Best tv shows like Spartacus: Gods of the Arena
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Before Spartacus struck down his first opponent in the arena, there were many gladiators who passed through the gates onto the sand.'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' tells the story of the original Champion of the House of Batiatus: Gannicus in a more ruthless time before Spartacus' arrival where honor was just finding its way into the arena.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 144000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 331 min
Plot tags: exciting, epic, serious, realistic, stylized, rough, suspense, factual, sexy, tense
Best tv shows and movies like Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011):
Similar in 83%
Julius Caesar (2002)
Plot Summary:
Twenty year-old Julius Caesar flees Rome for his life during the reign of Sulla but through skill and ambition rises four decades later to become Rome's supreme dictator.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Netherlands, Italy, Germany, USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, captivating, stylized, historical drama, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Arena (1974)
Plot Summary:
Female gladiators fight to the death. Inspired by the story of Spartacus, follow the adventures of a bevy of slave girls who, upon finding themselves thrust into the gladiator ring, mount a vicious rebellion to fight their way to freedom.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: stylized, rough, serious, realistic, psychotronic, grindhouse, political, sexy, independent film, cult film
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The Antagonists (1981)
Plot Summary:
After the destruction of the Second Temple, 900 Jewish zealots hold out against a 5000 man Roman legion on the mountaintop fortress of Masada.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 394 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, tense, serious, biblical, political thriller, mythical, realistic, epic
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The Bastard Executioner (2015)
Plot Summary:
A blood-soaked, medieval epic that tells the story of Wilkin Brattle, a 14th century warrior, whose life is forever changed when a divine messenger beseeches him to lay down his sword and lead the life of another man: a journeyman executioner. Set in northern Wales during a time rife with rebellion and political upheaval, Wilkin must walk a tight rope between protecting his true identity while also serving a mysterious destiny. Guided by Annora, a mystical healer whose seeming omniscience keeps Wilkin under her sway; manipulated by Milus Corbett, a devious Chamberlain with grand political aspirations; and driven by a deepening connection with the Baroness Lady Love, Wilkin struggles to navigate political, emotional and supernal pitfalls in his quest to understand his greater purpose.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: bleak, historical drama, rough, melancholic, costume drama, epic, mystic
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Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (2007)
Plot Summary:
A look at Genghis Khan's life, from his birth to conquests in Asia.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 898
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, epic
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Barbarians Rising (2016)
Plot Summary:
Told from the perspective of the rebel leaders, the series chronicles a wave of rebellions against absolute power by those the Roman Empire called “barbarians” – tribes they viewed as beyond the fringe of civilization that lived a brutish and violent existence. But these also were men and women who launched epic struggles that shaped the world to come with a centuries-long fight to defeat the sprawling empire.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Documentary, Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, semi documentary
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Cleopatra (1999)
Plot Summary:
Cleopatra, the famed Egyptian Queen born in 69 B.C., is shown to have been brought by Roman ruler Julius Caesar at age 18. Caesar becomes sexually obsessed by the 18 year old queen, beds her, and eventually has a son by her. However, his Roman followers and his wife are not pleased by the union. In fact, as Caesar has only a daughter by his wife, he had picked Octavian as his successor. The out-of-wedlock son of Cleopatra is seen to be a threat to his future leadership. Thus Brutus and other Roman legislators plot the assassination of Caesar. Caesar's loyal general, Marc Antony, and Octavian then divide up the Roman empire. Antony takes Egypt and soon takes up the affair with Cleopatra. However, Octavian soon launches an attack on Antony and ultimately defeats and mortally wounds him. Rather than permitting herself to be humiliated by Octavian, Cleopatra sends her son away to India and she commits suicide by permitting the deadly asp to bite her.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags: historical drama, fairy tale, costume drama, epic, serious, captivating, stylized, period drama
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Plot Summary:
About the struggle between the Roman Empire and its rebellious conquest Judaea, and two best friends caught in a terrible moment in history.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: UK, Germany, Spain, Canada, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, epic, captivating, historical drama, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
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Helen of Troy (2003)
Plot Summary:
When Paris of Troy abducts the beautiful Helen, wife of Spartan King Menelaus, the trojan war begins.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: exciting, semi serious, captivating, tense, fairy tale, romantic, historical drama, surprise ending, epic, period drama
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The Arena (2001)
Plot Summary:
In an age of Gladiators, the power that was Rome held its empire together with the might of its armies, the sweat and tears of its conquests, and the cheers and bloodlust of its citizens - glorified in the deadly spectacle of The Arena. Stolen from their homelands, the fiery Druid maiden Bodicia, exotic slave girl Jessemina, and the powerful barbarian Flavius, are pitted against each other as gladiators by the sadistic Roman Governor Timarchus. Banished by Caesar, Timarchus unleashes his frustration on his gladiators, staging extravagant spectacles of combat, orgy and death. In a violent world where only the strong survive, love and hate, life and death, are separated by an instant.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 808
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Action
Country: Russia, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, exciting, suspense, rough, realistic, independent film, period piece, remake of cult film, cult film
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Empire (2005)
Plot Summary:
As Conqueror Julius Caesar is drawing his last breath, he swears Tyrannus—Rome's finest warrior—to an oath to protect his successor, Octavius, his 18-year-old nephew. Tyrannus and Octavius are forced into exile to protect the young man from those who want to sever Caesar's bloodline once and for all.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, exciting, serious, historical drama
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Tut (2015)
Plot Summary:
