The individuals who led the rebel slaves play a large role in the accounts of the better documented slave revolts from antiquity, so it is necessary to look at how these men are represented in our texts. I want to look at how they assumed their role, what kind of characters they had and how effective they were depicted as being. The descriptions we possess almost certainly reflect the prejudices and preconceptions, as well as the ideals, of the writers who portrayed them, but rather than dismiss all accounts as mere fiction, it is interesting to see why some of the individuals are presented as positively as they are. A heroic slave leader might be the norm for a modern writer but it is not what we might expect from ancient writers, who generally, as has often been noted, do not question the necessity of slavery, which is now regarded as unacceptable in a civilized society.

For Spartacus, the most famous slave leader of them all, Plutarch and Appian give different accounts of the start of his command. Plutarch gives us the version that records how at first 200 gladiators had planned to escape but their plan was discovered and only seventy carried it out. Once free and seizing some gladiatorial weapons they chose three leaders, the most important of them being Spartacus.