Crixus (died 72 BC) was a Gallic gladiator and military leader in the Third Servile War between the Roman Republic and rebel slaves.
[2][3] In 73BC, Crixus was part of what started as a small slave revolt in the gladiatorial training school of Lentulus Batiatus in Capua, in which about 70 gladiators escaped.
The escaped slaves defeated a small force sent to recapture them, then made camp on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.
For reasons that are unclear, Crixus and about 30,000 followers appear to have separated from Spartacus and the main body of escaped slaves toward the end of 73 BC.
Both accounts by Appian and Plutarch state that after Spartacus defeated Lentulus, he turned back and attacked an army behind him.