Breaching the wall

Spartacus was a Thracian slave and gladiator, born in around 103 B.C.E. in what is now Bulgaria, about whose early years (despite several movies and books giving lots of lurid detail) little is known for certain.  He may have been conscripted into the Roman army -- certainly he knew a great deal about fighting and tactics -- but ultimately ran afoul with the notoriously harsh Roman discipline and was forced into slavery.  His physical prowess made it inevitable he'd be chosen as a gladiator, an occupation that could on occasion win you renown and eventual freedom, but much more frequently ended up with your dying a painful death in front of a large, cheering audience.

Spartacus by sculptor Dénis Foyatier (1830) [Image licensed under the Creative Commons Spartacus statue by Dénis Foyatier, CC BY-SA 3.0]

Spartacus was having none of it, and in 73 B.C.E. he escaped confinement with about seventy other gladiators.  Soon their ranks were joined by an estimated seventy thousand slaves and poor people, which began the Third Servile War, a conflict Voltaire referred to as "the only just war in history."  They held out for two years -- no mean feat -- by this time, swelling their numbers to 120,000, before the inevitable happened.  The Roman army, under Marcus Licinius Crassus, defeated Spartacus's forces at the Battle of Lucania in 73 B.C.E.  Spartacus himself was killed in the battle (although his body was never found, leading to rampant speculation, lo unto this very day, that he somehow escaped).  In a way, even if he was killed during the fighting it was damned lucky for him, because after the battle ended six thousand of his compatriots were crucified along the Appian Way, surely one of the most horrific and cruel means of execution ever devised.

The Death of Spartacus by Hermann Vogel (1882) [Image is in the Public Domain]

For what it's worth, Crassus got what he deserved in the end.  In 53 B.C.E. he died at the disastrous (from the Roman perspective, anyhow) Battle of Carrhae, by one account being held down and having molten gold poured down his throat.

Man, they did know how to come up with some creatively gruesome ideas, back then.

The reason Spartacus comes up is because of a story over at Smithsonian Magazine about an archaeological find in Calabria, the "toe of Italy's boot" -- a three-kilometer-long stone wall running alongside what appears to be a deep military ditch, and nearby, obvious remnants of a battle, such as broken iron sword handles, curved blades, javelin points, and spearheads.  The types of artifacts are consistent with production during the late Republic, which is right about the same time as the Third Servile War occurred.

In fact, Andrea Maria Gennaro, superintendent of archaeology for the Italian Ministry of Culture, who worked at the site, believes that the wall and ditch were built to contain Spartacus and his fellow rebels, but that there is a spot on the wall that shows sign of a breach.  It's known that the rebellious slave army did fight battles against the Roman army in the region -- and more than once succeeded, before finally being overwhelmed and defeated in Lucania, forty kilometers south of Naples.  Gennaro thinks this very spot might have been the site of one of those breaches by the famous rebel.

Part of the stone wall thought to have been part of the defense against Spartacus and the rebels [Image credit: Andrea Maria Gennaro]

"We started studying weapons recovered along the wall, and the closest comparisons are with weapons from the late Republican period," she said.  "We believe we have identified the site of the clash...  The wall is a sort of barrier due to its topographic location and other factors, like the absence of gates.  It divides the entire large flat area into two parts...  When we realized what it was, it was very exciting.  It's not every day you get to experience history first-hand."

I was struck by that palpable sense of history beneath my feet the entire time I was in Italy two months ago.  Mind you, there's history everywhere in the world; right here where I now live, the Seneca and Cayuga Nations and their ancestors thrived for thousands of years.  But there are few places in the world with as many tangible traces of antiquity as in Italy.

And now we have one with a direct connection to one of the most famous figures from the Roman Republic -- someone who is still held up as an inspiration to those fighting against oppression and servitude.  Even though Spartacus and his rebels ultimately failed -- certainly, the practice of slavery in Rome continued unabated afterward -- seeing the wall that they breached over two thousand years ago still acts as a symbol of brave men and women willing to put their lives on the line to be free.

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The tale of a troublemaker

One of the things that resonates about the best fiction is its ability to point us in the direction of truths that somehow transcend the mundane factual reality that surrounds us every day.  I know that there are books that have changed my life and my worldview permanently, twisting my perception around and leaving me fundamentally altered afterward.  The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.  The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin.  1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

These kinds of books may not come along often, but when they do, they can leave you reeling.  As science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany put it, "Fiction isn't just thinking about the world out there.  It's also thinking about how that world might be -- a particularly important exercise for those who are oppressed, because if they're going to change the world we live in, they -- and all of us -- have to be able to think about a world that works differently."

This quote immediately came to mind when I read the new book by Andrew Butters (that I was privileged enough to have a copy of prior to release), Known Order Girls.

The story's protagonist is Katherine Webb, a teenage girl who has grown up as part of the "Known Order" -- a programmed society where everything is run by a sentient AI called Commander.  Commander is the ostensibly benevolent dictator that keeps everything stable, making sure the trains are on time and the economy hums along -- and that each man, woman, and child knows exactly what their place is.

And stays there.

But Katherine is too smart for her own good, and sees that the rules that keep the society stable are also a straitjacket to creativity and growth and individuality.  So she starts to rebel -- in small ways, at first.  The penalties for breaking the Known Order are dramatic and terrifying.  But soon she finds out that the price for compliance might be higher still.

I can honestly say that I have seldom met a protagonist whom I was so invested in, whom I so deeply wanted to win the day.  I won't spoil the story by giving you any details other than a suggestion that there are points you'll want to have plenty of tissues handy.  Stories with teenage main characters are usually targeted toward the Young Adult market, but this is a novel that can (and should) be read by all ages.

In an interesting synchronicity, while I was making dinner yesterday evening, I had my iTunes going, and the wonderful song "I Was Born" by Hanson popped up.

The lyrics immediately put me in mind of Katherine Webb's fight against the monolithic control of Commander.  Sometimes there are people who are born to go places no one's ever gone, do something no one's ever done, and be someone no one's ever been; after reading Known Order Girls, I think you'll agree that Katherine is one of those.

This story is one of those infrequent deeply moving, wildly inspiring tales, reminding us that one determined, defiant troublemaker can indeed change the world for the better.

Do yourself a favor.  Get yourself a copy of Known Order Girls by Andrew Butters.  I promise you won't regret it.

Better still, buy a copy for every teenager you know.  There are features of our own Known Order that could use some defiance right about now.

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