The Third Servile War , also called the Gladiator War and The War of Spartacus by Plutarch , was the last of several unsuccessful slave rebellions against the Roman Republic . The Third Servile War ( 73-71 BC ) , 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 .