This movie was clearly made at the same time as La vendetta di Spartacus, by the same director using some of the same cast and locations. Both are rarely seen peplum films, at least in the US, but both have been issued on Italian DVD, cropped to 1.78:1 aspect ratio instead of original 2.35:1, but with brilliant color and optional Italian subtitles.
This movie is not quite as good as La vendetta di Spartacus, but it still displays some of the trademarks of director Michele Lupo, including amazing close-ups (especially of Gordon Mitchell with his brutal features and steel-blue eyes) and cinematic storytelling that mixes rousing melodrama (a slave uprising) and over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek fight scenes that go on and on (and on), here including a dwarf named Goliath (Arnaldo Fabrizio) for dubious comic effect.
The scene is a Roman aqueduct being built by slaves in the Syrian desert (probably using some impressive footage from the 1962 movie Ponzio Pilato). Thirst and water become recurring motifs. An early, powerful scene shows a brawny, bearded, and desperately thirsty slave trying to drink from a pool and being whipped and repeatedly dunked as punishment. A fight scene between two Roman commanders, Roger Browne and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, ends with the loser dunked in the same pool. Later, there's a fight scene between Gordon Mitchell and another escaped slave that takes place under a waterfall and then continues as they hurtle downstream, still throwing punches. This movie is all about wet, muscular men whaling on each other.
Scilla Gabel was a scintillating presence in La vendetta di Spartacus, but here she has little more than an ornamental walk-on. This movie is all about the guys. Even Roger Browne gets bare-chested, which I've never seen him do before.
If you love peplums, this is a fun outing with some memorable scenes of action and punishment, and lots of wet fisticuffs.