“…the space between the mountains is nowhere wider than about three miles. Much of the valley is hilly; the widest stretch of plain is about two miles wide. The valley ends dramatically in the south, where the curtain wall of mountains stops abruptly at the plain, leaving Silarus to flow toward the sea over its middle and lower courses. As one looks back…the mountains seems to retreat gracefully from each other at the valley’s entrance, only to throw up a rock wall again where the river turns.
Green and well watered, the valley’s air is fresh but humid…It might look as much like upstate New York or Quebec as the Mediterranean if not for the many groves of olive trees. No doubt slaves tended them in Roman times. If one enters the valley from the plain, past the hot springs of Contursi Terme (modern name), one smells the unmistakable odor of sulfur. About ten miles to the north sits the town of Oliveto Citra, on a hill over-looking the river.
Oliveto Citra claims the honor of being the site of Spartacus’ last battle.”
~ Excerpted from The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss (Hardcover - Mar 17, 2009)