Hollywood Gladiator History

Of the many monumental constructions that the Romans built, one of the most well known is the Coliseum, where brave Gladiators would fight dangerous animals and even each other to entertain the people of Rome. When people see the great arena, it is easy for them to forget the countless men, women, and animals that died fighting each other for amusement. Most people don’t know what it took for them to fight and either win or die, or how many hours they must have spent training to have a chance at defeating their opponents. Who were these gladiators?

Gladiators were a huge part of the Roman society and a large part of Roman culture. The people of Rome loved gladiator battles. The Roman coliseum was built in order to fit the standards of a bloody, brutal battle while also being able to keep thousands of Roman citizens comfortable and entertained.

Directed by Ridley Scott, Gladiator is an epic tale of honor, love, loyalty and power.

Early gladiator fights took place in funerals of wealthy Romans, but their main purpose was to give the people a good show. As the gladiator games grew in popularity, the funeral ritual tradition was eventually dropped and the games were staged for what they were—a display of wealth and entertainment for the masses. By approximately 90 B.C., gladiator games began taking place in circuses and forums. Circuses were elongated arenas with a spine down the middle, designed for chariot racing. In a circus, the audience had good seats but a poor view of the event. Since circuses were built for chariot races, their long and narrow shape made it difficult for someone sitting on one end to see an event going on at the other end. A good example of a circus is the Circus Maximus. This structure was the first and largest circus built by the Romans and it could hold up to 250,000 people. Forums were open gathering places in the center of a town, often with a monument in the middle. Audiences watching a gladiator event in a forum still experienced problems because the ground was flat, so only the people in the first few rows could see anything. Over the years, the gladiator games became even more elaborate to the point where some fights included fights with wild animals. So the Romans now had a problem on their hands: how to fit a large number of people in a way that let them see everything that was

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

When most people think of roman gladiators they think of two men inside some kind of an arena fighting to the death with weapons and armor. Yes the roman gladiators were men who fought with weapons but there is so much more to the history of the roman gladiators that a lot of people don’t know. The Roman gladiatorial fights weren’t just fights people could watch but they were a major significance to the way the romans themselves ordered their lives. Being a part of the romans meant attending these games. The roman gladiator’s fights were one of the most popular events that took place during the ancient roman world. There is so much history when it comes to roman gladiators which is why they were so popular and entertaining to watch. To really understand why the gladiators and their

It was a form of entertainment for the people to go to coliseums to watch the gladiators fight and kill each other. They would pay to watch slaves fight and see the death of a lot of them... Gladiators would be seen as club rites today. It was a part of the Romans daily life to go watch people die... In these days, that type of stuff would be unacceptable and very, very cruel. A lot of the Romans enjoyed too go watch the gladiators fight each other to death, but other thought it as supposed to be

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.

Gore, drama, and action. These are what most people pay Hollywood to show them at the screens. The movie gladiator from the year 2000 is no different. The movie gladiator is a movie with contents that does not align itself historically. Rather it is tainted with a bit of historical accuracy resulting it to be more difficult to discern the accuracy of the movie as it is now ambiguous for which part of the movie is unreliable and reliable. Nevertheless, this paper will be contrast the content of the movie with the historical accuracy of some of the event, the people in the plot, and the gladiatorial combat in the movie, proving the lack of historical revelevancy.

Ridley Scott's Persuasion that Romans are Not Invaders in Film Gladiator Gladiator is a tale of betrayal, bravery and survival. Gladiator (2000) is the critically acclaimed Academy Award winning Action/Drama, which sets the audience expectations high, Ridley Scott had directed gladiator, this being his 14th film. His most famous and successful films include Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). Gladiator is set in the ancient era of the Roman Empire allowing the audience to escape to a fantasy filled with history, culture and adventure. It ambitiously depicts, 'the story of a farmer who became a general, a general who became a slave, a slave who became a gladiator, the gladiator who defied the

Rickey Nelson Professor Culpepper Core 140 November 24, 2014 Gladiator In the year 2000, the movie Gladiator was released in movie theatres around the nation. The movie involves historic roman emperors, different battles and the love of a roman warrior. I will follow along in the story and discover the life and struggles of a gladiator.

The history of the Roman Gladiator is crucial to the legacy of Ancient Rome and its accurate representation is just as

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.

Introduced in around 250BC, gladiators were well-trained individuals who fought against each other to entertain the civilians of Rome. The gladiators fought in the Colosseum, which had a height of about 160 feet and capacity of up to 50,000 people. The Colosseum was also designed to be able to flood and hold ships. The term gladiator comes from the Latin word: "gladius" meaning sword. The profession of being a fighter brought great fame to the individual. The theme of death brought people together to see many young men die in battle. The crowd loved vicious shows that were gory and gruesome. Many gladiators who fought in the Colosseum went on to become tremendous war heroes, due to the intense training provided by the emperor. Gladiators always wore clothing that resembled other nations that the Roman army seized. They were also given unorthodox weapons to fight with and their battles usually illustrated famous ones fought by the Roman army. Sometimes, the ‘damnati ad mortem’, individuals who committed ruthless crimes, went into the arena without a weapon. Gladiators were mostly captives of war or slaves of the rich. Some people saw the fighting as a hobby and spent much time and money picking and choosing from the best of the gladiators. A fanatic of fighting was called a "lanista", or an owner of gladiators. Keeping these gladiators in good health became very expensive over time. Different gladiators were allowed to use different weapons based on their past life. For

The Roman Colosseum, a colossal amphitheater, was built in the first century under Flavian's rule. Many events such as gladiator games, beast fights, naval battles, and much more took place inside the huge elliptical arena. People of all ages and classes attended these well-known spectacles. The Colosseum is a huge Roman architectural achievement and the fact that it is still standing today only amplifies the importance of this structure. Hundred of thousands of people attended the ancient games, and even more continue to visit the arena today.