The young Julius Caesar is serving on board a war galley, gaining a fearsome reputation. Then his ship is captured and he is abandoned on the North African coast. After gathering a legion of men powerful enough to gain vengeance on his captors and to suppress an uprising in Greece, he returns to Rome a hero.

At the moment of his triumph, Julius finds he must fight again. A savage rebellion threatens the city, led by a gladiator named Spartacus …