Andrew – Roman Revolutions

Are you not entertained by another Gladiator Acta?

By Andrew | May 9, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Gladiator begins with the roman General Maximus leading his army to victory against the germanic tribes. After the battle, the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, tells Maximus that he believes that his son, Commodus, is unfit to rule and wants Maximus to succeed him. Maximus asks for time to consider his offer, which Aurelius understands. In the meantime, he goes to tell Commodus of his intentions, who, instead of being understanding like Aurelius expects, kills Aurelius on the spot. Commodus declares himself the new emperor to the public, and asks for Maximus’ loyalty, which he refuses to give. Commodus puts Maximus under arrest and sends his men to go to Maximus’ home and kill his family as punishment. Maximus is put to death but in secret, and Maximus is able to fight his way out and escape his captors. He manages to make it back to his home and bury his family, but collapses from his injuries. Some slavers find Maximus and take him away, where he is sold to the gladiator trainer Proximo.

Maximus fights in local tournaments and shows and gains popularity. When Proximo takes his gladiators to Rome to fight in the Colosseum for Commodus’ special event, Maximus wears a mask to hide his identity. Proximo’s gladiators, including Maximus, are told to fight in a reenactment of the Battle of Zama on the side of the Cartheginians, who historically lose. However, Maximus leads his friends to victory, and Commodus enters the arena to offer his congratulations. He asks Maximus to remove his mask, which he reluctantly complies to. Commodus reels at seeing Maximus alive but is not able to demand he be killed on the spot because of the crowd. Maximus swears he will get his revenge. Commodus tries to kill Maximus by giving him increasingly more difficult gladiator fights, but Maximus wins them all while also becoming even more popular among the Roman people.

This whole movie has not been very historically accurate, but the ending is especially ridiculous. After Maximus is convinced to try to take Rome by force in a conspiracy from Commodus, the plan is leaked by Lucilla’s son and Commodus’ nephew, and Commodus successfully prevents the conspiracy. Instead of handling this in private like a rational being, Commodus challenges Maximus to a duel in the Colosseum to try to regain the favor of the people, which would just never happen realistically. Commodus stabs Maximus in the back before the fight to gain the upper hand, but even still, Maximus prevails. Maximus ultimately succumbs to his wounds, but he is able to call for the gladiators to be freed and Senator Graccus to become the new emperor in Commodus’ place, ultimately completing the goals of the conspiracy. Ultimately, the movie felt more like a story that the writers wrote and then framed in the context of Rome for popularity rather than taking real inspiration from history.

I’m Spartacus (1960), No I’m Spartacus (1960)

By Andrew | March 21, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Spartacus is sold to Lentulus Batiatus. Batiatus is warned that Spartacus is a rebellious slave, but this spunk is what Batiatus is looking for, since Batiatus runs a gladiator training school and sees potential in Spartacus. Spartacus spends some time training and falls in love with the slave Varinia during this time. Senator Crassus comes to visit Batiatus’s school and not only requests that they watch a gladiator fight to the death, but also buys Varinia. Sparticus barely gets away from his fight with his life because his opponent decides to try to kill Crassus after beating Spartacus instead of going for the kill on Spartacus. This is enough to push Spartacus over his limit, and a few days later Spartacus starts a successful slave revolt, although Batiatus escapes with his life. The slave revolt gains traction across Rome, and soon Spartacus is leading an army in the thousands. They move to make their escape from Rome by getting help from pirates to take them across the sea. However, Crassus, who is in charge of putting down this rebellion, bribes the pirates to betray Spartacus. This forces Spartacus and his army to have to move towards Rome, where Crassus and his army are waiting. Spartacus inspires everyone to go down fighting, and they put up a fight against Crassus’s army for a little bit, but are ultimately crushed. The survivors, which include Spartacus, are offered a deal that if the slaves identify Spartacus among the living or the dead, they would be pardoned and sent back to slavery. However, Spartacus’s army refuses by all claiming that they are Spartacus. This leads to Crassus sentencing every one of them to death by crucifixion. Varinia is able to escape from Crassus with her and Spartacus’s child since Crassus spared them, and Spartacus is able to see the two of them while on the cross as they leave Rome.

There were some historical inaccuracies in the movie of course. The biggest one is that every major Roman historian of the time writes that Spartacus died in that final battle against Crassus. The other egregious inaccuracy was that Crassus was given the role of consul before defeating Sparticus’s army. The whole point of why Crassus was so determined to beat Sparticus was to earn his consulship. The movie changed Crassus’s motivations from that to simply a hatred toward Sparticus.