“Spartacus: War of the Damned” Series finale tomorrow at 9 p.m. on Starz. Grade: A-

The series finale of “Spartacus: War of the Damned” will rip out your beating heart and stomp it into squishy bits.

Anyone with a vague knowledge of history could predict that a drama about the Thracian gladiator’s rebellion against imperial Rome circa 71 B.C. would not end happily.

Series creator, executive producer and writer Steven DeKnight in his wisdom — or perhaps sadism — has titled the episode “Victory.”

You will find yourself reconsidering the meaning of the word as the night wears on — and the body count rises.

The hour pits Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) and his ragtag band of rebels — Agron (Dan Feuerriegel), Naevia (Cynthia Addai-­Robinson), Gannicus (Dustin Clare), Saxa (Ellen Hollman), Nasir (Pana Hema Taylor) and more — against Crassus (Simon Merrells), Caesar (Todd Lasance) and a multitude of Roman legions.

Spartacus and his warriors know they face all but certain death.

“Better to fall by the sword than by the master’s lash,” Spartacus vows.

The battle scenes make “300” seem like a Nickelodeon cartoon. For an hour filled with carnage, it is starkly heartbreaking. Every cast member gets at least a moment to shine.

“Spartacus” has never been a show for the squeamish. It stands as one of the most graphically violent and sexual series ever created by any network. Yet DeKnight hewed more to known historical fact than any other dramatist and broadened the story with an unforgettable ensemble.

Before “The Walking Dead” made it trendy, “Spartacus” pioneered a nerve-rattling storytelling style in which viewers never knew from week to week whether a character would survive.

In the second season finale, half the cast perished, including marquee star Lucy Lawless, who made a memorable exit falling off a cliff with a stolen newborn in her arms.

Original star Andy Whitfield, so much of the show’s early success, had to bow out after the first season when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. (He died in September 2011.) McIntyre picked up the sword for season two. That the show was able to survive the loss of its leading man is almost unheard of in the industry and a tribute to everyone involved in the production.

The list of series that have fumbled their final bows is legendary (“Lost,” “The Sopranos,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Smallville,” to name a few).

“Spartacus: War of the Damned” is epic.

The hour manages to close on a tender wisp of hope.

Stick around for the closing credits and have tissues handy.

You may find yourself crying ugly tears. I did.