After the third slave uprising of Rome a hundred thousand men lay dead on the battlefield another six thousand slaves were crucified along the appian way and left for months to rot as carrion for the crows also they were a lesson for anyone else minded to rebel against the might of Rome ; the appian way at that time was a freeway into the capital city . Strange to think that there are still 40 million slaves in the world today , Africa and Asia carrying the most at twenty five million , in the height of British Empire's slaving days it transported nine hundred thousand so as you can see this terrible trade is obviously still thriving and increasing in our supposedly modern and civilised 21st century.