" Slavery, to begin with, was an important part of Rome’s economy."

July 22, 2016 10:05 AM

King, magician, general … slave: Eunus and the First Servile War against Rome, Mike Dash
posted by the man of twists and turns (8 comments total)

Interesting article, thanks for posting. Had never heard of Eunus before.
posted by Fence at 10:43 AM on July 22, 2016

I think the moral of the story is, if you force your underclass to become heavily armed brigands who must live by murder and theft to survive,while you administer constant cruelty on top, it will not end well for you. No matter how heavily imbued they are with the social system they were born into.
posted by Devonian at 12:41 PM on July 22, 2016

LOVE MIKE DASH
posted by josher71 at 1:03 PM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Interesting article, thanks for posting. Had never heard of Eunus before.

There's a remark somewhere in George Orwell about how terrifying it is that, out of millions of slaves in antiquity, only a handful of names are remembered or known.
posted by thelonius at 2:45 PM on July 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

it seems, the Sicily of the second century B.C. was a lethally dangerous place for a stranger to be. We are told that the whole island was “full of murder."

Has this changed? Ever?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:49 PM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

There's a remark somewhere in George Orwell about how terrifying it is that, out of millions of slaves in antiquity, only a handful of names are remembered or known.

I was struck as a child that how few names are known from any age. And that I too would likely be unremembered within 100 years. I was kind of a dark kid.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:50 PM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

To my disappointment a cursory search finds no reference to Eunus in the works of David Brion Davis, yet surely this lesson of Roman history undergirds so much of American history.

A secondary observation: 'He breathed out sparks and fire as he spoke, “as from a burning lamp” – an effect that he supposedly produced by concealing a hollow nut-shell with holes drilled in it in his mouth, and filling it with “sulphur and with fire.”'

Surely , then Eunus, who apparently although quite unsupported by any etymological documentation I could find either lent or took his slave-name from the word or referent "eunuch" must be the prefigurator of GRRM's GoT playa known as Varys. The article dodges the issue but notes that Eunus' probable faith practice included violent public self-castration).
posted by mwhybark at 6:34 PM on July 22, 2016

Arguing somewhere else on the internet today it struck me that Ancient Rome was something of an analogue to The Hunger Games, not just a future dystopia, with the large idle urban capital population(s) dependent on the provinces for food.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 7:22 PM on July 22, 2016