

-          It is believed that Spartacus was killed in 73 BC in the battle near river Silar. Plutarch wrote that Spartacus showed extraordinary bravery and warrior skills in the final battle. In the heat of the battle Spartacus headed for Crassus but after killing two centurions he was pierced in the tight and  put to death;

-          All ancient authors personally recognized the organizational, leader and human skills of Spartacus by calling him a half Hellene which was quite a big glorification back then. 

• The valley of Struma in the Antiquity
• The alternative story of Spartacus
• Spartacus