The Roman Culture Through The Movie Gladiator

In the year 2000, a director by the name of Ridley Scott tried to portray roman culture though the movie Gladiator. Some historians argue whether this film was 90% accurate compared to a mere 20% accurate. Whether it was the best historical movie or the worst. Many artists, directors and writers scour the globe for historical evidence to back up their movie, but in the end all they really need is good paying customers that want to see the movie.

In one of the first scenes, there was a great battle with Germanic Tribes on the night of Marcus Aurelius’ death. This did not happen in the real Roman Empire. In 179 C.E there was a long, hard daylong battle, which lied in campaigning season. Marcus Aurelius however just as he was about to launch another campaign on March 17th 180 C.E. There was also a use of a German shepherd in this scene, but the German shepherd wouldn’t have even existed in the past at that time in the Roman Empire. Many have argued that because it is such a long movie that they could’ve just cut out this inaccurate scene. Therefore having one less inaccuracy.

The chronology of Commodus’ reign has also been dramatically shortened, then causing inaccuracies throughout the entire movie. On December 31st 192 C.E. Commodus was murdered. This meant that he reigned for 12/13 years as he took over when his father past in 180 C.E. Although the time frame was out the director did include some historical facts about Commodus. Commodus had been known to enjoy shows including beast hunting, gladiators fighting, death and also chariot riding. He later trained himself in all these areas and defeated 620 gladiators, then boasted about it in a script later found. In the movie it was portrayed that Commodus was a somewhat horrib...

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...onvincing to those who are not well educated in the field of the Roman Era. As for those who have proof of what was the reality in that era, it is easily a horrible film as it is not accurate. In the end it unfortunately comes down to ones perspective on the matter and what can be depicted as real and what was fake.

Bibliography:

Ward, A 2001 The Movie "Gladiator" in Historical Perspective, AbleMedia. [e-mail], accessed 25 April 2014, .

Rollmops, P 2011 Gladiator & the Portrayal of the Roman Empire in the Cinema, Tragicocomedia, accessed 25 April 2014, .

“Gladiator”: Good drama, bad history, 2011 Word Press, accessed 25 April 2014, .