Back in Egypt, Moses met his brother, Aaron, and they went before the leaders of Israel to gain their allegiance. Then they went to the pharaoh and demanded that he release the Israelites for a three-day religious festival in the desert. Pharaoh was at first amused and then annoyed. He made Israelites' workload greater by refusing to provide them with straw for their bricks.
Exodus records that God “hardened Pharaoh's heart.” Nothing Moses and Aaron did seemed to soften it. God sent a series of misfortunes, or plagues (PLAYGZ) against Egypt, each
The Roman economy was based on slavery, and the idea of a slave revolt threatened the very foundations of their system. The rebellion lasted two years, by which time Rome had brought in one of is most influential generals, Crassus (KRA-suhs; c. 115-53 b. c.), as well as one of its ablest, Pompey (PAHM-pee; 106-48 b. c.). In the end it was Crassus who secured the victory, fighting the rebels to the tip of Italy, where they had hoped to board boats for Sicily or Africa. Spartacus died fighting.
It was perhaps a better way to die: the slaves taken prisoner in that last battle of what came to be known as the Gladiatorial War (73-71 b. c.) were
Crucified. The bodies of some 6,000 men hung every 100 paces along the more than 90 miles (144.8 kilometers) of the Appian (AP-ee-uhn) Way from Capua to Rome.
The Gladiatorial War, by bringing together Pompey and Crassus, helped lead to the formation of the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar (see entry) just a few years later. As for slavery in Rome, it did not so much end as it faded away. Once Rome stopped making overseas conquests in the A. D. 100s, it no longer had a source for slaves. As its economy declined, few people could afford to keep them. Feudalism eventually took the place of slavery.
Worse than the one before; each time, the pharaoh's resistance simply increased.
Then came the tenth and worst plague, the killing of all the Egyptians' firstborn sons—just as the earlier pharaoh had tried to kill the Israelites' sons. On the night when this happened, the Israelites protected themselves from the angel of death by placing the blood of a lamb on the frames of their front doors; then they ate a solemn feast. This was called the Passover, still celebrated by Jews to commemorate the way that God passed over their houses and did not take their sons.
World History
