Gladiator: Facts behind the fiction

Marcus Aurelius became Emperor in 161 AD. He succeeded Antonius Pius

and is often referred to as ‘the wise’. Marcus Aurelius had been closely
associated with the Emperor Hadrian and had been destined to be Emperor
from an early age. Once Emperor, Marcus demanded that his close associate
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Lucius Verus would be named co-Emperor. Marcus needed a loyal friend in

Rome to control the Senate whilst he was on frequent campaigns.

Marcomannic Wars
The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting over a dozen years from
about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against the
Marcomanni, Quadi and other Germanic peoples, along both sides of the
upper and middle Danube. The struggle against the Germanic invasions
occupied the major part of the reign of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, and
it was during his campaigns against them that he started writing his
philosophical work Meditations

Under the command of Marcus Valerius Maximianus, the Romans fought and
prevailed against the Quadi in a decisive battle at Laugaricio. The Quadi were
chased westwards, deeper into Greater Germania, where the praetorian prefect
Tarutenius Paternus later achieved another decisive victory against them, but
on 17 March 180, the emperor died at Vindobona (Vienna).
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Marcus Aurelius died on March 17, 180, in the city of Vindobona (modern
Vienna), his son and successor Commodus accompanying him. He was
immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian's
mausoleum (modern Castel Sant'Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410.
His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple in Rome.
Marcus Aurelius was able to secure the succession for Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and
made co-emperor in 177, though the choice may have been unknowingly unfortunate. This decision, which put
an end to the fortunate series of "adoptive emperors", was highly criticized by later historians since Commodus
was a political and military outsider, as well as an extreme egotist with neurotic problems. For this reason,
Marcus Aurelius' death is often held to have been the end of the Pax Romana. It is possible that he chose
Commodus simply in the absence of other candidates, or as a result of the fear of succession issues and the
possibility of civil war.
Historian Michael Grant, in The Climax of Rome (1968), states about Commodus, "The youth turned out to be
very erratic or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable. But whether or not Marcus ought to have
known this to be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly
involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrous around future successions."

Therefore, it would be logical to assume that Marcus Aurelius stoically chose

Commodus to prevent civil war.

Commodus and ‘Gladiator’

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Commodus was proclaimed Augustus alongside his father in 176, and ruled alone
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AD 180–192. In some ways the age and character of Commodus are not consistent
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with the historical sources. Joaquin Phoenix portrays a Commodus in his mid to late
twenties throughout the film, not taking into consideration that Commodus became
sole emperor when he was 18 and was assassinated when he was 30. The film
presents Commodus as self-centered, cold, cruel, and mentally unbalanced rather
than debauched, blood-thirsty, and violent as the senatorial sources such as the Augustan History report him to
be. Commodus' murder of his father in the film is purely fictional. Commodus was the only Roman Emperor to
fight as a gladiator (discounting reports of Caligula having done so — there is no record outside of Suetonius
that Caligula did so). Commodus was assassinated (strangled) by a wrestler on 31 December AD 192, not
killed in the arena during a duel as the film depicts.
Lucilla was Commodus’s sister and was married to her father’s co-emperor Lucius Verus (mentioned in the
film as the dead father of her son Lucius Verus, but not seen or mentioned as co-emperor), until his death in
AD 169. The incest, or attempted incest, between Commodus and Lucilla in the movie is not historically
recorded, although Commodus is said to have committed incest with other sisters. Lucilla was in fact
implicated in plots with members of the senate to kill her brother. In AD 182, following an assassination
attempt on Commodus, Lucilla was exiled to Capri and subsequently executed on her brother’s orders.
The city of Rome and the Colosseum is accurately seen as the stadium for the Roman people, though the
topography, views and ground plan of ancient city-centre Rome around it are fictionalized.
The character of Maximus is fictional, although he is similar in some respects to the historical figures of
Narcissus (the character's name in the first draft of the screenplay and the real killer of Commodus) Spartacus
(who led a significant slave revolt), Cincinnatus (a farmer who became dictator, saved Rome from invasion,
then resigned his 6-month appointment after fifteen days), and Marcus Nonius Macrinus (a trusted general,
Consul of 154, and friend of Marcus Aurelius).
Historically, there is no indication that Marcus Aurelius intended to restore republican rule; his Stoic
philosophy would have led him to prefer a monarchical government. Historically, Commodus had been his
imperial colleague since AD 177, and just before his death he named Commodus as his successor.
The ending of the film implies that the Roman Republic was reestablished, ignoring the immediate succession
of Pertinax as emperor in January, AD 193.