Explores the drama of power, political back-stabbing, war and murder and chronicles King Tut's rise to glory, his efforts to rule a chaotic empire and the enigma surrounding his death.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, historical drama, tense, thought provoking, erotic, sexy, political
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I, Claudius (1976)
Plot Summary:
Tracing the lives of several Roman emperors, this is an epic of ruthless ambition, shocking debauchery and murderous intrigue set in one of history's most fascinating eras. Bearing witness to the saga is Claudius, whose stutter and limp have marked him a fool - yet whom prophecies have foretold will one day rule Rome.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 669 min
Plot tags: costume drama, political thriller, historical drama, clever, epic, spiritual, political, controversial, mind blowing, dark comedy
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Knightfall (2017)
Plot Summary:
Go deep into the clandestine world of the legendary brotherhood of warrior monks known as The Knights Templar.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: christian film, historical drama, captivating, exciting, atmospheric, stylized, costume drama, thought provoking, breathtaking, tension
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Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: USA
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Plot tags: tense, heroic, historical drama, sad, costume drama, exciting, breathtaking, suspenseful, suspense, disturbing
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Plot Summary:
Ertuğrul Bey and the Knights Templar in the 13th century Alba and step and step with the struggle against brutal Mongols depicts the process of establishing the Ottoman principality.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: Turkey
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Da Vinci's Demons (2013)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 79000
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Country: USA
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Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
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Country: USA, Lithuania
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Plot Summary:
The pirate adventures of Captain Flint and his men twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.” Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 111000
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Country: South Africa, USA
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Pompeii (2014)
Plot Summary:
In 79 A.D., Milo, a slave turned gladiator, finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Cassia, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant who has been unwillingly betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts in a torrent of blazing lava, Milo must fight his way out of the arena in order to save his beloved as the once magnificent Pompeii crumbles around him.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Canada, Germany, USA, UK
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Plot tags: exciting, epic, serious, realistic, stylized, romantic, period piece, costume drama, romantic drama, disgusting
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Spartacus (2004)
Plot Summary:
Sentenced to spend out the rest of his adult life laboring in the harsh deserts of Egypt, the Thracian slave Spartacus gets a new lease on life when he is purchased by the obese owner of a Roman gladiator school. Moved by the defiance of an Ethiopian warrior, Draba, Spartacus leads a slave uprising which threatens Rome's status quo. As Spartacus gains sympathy within the Roman Senate, he also makes a powerful enemy in form of Marcus Lucinius Crassus, who makes it a matter of personal honor to crush the rebellion.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, atmospheric, tense, uplifting, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, emotional, rough
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Plot Summary:
Three people's fates are interwoven in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D., during which Germanic warriors halt the spread of the Roman Empire.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 280 min
Plot tags: heroic, exciting, atmospheric, rough, breathtaking, epic, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
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Ben-Hur (2016)
Plot Summary:
A falsely accused nobleman survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his best friend who betrayed him.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: biblical, suspense, intense, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, christian film, epic, action adventure
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Plot Summary:
In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
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Plot Summary:
A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 182000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 1193 min
Plot tags: epic, exciting, historical drama, period piece, stylized, captivating, sexual, costume drama, erotic, dramatic
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Spartacus (2010)
Plot Summary:
Spartacus is an American television series inspired by the historical figure of Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who from 73 to 71 BCE led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic departing from Capua.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 253000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: epic, sexy, sexual, exciting, stylized, heroic, realistic, historical drama, mythical, erotic
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Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Plot Summary:
After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 307000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, Germany, Spain, Morocco, USA, Italy, France
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Plot tags: epic, serious, exciting, realistic, period piece, scenic, harsh, visually stunning, historical drama, intense
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The Borgias (2011)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA, Hungary, Ireland, Canada
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Plot tags: serious, clever, captivating, epic, costume drama, historical drama, realistic, stylized, political, period piece
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300 (2006)
Plot Summary:
Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, "300" is very loosely based the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians; the battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 852000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA, Canada, Bulgaria
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: epic, intense, exciting, scenic, visually stunning, visual, stylized, heroic, entertaining, bloody
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Gladiator (2000)
Plot Summary:
In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus is one of the Roman army's most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus' devious son Commodus ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 16000000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, UK, Malta, Morocco
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: epic, captivating, breathtaking, suspense, emotional, exciting, rough, realistic, atmospheric, period piece