The work follows the exploits of Spartacus, the leader of the slave uprising against the Romans known as the Third Servile War, although the ballet's storyline takes considerable liberties with the historical record.

[3] Spartacus remains one of Khachaturian's best known works and is prominent within the repertoires of the Bolshoi Theatre and other ballet companies in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Principal characters: The Roman consul Crassus returns to Rome from his latest conquests in a triumphal procession.

Spartacus laments his captivity and bids a bitter farewell to Phrygia, who is taken off to join Crassus's harem of concubines.

Khachaturian extracted and arranged music from the ballet in 1955 for four orchestral suites: Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, percussion; strings.