Stanley Kubrick · 1960 · overland

Stanley Kubrick's 1960 epic. A slave from the Libyan mines is bought for a gladiator school at Capua, kills his first man in the arena and leads a breakout that becomes an army. The revolt sweeps the length of Italy toward a fleet at Brundisium that never comes - and ends on the Appian Way, with six thousand crosses between Capua and Rome.

1. 1
   Libya

   Spartacus is worked to the edge of death in the Libyan mines and bought there by Batiatus for his gladiator school - a slave since birth, sold for the entertainment value of watching him fight other men to a finish.

2. 2
   Capua

   At the ludus in Capua the men are trained in pairs and taught not to speak - until a private exhibition for Roman guests ends with a Ethiopian gladiator throwing his trident at the spectators, and the school rises.

3. 3
   Vesuvius

   The escaped gladiators camp on the slopes of Vesuvius and are joined by slaves from every estate in Campania, until the band is an army with women and children in it, and Spartacus finds himself leading a nation.

4. 4
   Brundisium

   The plan is to march the length of Italy to Brundisium and buy passage out on Cilician ships - but Rome buys the pirates off first, and the army arrives at the coast to find the harbour empty and the legions closing behind them.

5. 5
   The Appian Way

   The revolt is broken in battle, and Crassus crucifies the survivors along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome - six thousand crosses, and Spartacus on the last of them, watching his wife carry his free-born son past.