Second Servile War

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Second Servile War
partof=the Servile Wars


caption=
date=104– 100 BC
place=Sicily
territory=None
result=Roman victory
combatant1=Roman Republic
combatant2=Slaves of Sicily
commander1=Manius Aquilius, consul
commander2=Salvius,
Athenion

The Second Servile War was an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic on the island of Sicily. The war lasted from 104 BC until 100 BC.

The Consul Gaius Marius was recruiting for his, eventually successful, war against the Cimbri in Cisalpine Gaul. He requested support from Nicomedes, King of Bithynia. Additional troops were not supplied due to the claim that contracted Roman tax collectors had enslaved those unable to pay. Marius decreed that allied/friendly freemen should be released if they were in Roman slavery.

Around 800 slaves were released from Sicily, leading to many others leaving their masters in order to seek their own freedom. The war broke out when they were ordered back by the Governor. A slave by the name of Salvius was following in the footsteps of Eunus, fighting for his rights and elected leader of this rebellion. He assumed the name Tryphon, from Diodotus Tryphon, a Seleucid ruler.

He amassed an army containing thousands of trained and equipped slaves, including 2,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, and was joined by a Cicilian named Athenion and his men from the west of Sicily. The Roman consul Manius Aquilius quelled the revolt only after great effort. It was the second of a series of three slave revolts in the Roman Republic, but fuelled by the same slave abuse in Sicily and Southern Italy.