For my first Acta, I decided to watch the movie Gladiator which is based in the time period 180 AD. The time setting for this movie is out of the scope of this course so far but, nonetheless, a lot of elements of Roman culture that we have learned thus far in class were portrayed in the movie itself. During this time period, Rome was led by a sole Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who had fallen sick and knew his time alive was limited. This left Rome, and specifically its government hierarchy, vulnerable to change and corruption. This vulnerable state meant the plot encompassed and portrayed a unique set of Roman culture, some of which we have discussed in class and some of which we have yet to discuss and cover. The three main aspects of the movie that I found fascinating and want to reflect upon are the Roman’s military culture, how vast the Roman Empire truly was, and the sheer power the Roman emperor had over Rome.

Although we have discussed numerous battles and wars in this class including the three Punic wars between Rome and Carthage, we have yet to go in-depth with the realities of these wars and what Roman war culture was truly like. The scenes in Gladiator highlighted the realities are Roman war practices including both their barbaric and cooperative natures. From what I saw, what made the Roman empire so successful when it came to war was the fact that they were ready to viciously slay any opponent that stood in their way and, specifically, was ready to do so in a relatively organized manner. In one of the first scenes of the movie, we see the Roman army assembling for battle against the Germanic army. This Roman assembly was comprised of catapults, archers, warriors, and cavalry. It was very apparent from this scene that the Roman army and Roman generals put a lot of thought into their battles and how they configured the various units of the military. To kick off the battle the Romans sent a plethora of burning arrows and catapult ammunition into the vast Germanic army to initially weakening them. After this onslaught from the sky, the Romans waited for an initial Germanic rush which the Romans met with a solid line of soldiers and shields. As the Romans held their line and slowly killed off the Germanic soldiers, the Romans revealed the final trick up their sleeve; they flanked the Germanic soldiers from behind with a unit of cavalry. In a time with no satellites and poor mapping, the Romans were very impressive and successful with their military strategies. This likely explains the next element of the movie I want to discuss, how the Roman empire was able to expand as far as it did.

In a later scene, the main character, in a helpless state, is picked up by a caravan traveling to an unknown location. The caravan eventually arrives in North Africa in a Roman providence named Zucchabar. This scene took me by surprise as it highlighted the true vastness of the Roman empire; Rome itself was founded in modern-day Italy, Maximus, the main character, was from modern-day Spain which was part of the Roman empire, and he eventually ended up in North Africa which was also part of the Roman empire. The craziest part is that this barely encompasses the true size of the Empire as, at its peak, the Empire stretched as far east as the modern-day Middle East. In the movie, there was something special about being able to see the various cultures and peoples who comprised the Roman Empire and were considered Romans. I learned that not all Romans wore togas. 

The final element that I want to discuss is the sheer power the Roman emperor had over Rome and its citizens. At the end of the war against the Germanics, Maximus, the main character, was considered a hero in Rome, so much so that the current Emperor chooses Maximus over his own son to become the next Emperor of Rome. I will spare you much of the details, but when the son gets word of this, he proceeds to secretly murder his father in order to gain the Emperorship. Knowing Maximus will be suspicious of the Emperor’s sudden death, the Emperor’s son declares that Maximus and his entire family must be murdered. What surprised me from this series of scenes is how willing the Roman soldiers were to kill a man that was considered a Roman hero. These soldiers put aside all of their prior knowledge and opinions to oblige to what the new Emperor had commanded them. Within days, Maximus was on the run, and his entire family, still in Spain, had been murdered. One declaration from the new Emperor turned Maximus from a hero into a villain. What is fascinating is that empires and rulers like this still exist in the modern world. A current example is modern-day Russia, the largest country in the world, where its President has declared war on Ukraine. This has left nearly 190 million citizens in the respective countries in a state of war and has turned two countries that were once allies into foes. Similar to the Roman Emperor, the decisions of one man can have drastic and irreversible consequences.