When the gladiators of Lentulus Batiatus broke out of Capua in 73 BC they chose three leaders, and Oenomaus was the third. Appian names him with Crixus as Spartacus's lieutenants; Orosius says he was a Gaul, as Crixus was. He carries a Greek name from myth, the name of a king of Pisa who raced his daughter's suitors to death, and it was almost certainly a stage name given to him in the school.
That is all that is recorded of him before the war, and his death is nearly all that is recorded of him during it. Orosius says he was killed early, in one of the first engagements against the forces sent from Rome, before the revolt had become a war. Which engagement, and against which commander, is not said.
Why he matters anyway
Oenomaus is the honest measure of how thin the record is. Of the three men chosen to lead the most famous slave revolt in history, one has a legend, one has a battle, and one has a sentence. For every gladiator whose name survives there were thousands whose names were never written down, and most of the men in any school were closer to Oenomaus than to Spartacus.
Sources
- Appian, Civil Wars 1.116.
- Orosius, Histories 5.24.
Checked against the sources on 2026-09-07. Where two ancient authors give different numbers, both are given.