I had a chance to watch the movie “Gladiator” this past weekend; I saw the movie in the cinema when it first came out in 2000, but having been snowed under, and resting comfortably in my flannel jammies, I settled in this past Saturday with the Hollywood epic on the little screen.Of course you know I’m going to tell you the actual history swirling behind the events in the movie. There really was a Roman ruler named Marcus Aeurelius, and his son really was Commodus (and Commodus really was one of Rome’s most violent and terrifying figures). And there was also a gladiator slave who would kill Commodus… though, in history, the man named Narcissus replaces the movie’s Maximus, and instead of being stabbed to death, Narcissus would strangle the Roman Emperor.
Marcus Aurelius (121AD – 180AD) was the last of what were known as the “Five Good Emperors” of Rome. They included Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian (who attempted one of the first holocausts against the Jews), Antonius Pius, and finally Marcus Aurelius. Like the movie, Aurelius did campaign in Germania, and through the 160’s AD he was actively warring with the German tribes in Rome’s northernmost border regions. He didn’t have the wonderful Maximus to help him lead his troops (but my god, doesn’t Russell Crowe look good??) – and he would not lose his life to a son who sought to smother him with a pillow. That is actually attributed to Caligula, who smothered Tiberuis in 37AD. Marcus Aurelius, instead, would die from a great plague that swept through Rome in 180 AD. (I kind of like Caligula, too, but whew (!!)… Russell Crowe’s got a sword, now… check him out, he's really manuevering with it!)
Commodus (161AD – 192AD) would become Rome’s new ruler in 180AD, and like the movie, he was a young man possessed by very strange and bizarre behavior. I think the portrayal of Commodus by Joaquin Phoenix is dead-on, and next time you see the movie you might think of the historical figure and realize that you are seeing what was truly a disturbed and terrifying personality. Like the character in the movie, Commodus had an older sister who tried to poison him. Failing that, she attempted to hatch plots with the Senate to murder her brother. The two were never lovers (as was hinted in the movie) and it is perhaps because Commodus loved the gladiator-slave Narcissus… the man who would one day murder him.
Like the movie-Commodus, the historical-Commodus was heavy-handed and tended to be rabid toward the Senate. Many Roman Senators were threatened and executed during Commodus’ reign – and in the meanwhile, the Emperor worked to rouse the support of the people of Rome by giving them the spectacle of the gladiator games. He believed he was himself a “gladiator” and he meant to demonstrate it. The movie-Commodus complains about the people “loving him”… the historical-Commodus was tactful in giving them blood.
(Did you see Russell Crowe? My god, he looks very good in a leather skirt, doesn’t he??)
In the movie, Commodus was an avid fan of the games; the historical Commodus was much more savage. He took part in the battles, and it was a regular occurrence for the naked Emperor to slay unarmed men or wounded beasts in a display of his prowess. When the movie-Commodus steps out into the dust of the colosseum he is approaching the gladiator slave Maximus; in reality it was a slave named Narcissus who killed Commodus by strangling the Emperor in his bath. Narcissus was known to Commodus, and it is suggested there was a sexual relationship between them.
(That kills the mood for Russell Crowe and Maximus, doesn’t it?)
(No, no, it does not! Here is the Gladiator, and he is restoring Rome to a vision of glory… and my god, he looks so GOOD doing that, now doesn’t he?)
In the movie, you would believe (spoiler alert!) the death of Maximus did indeed signal a return to Senate power and a restoration of Rome. I mean, they carry his body away, there is sweeping music, there are rose petals, and poor Maximus is reunited with his family in the after-world. In reality, after the death of Commodus, Rome plunged into an era of chaos and instability. Septimus Severus replaced the fallen Emperor, and the “Severan Dynasty” had control of Rome from 186AD through 235AD. There was a transition of power from the Senate to an army-backed Emperor, and the Empire would be gravely weakened.
But that is all way, way after Gladiator, now isn’t it? The movie is over and I’ve spent the day flipping back through my history books and notes because that’s just the kind of flannel jammie Saturday person I am. And don’t you agree – Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, they were some interesting guys, now weren’t they? But I don’t think they hold a sword to Russell Crowe as Maximus… wow. I mean, he REALLY looks good, doesn’t he? Even if he exists only on my TV screen.
