Historical Accuracy Of The Gladiator

The movie The Gladiator could be defined as a fictional movie that used real figures in history and portrayed their characteristics as accurately as possible while sticking to the storyline. While the filmmakers made the movie very realistic, they made liberties such as the main character, Maximus Decimus Meridius, and they combined many factual events and people to create the story in the way that they wanted. Viewers should not look at the movie as a true story but as an insight to what Rome was like as a civilization and a society. The Gladiator was based during the times of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. However, its main character is Maximus Decimus Meridius. The movie began with a battle scene where Maximus, the general, led his men

If they were based off a real person the character stayed true to their personality, and the made up characters stayed true to those in Roman society. For example, Marcus Aurelius was a real Roman emperor and since he was a philosopher, the movie was more likely than not correct about his personality because in the movie, he was always looking at the bigger picture. Another historical accuracy with him was that he actually did spend his time on the frontier battling along the border, he was actually loved by many Romans as shown when Proximo, the gladiator owner who was previously a gladiator himself, expressed his love for him and talked about him as a godlike

While it was correct in emphasizing the importance of the mob of people that was Rome and the success of games to make them happy, the political system seemed too simple in the movie. Senator Gracchus, a fictitious character with similar attributes to the Gracchus brothers, was a senator that was primarily concerned with helping the poor and restoring the Republic. The problem, however, was that he realistically would have been a plebian tribune, not a senator as senators were more a part of the oligarchy that took from the poor and did not really give to