Pompeii starts in  Britannia, where Tribune Corvus killed all of the Celts. This does not seem accurate that Tributes could lead armies in the empire. A Celtic boy, later called The Celt, is enslaved as a gladiator. He is sent to Pompeii to fight. He meets the rich citizen love interest and ends a horse’s pain. Her roman house looks very similar to the one presented in class with a central courtyard with a fountain. The Celt wins a brawl. While sparring, the champion gladiator Atticus saves the Celt from being killed by the previous guy he brawled with. Severus, the love interest’s father, and a corrupt senator are doing a business deal. The Senator got mad about Severarus describing Emperor Titus as the new emperor. This is a reference to Roman’s dislike of new things. The love interest’s name is Cassia, and the Senator wants to marry her against her wishes. Vesuvius causes more and more earthquakes. The quaked scared Cassia’s horse, and The Celt calmed it down. Cassia wants to help the Celt escape, but he refuses to save her. The Celt finds out that Senator Corvus killed his family. As punishment for escaping, The Celt gets whipped, and Corvus plans for the Celt to die in the arena the next day. The Celt introduces himself to Atticus as Milo. The next day the proclaimers in the arena had masks on with the mouth to project sound. The arena reenacts the Celtic massacre. Corvus threatens Cassia’s father into agreeing to have Cassia marry him. After winning the battle, the crowd wants Atticus and Milo to live. This references to the court system where the people can save people. Milo fights the champion of Rome that helped kill his family. Vesuvius erupts, and the Arena breaks apart. Corvus kills Cassia’s dad. In the chaos, Milo and Atticus find Cassia and go to the arena for horses to escape. Corvus takes Cassia, and Milo follows him. Atticus fights the champion of Rome. Atticus dies and kills the champion of Rome. Milo kills Corvus by leaving him for the volcano. Milo and Cassia ride out of Pompeii. They kiss and then die.  Overall, this movie was less accurate in portraying Rome. It was more dramatized but still had accurate parts. It did a good job showing the reach of Rome of having similar gladiator pits in Britainia as Pompeii, and still, it being Rome across those distances. The movie does acknowledge that people of different social classes did not interact, however in real life, I doubt a gladiator and woman of a noble would form a relationship. They did show people being entertained by gladiators. The set design looked very realistic, specifically the roman house. It also accurately portrayed Pompeii since it was very destructive and few escaped. The movie also accurately portrayed the corruption that must have been prevalent in the senate and those in power. It also shows that Rome was brutal in putting down rebellions. 

The dying emperor’s son is Commodus, who wants to become emperor himself. Maximus wants to go home to his family, but the emperor plans to make Maximus, a respected general, emperor after he dies. The old emperor wants to bring Rome back to its true self. This is very Roman, where you need to go back to how things always were supposed to be like with the republic and two of the high officials like the two kings. Commodus is scared of Maximus’ possibility of being very political with an army behind him. Commodus kills his father, removes Maximus, and then kills Maximus’ family. Maximus escapes and goes home and sees his wife and son dead; he is captured and made a gladiator. Senator Gracchus tries to help Rome with its problems. This could reference the Grachi who wanted to help the people 200 years ago. Throughout this movie, characters mention that the senate is the people and the citizens are a mob. This is an interesting shift of SPQR where the Senate was not the people. Maximus is a great gladiator and is sent to Rome. In the colosseum, there is a reenactment of the battle of Carthage. The gladiators are Carthage and win due to Maximus’ strategy and command. In this way, Maximus was like Hannibal in directing incredible strategies to kill Romans. Maximus confronts the emperor and reveals himself. Commodus wants to kill him, but the people save them by chanting live. This is similar to when Romans can appeal their punishment to the people and possibly not be executed. Maximus wins against an undefeated champion and defies Commodus by sparing him. Maximus randomly comes across an old army friend. Maximus gets his friend to muster the Roman army and march on Rome after his ousting. This is very similar to Sulla, who marched on Rome with the loyal military when ousted from power. The escape attempt almost works, but Maximus is captured and is stabbed by Commodus to make it harder for him to fight.  Commodus and Maximus duel and Maximus kills  Commodus. This is a much better death than the usual punishment for patricide of being put in a sack with a dog, snake, rooster, and a monkey and thrown into a river. The movie ends with Maximus dying, having accomplished his revenge. This movie included many references to Roman history that we had learned about. Maximus was a hero because he had virtus and proved his worth on the battlefield, like the Horatti trial. Maximus was returning Rome to what it should be, a real Roman does, by giving the senate power again and removing the usurper. It also shows off the reason for the Roman fears of secrete meetings because, throughout the movie, there are secret plots to kill and change society. It seemed to accurately portray Rome through the values, sets, clothes, events, and people vying for power through various ways.