Who they were
Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who led the largest slave revolt against the Roman Republic.
What they did
In 73 BC he escaped a gladiator school at Capua and led a growing army of escaped slaves that defeated several Roman forces across Italy in the Third Servile War (73-71 BC). He was defeated and killed by Crassus in 71 BC, and thousands of his followers were crucified along the Appian Way.
Legacy
Little about him is known for certain, but he became a lasting symbol of resistance to oppression, invoked by later revolutionaries and popularized by novels and film.