It was from this school that, in 73 BC, the Thracian slave Spartacus and about 70 to 78 followers escaped.
The breakout led to the slave rebellion known as the Third Servile War (73–71 BC).
[1] Ronald Syme also agreed that the name "Batiatus" was surely a corruption of "Vatia".
Gaius Servilius Vatia the praetor in 102 BC may have been his adoptive father.
[7] Ian McNeice played "Batiatus" in the 2004 television adaptation Spartacus.