Is Gladiator II an accurate depiction of reality? (Photo Credit – Facebook)
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Gladiator II, the highly awaited sequel to the 2000 blockbuster Gladiator, has finally hit the theaters. The movie is set 16 years after the events of its predecessor and follows Lucius Verus Aurelius, who seeks revenge against the emperors of Rome.
The movie is billed as a historical action film and features characters based on real-world personalities. This makes one wonder if Gladiator II accurately presents history. Read on to find out.
Gladiator II Mixes History with Dramatic Liberties
Gladiator I needs to be more historically accurate, as it mixes facts with fiction. While some historical figures and events are included in the film, much of the story and its version of ancient Rome must be corrected. The movie is set in AD 211 when brothers Caracalla and Geta briefly ruled Rome together after their father, Emperor Septimius Severus, died.
Their rivalry and Geta’s murder by Caracalla happened, but the movie changes some details. For example, the brothers are shown as twins, though in real life, they were a year apart in age. The character Macrinus (played by Denzel Washington) was a natural person who later became emperor, but his actions and personality in the movie are mostly fictional.
As seen in the movie, the Colosseum was sometimes flooded for naval battles, but the idea of sharks in the water featured in the film is pure fantasy. Similarly, the movie shows gladiators riding rhinoceroses and fighting baboons, which likely never happened. In real life, exotic animals like lions, elephants, and rhinos were used in arena hunts, but they were there to be hunted, not to fight humans. Lucius is shown as Maximus’s son in the movie with an entirely made-up Numidian background.
However, even though Gladiator II changes a lot of history, it does try to recreate the feeling of ancient Rome. It even includes actual quotes from Roman thinkers like Tacitus, who criticized Rome’s conquests by saying, ‘They make a desert and call it peace.’
Like the first Gladiator, this sequel focuses more on action and fictional storytelling than on being historically accurate. It uses history as a setting to tell a dramatic story and explore modern ideas.
