Gaius Claudius Glaber was a Roman praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

 and legatus

Legatus

A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...

 in 73 BC. He tried but failed to hem in Spartacus

Spartacus

Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...

 and his fellow slaves on Mt. Vesuvius during the Third Servile War

Third Servile War

The Third Servile War , also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last of a series of unrelated and unsuccessful slave rebellions against the Roman Republic, known collectively as the Roman Servile Wars...

. The rebels were trapped by a narrow passage, the only way leading up. Without the Roman cohorts knowing, Spartacus and his men scaled down the cliff by using vines for ropes. They in turn attacked Glaber's 3,000 men from behind and by surprise routing them.

In popular culture

• John Dall
  John Dall
  John Dall was an American actor.Primarily a stage actor, he is best remembered today for two film roles; the cool-minded intellectual killer in Alfred Hitchcock's film Rope, and the trigger-happy lead in the 1950 noir Gun Crazy.He first came to fame as the young prodigy who comes alive under the...
  
  's character Glabrus in the film Spartacus
  Spartacus (film)
  Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
  
  (1960) was loosely based on Glaber.
• Ben Cross
  Ben Cross
  Ben Cross is a British actor of the stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.-Early life:...
  
   played Titus Glaber based on Claudius Glaber in the television miniseries adaption, Spartacus
  Spartacus (2004 film)
  Spartacus is a 2004 North American Movie directed by Robert Dornhelm and produced by Ted Kurdyla from a teleplay by Robert Schenkkan. It stars Goran Visjnic, Alan Bates, Angus Macfadyen, Rhona Mitra, Ian McNeice, Ross Kemp and Ben Cross. It is based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
  
  (2004), of the Howard Fast
  Howard Fast
  Howard Melvin Fast was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.-Early life:Fast was born in New York City...
  
   novel of the same name.
• Glaber was portrayed by Craig Parker
  Craig Parker
  Craig Parker is a New Zealand actor who was based in the United Kingdom for some time, but now resides in New Zealand. His grandfather moved from Edinburgh, Scotland to Fiji when he was stationed during his years of service in the British Army...
  
   in the television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand
  Spartacus: Blood and Sand
  Spartacus: Blood and Sand is a Starz television series that premiered on January 22, 2010. The series is inspired by the historical figure of Spartacus , a Thracian gladiator who from 73 to 71 BC led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Executive producers Steven S...
  
  (2010).

Selected ancient Sources

• Sallust, Histories 3.90-93 Maurenbrecher.
• Livy, Periochae 95.
• Plutarch, Crassus 8-9.
• Frontinus, Strategemata 1.5.21.
• Appian, Civil Wars 1.116.
• Florus, Epitome 2.8.4
• Some of these sources are available in English translation from the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/3slaverevolttexts.htm).