Just an innocent, young boy when Roman invaders killed his father, Carpathimos fights back when they return to his island paradise to take away his sister and mother. While fighting to save them, he is captured and taken back to Rome where he is forced to kill in the Circus Maximus. He fights to win his freedom and ironically finds love and friendship in a place he never expected. Deceit, murder, and suspicion surround him as the Roman Republic fights to establish itself as a Mediterranean power, catching Carpathimos in the middle. Finally, allowed to return home, he must fight to survive one last time, but what he loses sends him back to Rome with vengeance in his heart. The Crucible of Man vividly portrays one man's evolution from innocent fisherman to a warrior capable of changing the very future of Rome. As one man fights to preserve his innocent life amid the islands of the Mediterranean, the growing powers from Rome and Carthage force him to evolve into the very thing he despises most: a warrior