Gladiator True Hero

Roman Gladiators had many other talents other than fighting too. They were very good at gathering attention from the media. They had to try and make big names for themselves in order to establish a fanbase. They also had to have great work ethic because usually the strongest man won so it was constant training. They had to set their entire lives around gladiator fighting and keep up with their normal lives, although most of them were in jail they still had lives even while living in a cell.

The Gladiator epic directed by Riley Scott (2000) is based on real life events of the Roman Empire, their society, as well as the role of gladiators. Scott tried to portray the Roman culture as accurately as he could, and even went further to ensure his authenticity by hiring several historians to do so . It is supported by the findings of historians’ research. The film is historically accurate in most parts, including the role of gladiators; gladiatorial games and the aspects of Roman society such as the religions and beliefs. Some characters such as Commodus, Lucilla and Marcus were loosely based on the real life characters. However some parts of the film were exaggerated such as the battles in the arena, where gladiators fought to

Spartacus, born in 109 B.C. ,Who became known during the 3rd Servile war. The Thracian gladiator, played a major role by unifying slaves in an uprising during the Roman Republic. At first Spartacus served in the Roman Army. Spartacus was captured and sold into slavery. In 73 BC he ran away from the Gladiator Training School with 700 gladiators. When they escaped, everybody voted Spartacus to be leader.

Commodus' ambition begins after he kills his father Emperor Marcus Aurelius because he feels that his father did not love him enough and becomes the Emperor of Rome. Marcus says that Commodus "is not a moral man" and that "he cannot rule". Commodus is the Macbeth character in 'Gladiator' but is still not the main character. The main character in the film is Maximus who resembles Macduff in the film. While still being shown as a great fighter, Commodus is also shown in the film as a bit of a coward, after Maximus wins the war for Rome, Commodus shows up late to the victory celebrations acting as if he wasn’t even aware of a war even existing. Quickly after being crowned as Emperor of Rome, Commodus becomes disliked by the Senate and the people of Rome and seen as a pathetic leader. Commodus uses the ambition to be like his father to create barbaric fights in the Coliseum. "He'll bring them death and they will love him

Gladiators were often seen as godly, but only if they survived the games. “Gladiatorial displays were red-letter days…”.(Coleman) This quote represents how the men were saint like. If they survived, they often became celebrities. They were famous because they survived two stages of risking their lives.

Spartacus is one of the most well known heroes to this day. He lead a whole slave revolt that lasted for two years. His history with Rome is so complicated, it's hard to understand how he ever became a gladiator. He fought alongside the Romans for a time, and then switch sides and defeated the Romans in numerous battles. Spartacus will forever be remembered as the hero gladiator that helped slaves escape and was the man that defeated legions of Romans time and time again.

On the other hand, in Gladiator, Maximus is a much more straightforward thinker. He clearly states his purpose of revenge when he meets Commodus for the first time after his wife and son were murdered. He says to Commodus, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius… Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered

a person struggling with the various conflicts and problems in his life. The fame, together with the luxury the gladiators experienced when not training or fighting adds to the general feeling of nobility. I suppose its this outward nobility, together with the objective of the Gladiatorial fights to reduce aggression within the general public, that made the fights seem morally and ethically acceptable to the Roman masses. Anyway, the Gladiator fights would be held immediately after the midday executions; the Romans would at this point be more interested in skill and prize than blood.

