Thai – Roman Revolutions

Gladiator: Dignitas, Auctoritas, and All-that-other-tas

By Thai | May 5, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

In the movie Gladiator, we follow the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius and how he works his way back up from being a slave to avenging his family who was killed by Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius and brother of Maximus.
The movie starts off with Maximus returning to Rome defeating Germanic tribes near Vindobona with the Roman army. He comes back and his father Marcus Aurelius talks to him about making Maximus the successor of the Roman empire since he felt that Commodus wasn’t fit to do so. Upon hearing this, Commodus kills his father as an act of retaliation and seizes the throne for himself. He then asks Maximus for his support and loyalty, but when Maximus refuses, Commodus arranges for Maximus to be arrested and for his family to be killed. After escaping his arrest, he heads back home only to see his wife and child crucified and collapses shortly after.
When he wakes up, he finds that he has been captured by slavers and was then sold to a gladiator trainer named Proximo. Slowly recognizing that there is only 1 way to get out of this and to enact revenge, he reluctantly takes part in local tournaments where he easily wins and starts to earn recognition over time. This leads into the 150 days of games event by Commodus that was started to commemorate his father’s death, where Maximus finds his way into a reenactment of the Battle of Zama as a “Carthaginian”, where he actually leads his army to victory. After this, he reveals to the people in the colosseum and Commodus who he really was and declares an act of vengeance on Commodus. After fighting some more on his way to the top, he eventually faces Commodus in a duel, but was severely injured beforehand to put Commodus at an advantage. Even with that, Commodus dies, only for Maximus to succumb to his injury soon after.
All in all, the main themes I got from watching the movie was the difference between dignitas and auctoritas, with examples being Commodus and Maximus. Throughout the movie, Commodus was given a large amount of auctoritas, which gave him power, but severely lacked in dignitas due to his poor character and his actions throughout the movie. On the other hand, Maximus had a lot of dignitas but lost most of his auctoritas after Commodus arrested him, and this showed in the movie when Maximus had to earn his way up to challenge Commodus to a duel, but along the way gained more dignitas, earning the name Maximus the Merciful after sparing one of the strongest and undefeated gladiators in Tigris of Gaul. The 2 of them were opposites of each other through their actions throughout the movie.

The Duality of Man (And Philosophies I Guess)

By Thai | April 4, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

After finishing Epicurean week, I wondered what Stoic Week would look like and what that experience would be like compared to Epicurean week. While both weeks were filled with reflection, I feel like both were different in how the week was shaped to match the philosophy.
The first day was perhaps the most notable because this was perhaps the one I spent the most time reflecting on. I deeply reflected on the idea of control and what is in my power to control. I was thinking about 2 particular situations: getting a job and getting into medical school. I thought first about medical school, thinking about the uncertainty and difficulty of being admitted. Initially I thought that there was a lot that was out of my control due to having others making admissions decisions as well as having a good enough resume and grades to make the cut. This then led to me reflecting on the past few months of trying to find a job, where I had similar doubts on how much power I have in putting myself in the position to get the job. After ruminating on these thoughts, I started to think about the fact that I have more power in the process than I initially thought. From me being in control to my grades and work experiences to me being able to do well in interviews, there were many different ways that I could establish control in these situations and have more power in them. Thinking about all those ways to have power over a situation I thought I was relatively powerless in brought me some comfort and confidence as well.
There were also some very interesting things that I noticed that were both different and similar between the 2 types of philosophies. There were some common things that the weeks covered such as looking at moderation in Epicureanism versus self-discipline in Stoicism as well as a day that focuses on nature. It was interesting to see the different ways both philosophies approached these similar topics and how the different activities showcased that. I think it was interesting that there were also differences in the structure of the weeks as well. During the Epicurean week, I felt like it was much more of a lax time and I had freedom of choice to perform certain activities while for Stoicism was under a more strict schedule comparatively and focused on more reflection and meditation. I think that the focus on reflection and meditation helped me think about the daily topics in a more deep manner.
In conclusion, both Epicureanism and Stoicism weeks were both very interesting and fruitful experiences that helped me gain newer perspectives for me in life.

If You’re Spartacus and He’s Spartacus, Is There Any other Spartacus I Need To Know About?

By Thai | March 20, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

The movie Spartacus is about the aptly named Spartacus, a rebellious slave who slowly became one of the most feared enemies for the Romans, leading slave rebellions and freed slaves to battle against the Roman army.

The movie starts with Spartacus being sentenced to death by starvation and then was bought as a slave by Lentulus Batiatus. After some suffering as a slave, Spartacus was forced into a fight to the death along with 3 other people. From there, he was almost killed, but was spared by his opponent when he was spared and his opponent tried to kill people in the audience. We then see Spartacus lead a rebellion by killing Marcellus and starts a fight which leads into an all-out slave rebellion. The rebellion was successful and led to Spartacus leading the newly freed slaves to the Italian countryside.

Due to his battle prowess and ability, he became the leader of the newly formed group and start their journey around Rome, taking everyone home. On the way, they start pillaging Roman estates and growing the army in the process with more slaves joining the cause. This leads to the Roman leaders noticing all of this happening and forcing them to take action against this growing army.

After a while, Spartacus and the slave army are forced to fight the Roman army and were initially able to hold off some of the forces, but were eventually beaten handily. Then as an attempt to find out the leader, the Romans try to get the army to surrender Spartacus, but all of what was left of the army didn’t give him up and all responded to the Romans by saying “I am Spartacus”. Because of this, all of them were sentenced to death. Upon being captured, Spartacus was forced to fight one his allies, Antoninus, and killed him in the end. After that, Spartacus was eventually crucified.

Reflecting on this movie, there were some topics that we learned about in class were seen in the movie. Negotiations involving transactional friendships was a highlight of one of the things we learned in class and was something that I noticed while watching the movie with friends. One other thing that I noticed in the movie was the “I am Spartacus” scene where it showed a sense of belonging to the freed slave army, which was something involved in one of the reflection assignments.