entry
June 2010
The Sele River, Hannibal & Spartacus
Rivers of
Campania of c.60+km
1. Sele 2. Volturno
3.
Tanagro
4.Calore
5. Garigliano
The Sele river (n.1, right) starts at 420
meters (1,400 feet) above sea-level in the town of
Caposele near Avellino and runs SW for 64 km (40 miles) to
empty into the Gulf of Salerno near Paestum.
(The red line on the map, right, indicates the approximate
route.) On the way, the Sele flows through two Campanian
provinces: Avellino and Salerno. It picks up a number of
tributaries along the way; thus, in spite of its
relatively short length (5 or 6 rivers in Campania are
longer) in terms of average water discharge of southern
Italian rivers, it is second only to the Volturno.
Although the Sele runs SW, the headwaters of the Sele also
feed the Apulian Aqueduct by an
ingenious bit of engineering that carries the Puglia-bound
water back across the watershed so it flows onto the
eastern side of the Apennines.In ancient times, the river was known as the Silarus, and the area near Caposele was the site of two important battles in Roman military history. The first was the Battle of Silarus (in 212 BC) during the Second Punic War. Hannibal managed to remain unbeaten on Italian soil (for all the good it eventually did him) by destroying the entire Roman army sent against him. Most sources say that of 16,000 Roman soldiers in the battle, only 1,000 survived.
The second battle was the last stand of Spartacus, the leader of the most famous slave rebellion in Roman history. In 73 BC, Spartacus, a slave-gladiator escaped with about 70 others and eventually wound up leading an army of about 100,000. They defeated Roman forces on a number of occasions, including one battle on Mt. Vesuvius (at the time, inactive) during which Spartacus' army, apparently trapped in the crater, made ladders from twisted vines, climbed out and down the other side of the crater during the night, and came around and up on the Roman attackers from the rear. Two years later, the rebellion had run its course, and the slave army was decisively beaten near Caposele and a town named Senerchia. Sources say that 6000 slaves were taken prisoner by the Roman army and crucified along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome. In spite of fictional accounts, there is no evidence that Spartacus, himself, was one of the prisoners. He most likely died in the battle, although there is a great legend that he and his lady fled to a cave in nearby Castelcivita, where they perished together.
To which friend Warren adds:
Based on our limited experience, everyone dies. But insurance tables are open ended making way for someone who might not kick the bucket as soon as others in the same birth cohort do. From there, it's a mere hop, skip, and a jump to saying Spartacus and his Lady, or some other favored pair, lacking conclusive evidence to the contrary, are alive and well still.
I
like that.
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