Kawada Shogo
Legionary
posted 26 June 2017 13:46
EDT (US)
4 / 5
It might be that Batiatus Latinized his name, but chances are he already had it. Apparently there were several Thracian and Pontic kings that had the same name ("Spartakos" or "Sparadakos" or other variations). The book I have about him ("The Spartacus War" by Barry Strauss) doesn't mention Batiatus giving him the name or suggest the possibility. When he was sentenced to slavery he was a grown man, since he was a former auxiliary as you said, so it's likely that he kept the name he already had.
Of course we can't know with absolute certainty, since this was so long ago and little of Spartacus's life is known for certain. But I think the evidence points to him having it as a Thracian name before he was enslaved.