WI: Eunus and Cleon win the first Servile War?

[Maburo]

In all of history, there has only ever been one succesful slave rebellion, in Haiti. What would the effects of a succesful slave rebellino 2000 years earlier be?
Could the slaves have ever succesfully kicked the Romans out of Sicily?
If they had, what would happen? What sort of society would these multiethnic former slaves form on the island of Sicily?
Would they be able to defend themselves from the inevitable future Roman attacks?
What sort of foreign relations may this Sicilian Slave Kingdom have? Could it find allies in Rome's enemies?
What effect would this have in Rome itself? Would other slaves be able to succesfully follow this example? Would the roman response be to offer compromises, or to brutally clamp down? Would this lead to any significant changes within Roman society and economy?

All thoughts more than welcome!

 

[Falecius]

The Romans in this time, well, they... Did. Not. Compromise. Ever.
A Rebel Kingdom in one of the their richest and more strategically critical provinces, One sitting right astride their logistical network? They'd happily consider genocide, but never peace.

 

[Maburo]

The Romans in this time, well, they... Did. Not. Compromise. Ever.
A Rebel Kingdom in one of the their richest and more strategically critical provinces, One sitting right astride their logistical network? They'd happily consider genocide, but never peace.

The Punic wars suggest asich true.. But does their tenacity necessarily translate to victory? It would certainly be difficult, but, is it imposible for the slaves to defend their island, at least until some other foreign threat takes Rome's attention?

 

[Falecius]

The Punic wars suggest asich true.. But does their tenacity necessarily translate to victory? It would certainly be difficult, but, is it imposible for the slaves to defend their island, at least until some other foreign threat takes Rome's attention?

Given the overall correlation of forces, I'd think that, while the slaves could certainly give the Romans quite the fight, Roman defeat would be exceedingly unlikely. Only a near-collapse of the Republic across the board, with the likely loss of about all the provinces _at least_ would make Slave Sicily even vaguely safe. Barring that, Rome will keep throwing fleet after fleet, legion after legion at Sicily until, again, either victory (and they'd be really merciless in victory here) or material utter inability to continue, that is, collapse or near-collapse. And I don't see the latter as likely.

 

[ajkippen]

I have to agree that the survival of such a state is extremely unlikely. Sicily is simply too close to home and strategically valuable for Rome to ever consider giving it up, and an independent slave republic right next door would terrify the Roman elite for the exact same reason the Haitian revolution terrified the elite of the American south. Whether out of pride, fear, or strategic considerations, the Romans would not rest until the slaves had been subjugated again, or Rome no longer existed.