Gladiator is in the manner that the main characters became slaves/gladiators and the aspect of how “freedom” is earned. Maximus on the other hand, was a Roman General that refused to serve for the Roman new emperor, Commodus, who had murdered his father, Marcus Aurelius, in order to obtain control of the Roman Empire. The biggest difference between Gladiator and Spartacus is the manner in which their respective freedom is earned. Gladiators freedom is earned thru defeating Commodus, who sentences Maximus to be executed. The story begins after he escapes his captors and rides off to his farm. This is after he discovers that his family has been murdered by said King/Emperor Commodus. Maximus collapses from exhaustion and is then picked up by slave traders and sold to Proximo, thus leading to his voyage of becoming a Gladiator and his fight against the King. Another difference is that Spartacus is pressured into fighting the best gladiator of the Roman army, upon the conclusion of his training however, he is defeated. Afterward he becomes leader of the Army of Slaves and in an effort to gain the slaves freedom back, he leads them to battle. After being captured, Spartacus ultimately has to fight it out with a slave who is also captured and the winner will be crucified. In Gladiator, Gladiators from all over the Roman

Commodus also went against the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct, which is a shared definition of ethical leadership according to Eisenbeiss (2012), and something that also includes the advocacy of such behavior to followers.(Eisenbeiss 2012:792) Connecting the orientations of justice and moderation, is also applicable here, due to the proposed shift by Aurelius and also something that i.e altered the course of his life drastically and immediately (Eisenbeiss 2012:795) Another aspects addressed in this paper is the dilemma Commodus encounter in his meeting and interaction with Maximus, someone with an authentic leadership style, further contrasting his own shortcomings and strengths. The way that Commodus dealt with his- what he considered- betrayal, actually catapulted Maximus even further into such a leadership, due to the life changing event that occurred when his family was slaughtered (Northouse 2013:266) The theoretical approach for authentic leadership would have it that such leaders display self-awareness, and internalized moral perspective, balanced processing and relational transparency, all of which can be seen in the character of Maximus even though his processing went through stages where his balance was in questions, naturally due to the loss of his family and being imprisoned and sold like a slave. His moral reasoning, stemming from a military core as well, could have said to have a further impact on

The movies Braveheart and Gladiator are two Best Picture winner’s Braveheart won in 1995 and Gladiator in 2000. Both movies share a similar genre Braveheart takes place in a medieval English Isles while Gladiator takes place in a expanding Roman Empire. Both movies share many simialarites, but there are mupltiple differences to be made when comparing these cinema masterpieces. The protagonist of Gladiator is Maximus Decimus Deridiusa a Roman general who has a strong sense of duty to his family, and the Roman empire and Marcus Aurelias the emperor.

Rome had many great things, especially within their love of brutality. Many of the Roman people enjoyed to take a break from their hard, ancient, lives and watch some grown men battle people, lions, tigers, and bears to the death (oh my!).

An individual on average would fight about three times a year, and for the rest of the time travel with the troop. The troops swore an oath to their master, and traveled from city to city looking for work (Roman Gladiator). The social class of the Gladiators was rather ironic in itself. On one hand they were considered slaves, that's the lowest class in a social structure, but on the other hand, some gained popularity and were looked upon as great warriors and heroes. Some rose to celebrity status in a short time as in the movie when Maximus became a hero to the public eye, worthy of praise of greater importance than even the king himself. In the movie this was a direct result in the downfall of Commodus, but this isn't factual, as Maximus is a fictional character. It just demonstrates the influence the Gladiators had on the public eye, he was the ‘Rockstar of the Roman Empire'.

During the Roman Empire many emperors ruled in their own ways. Some were considered to be one of the “Five Good Emperors, ” and the others didn’t last because they were assassinated. They either just cared about themselves or actually cared about the citizens of Rome. The movie Gladiator portrays Roman life and the gladiatorial games. Really though, how does the movie compare to the history of the Roman Empire? I am really interested in the actual history of the gladiators and the movie is one of my favorites. That’s why I chose to do my review on it and I came to find out that the movie didn’t give me the information on the real life and times of the gladiators.

The conflict in this story happened when the antagonist (Commodus) claims the throne and ordered the execution of the story’s protagonist (Maximus). Maximus was able to escape death but was unable to save his family. The story stirs up when Maximus, in a twist of fate became a gladiator in the coliseum of the emperor. There he fought his way up and earned the favour of the masses, Maximus then ends up duelling Commodus in a match of life and death.