'Gladiator' Might Be One of The Most Historically Inaccurate Movies Ever

A major, sad moment happens in the first 35 minutes. Commodus, Marcus Aurelius's troubled son and future emperor, kills his father. This happens after Commodus learns the Emperor plans to restore the republic and make Maximus Rome's protector. This chilling moment shows much about Commodus's character and wild nature. The issue? The young heir did not actually kill his father.

Marcus Aureliuspassedhe passed in 180 AD while leading a military campaign against northern Germanic tribes. Historians still argue what killed him; the popular guess is the plague. He did not die from his son and heir. His health had worsened before his death.

GladiatorLucilla, Marcus Aurelius's daughter and Commodus's sister, suggests she would rule better than her brother. She shows intelligence, thought, and action against wrong. Lucilla mourns Maximus at the film's end, but she is relieved her son is safe from Commodus.

The real Lucilla's life was much more intense. She married twice to her father's political allies while building her own mind. After her brother became Emperor, Lucilla becameconcernedabout his actions and decided he needed overthrowing.

Lucilla used her lover to plan to remove her brother from Rome. Sadly, the plotfailed, so Lucilla was exiled to Capri, where she later faced execution.

Joaquin Phoenix plays Commodus as a sniveling yet complex villain. He is emotionally damaged and wants people's affection. Though many of his film actions seem bad, the historical Commodus was much worse.

He loved gladiators, thought he could become one, and oftenappearedin arenas. Commodus fought in the Colosseum with wooden swords against weak opponents and acted likeHercules. He renamed Rome after himself and killed many animals.

Worst of all, he dressed disabled people asmythological creaturesjust to kill them in a gladiatorial show.

The film shows Marcus Aurelius as a good, model Emperor. He wants to return Rome to a republic, a status it lost at least in 27 BC. Though Marcus Aurelius wanteda simpler life, there is zero proof he intended to restore a republic.

Instead, his search for land in the Germanic areas shaped his public image as awarrior-emperorMarcus Aurelius intended to pass the empire to his son, not restore the republic.

The film's climax places the action in the arena. Maximus finally avenges his family and mentor, Marcus Aurelius, by killing Commodus. That infamous scene, however, is made up.

Commodus faced many enemies during his rule. His failures as a ruler, especially compared to his father, became obvious. In 192 AD, Marcia, his mistress, tried topoison him.

Commodus expelled the poison, but Marcia's accomplice...that accomplice murdered Commoduswhile he bathed, ending the Emperor's cruel reign.

The film's ending warps ancient Rome's history. Maximus achieves Marcus Aurelius' goal in the final minutes: he symbolizes ending the corrupt, immoral part of political Rome Commodus represents. This action restores Rome as a republic.

The problem with this ending is the Roman republic ended in 27 BC. Augustus, Julius Caesar's great-nephew,changedRome into an empire, which never returned.GladiatorThis film takes place about 150 years into the empire, showing a different history of Rome.

The film's Marcus Aurelius shows some historical accuracy.GladiatorGladiator correctly shows the aging Emperor as a mix ofphilosopher-ruler. But Marcus Aurelius's strong moral code is not entirely true. The real Marcus Aurelius did not likewatchinggladiators fight. The movie exaggerates this dislike, claiming he banned the games in Rome, sending gladiatorial groups to the provinces.

Marcus Aurelius did not ban the games, but he stoppedfunding them.them.

The film calls Maximus "Spaniard" because he supposedly came from Roman Spain. By the 2nd century, the Iberian peninsula was under Roman control, but Spain did not exist in the ancient world. The Iberian peninsula was known as "Hispania" and was not the unified nation of modern Spain.

"Spain" did not exist in the Roman world, nor did the term "Spaniard." The term first appears in English in the early15th century.

In a touching scene, Maximus's young son runs to men on horseback, thinking they are part of his father's group. He shouts, "Mama, i soldati," which means "Mother, the soldiers!" His use of Italian while moving is historically wrong.

A widevarietyof languages existed across the Roman Empire, but Italian was not one. Modern Italiandid not even existDuring the film's setting, Maximus's son would have spoken some Latin or a local dialect for better historical accuracy.

The film downplays a fact almost all historical sources agree on: Commodus was incredibly hot and obsessed with sex. Many ancient writers described Commodus's appeal richly, and one writer evenPraised.He had a well-proportioned body and a beautiful, manly face.

He reportedly kept hundreds of male and female concubines.concubinesThe film shows Commodus mooning over his sister more than taking lovers, a character choice far from historical reality. The daring mistress who eventually betrayed Commodus is also left out of the story.

Most film characters call the arena the "Colosseum," the 21st-century name for the huge structure. However, in the ancient world, it was actually called the "Flavian Amphitheatre." People only started calling it the Colosseum in the Middle Ages.Middle AgesPeople started calling the structure the Colosseum during the Middle Ages.

Also, seating in the Flavian Amphitheatre separated people by social class and gender. The film correctly shows female spectators, but they would generally have beensent to their own section in the arena.relegated

A first conflict in the film involves Commodus and his father, Marcus Aurelius. The film goes too far into fiction when it shows Marcus Aurelius planning to disinherit Commodus to turn Rome back into a republic. This scene happens in 180 AD, right before the Emperor died. Marcus Aurelius could not have disinherited his son in 180 AD because Commodus had technically been his father'sco-rulerHe co-ruled since 177 AD.

At the film's end, Maximus completes Marcus Aurelius's last wish by becoming Rome's protector and restoring the empire to a virtuous republic. However, Maximus never existed and is not based on any single historical person, unlike many other main characters.

Instead, Maximus seems like a character made from othercinematic portrayalsof the Roman world. The inspirations for Maximus likely come from Spartacus fromSpartacus (1960) and Livius fromThe Fall of the Roman Empire (1964).

Throughout the film, the main character is just called "Maximus." But, in grand style, he reveals his full name is "Maximus Decimus Meridius." Elite Romans often hadthree names: the common first name, the person's family name, and an extra name. If "Maximus Decimus Meridius" was the character's name, he probably did not go by "Maximus."

Romans usually used their second or third names because they were less common. For example, Commodus's full name was Lucius Aurelius Commodus. Similarly, the famous Gaius Julius Caesar used "Caesar" instead of the common "Gaius."