The Second Servile War was an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Roman Republic on the island of Sicily. The war lasted from 104 BC until 100 BC. The Consul Gaius Marius was recruiting for his, eventually successful, war against the Cimbri in Cisalpine Gaul. He requested support from Nicomedes, King of Bithynia. Additional troops were not supplied due to the claim that contracted Roman tax collectors had enslaved those unable to pay. Marius decreed that allied/friendly freemen should be released if they were in Roman slavery. Around 800 slaves were released from Sicily, leading to many others leaving their masters in order to seek their own freedom. The war broke out when they were ordered back by the Governor. A slave by the name of Salvius was following in the footsteps of Eunus, fighting for his rights and elected leader of this rebellion. He assumed the name Tryphon, from Diodotus Tryphon, a Seleucid ruler. He amassed an army containing of thousands of trained and equipped slaves, including 2,000 cavalry units and 20,000 infantry. The Roman consul Manius Aquilius quelled the revolt only after great effort. It was the second of a series of three slave revolts in the Roman Republic, but fuelled by the same slave abuse in Sicily and Southern Italy. Like earlier populist movements, such as those of Tiberius Gracchus and his brother Gaius Gracchus, this slave revolt was driven by the Roman ideals of freedom and liberty that were prevalent amongst the Senatorial class.
