The Forgotten Legion By Directed By Ridley Scott

Primary sources are essential to understanding historical time periods because they give a give a glimpse into what life or an event was like in the time that the source was created. They can help to contextualize what was going on and clarify initial understandings of the time period. This primary source, is a poem written by Martial about Gladiator fights in Ancient Rome in 103 CE. It describes Carpophorus who specialized in fighting against animals, and Priscus and Verus, two equally matches Gladiators. The document helps understand the circumstances in Rome at that time.

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'.

Gladiators were mostly unfree individuals either condemned criminals, prisoners of wars who had lost their citizenship rights, although, some of them were volunteers who were mostly freedmen or very low classes of freeborn men who chose to be a slave for monetary rewards or for the fame. Gladiators were brought for the purpose of gladiatorial combat and would endure branding, chains, flogging or death by the sword and subjected to a rigorous training, fed on a high-energy diet, and given expert medical attention. Gladiators were famously popular in ancient from for seven centuries, from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD fairly late in the Public occupied a prominent position in roman society, they would fight in massive

The documentary “Colosseum – A Gladiator’s Story” recounts the story of the famous Gladiator, Verus. The documentary begins with Verus being brought to Rome to work as a slave, his gladiator training, and the day he gained his freedom inside the colosseum. The documentary not only gives the personal story of gladiator within Rome, it also provides a social and political glimpse within a pivotal time of growth and power for the Roman Empire. The documentary mainly uses reenactments with a narrator providing information throughout Verus’ story.

Most of the gladiators were criminals or prisoners of war that were forced to fight in the arena. Although they were considered slaves, they surprisingly had a better standard of living than most lower class Romans. Because they were financial investments, they had access to doctors and medicine, better food, and exercise. As the gladiator became more and more popular, he would attract greater crowds, making him more valuable, which led to getting him a better lifestyle. For this reason, some free citizens, aristocrats, and even emperors would join in hoping to increase their own wealth. Even slaves would train and fight hard because they could purchase their freedom once they accumulated enough wealth.

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

In the fourth chapter, “The Pathfinders”, Strauss explores reasons why local freemen and farmers of Italy would help Spartacus and his men, as well as the movements of Spartacus’ army in its earliest stages. It was critical that locals could help lead these rebels around regions that they couldn’t have understood on their own. Among one of these locals was a man known as the Picentine, who helped lead the rebels around the Eburine hills and avoid the Romans. In these movements, Spartacus continued his guerilla style against the Roman legions, eventually capturing standards of Roman centurions, as well as the fasces of the Praetor Varinius’s lictors, a symbol of power that led to Spartacus’ army swelling in size from either 40,000 to 120,000 men. Spartacus continued moving along the Ionian coast, plundering and taking cities by force, as well as continued training and arming of the army. By the start of 72 BC, the Roman’s would begin to take Spartacus much more seriously.

Polybius, a Greek commander who spent years on military campaigns with Roman armies in the second century B.C.E. (Hunt, Al., 2012, 160) Polybius venerated the Roman camp but it was army discipline that authentically fascinated him. It was rigorous to the point of inhumanity. Polybius believed the ideal Centurion was instilled with the Core Values of the Arête, the Greek value of competitive individual excellence. This commitment or drive imbues a zealousness of self-sacrifice, accolade, obligation, and a commitment to culminate ones ' life in the accommodation rather than peregrinate home in disgrace. Utilizing this philosophy a committed army, led by Centurions who Rome wanted “not so much to be bold and eager to take risks, but rather to be capable of leadership and steady and solid in character, nor do they want them to initiate attacks and precipitate battle”. (Vegetius, F. 2011, 176) It was prosperous in incrementing Rome 's elevate in a troglodytic time into a more Western Civilization.

Both Livy and Aeneas constructed masterworks of literature that would be read by man for over two millennia. What these two authors composed would shape and construct what it truly meant to be Roman, not only to those living during the era, but to those living in the far future as well. The straight facts about past kings by Livy, and the telling tale of an epic hero named Aeneas by Virgil both portrayed the importance of pietas and military fortitude. On the one hand, there is pietas; now seen as one of the highest virtues of ancient Romans, a value that signifies respect and duty to the gods, family, and country above thyself. While military fortitude, or the act of being courageous in spite of the pain or harm that may ensue, was another theme that Livy and Virgil both interacted with that would change how Romans are viewed forever.

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.

Gladiators In the stories “Gladiator university” and “Did Gladiators Always Fight to the Death?” This explains how recent archaeological developments have changed the ways we understand how gladiators lived. One might think that gladiators were all treated poorly and didn't make any money since they were mostly either slaves criminals or even prisoners of war. But in fact Gladiators were not at all treated how our prisoners are treated today since gladiators was a way of making money look at it as an olympic game these gladiators were highly skilled at fighting and they made their money simply by winning.

Before Augustus came to power, Civil war had ravished the basic principle of the Roman people. Piety, the warning to “fulfil our duties towards our country, our parents, or others connected with us by ties of blood” was undermined by faction. The duty towards country, parents and relatives was less of a bond because faction determined duty rather that Pietas. Thus Rome, a city founded in pietas, was that foundational principle. internal faction undermined the principles of pietas and corrupted its role in the city. Rome needed a moral reform towards pietas; Rome needed a refocus on the roots of the empire, its duty towards its ancestors, and unity based in pietas. Commissioned by Augustus, Virgil constructs the Aeneid so that it portrays the cruciality of pietas by redefining Greek epic heroism to include pietas. Each comparason of aeneas to another greek hero emphasises the pietas within him, showing how he is better because of it and combining the heroism of all the Greek heroes into Aeneas. By doing this, virgil shows that to unify Rome through pietas is to harness Rome’s power. Thus, Virgil reveals to the Romans a virtue which allows the individual Roman citizen embody and partake in the glory of Rome.

In Mary Beard’s book, The Roman Triumph, she explores one of the most interesting victory celebrations of the ancient world. Instead of having a small gathering, or even a raucous party, Romans brought what they had seized and carted it through the city. They even brought some people they had captured so that the crowd could know exactly who they triumphed against. This celebration gives historians a view into the Romans lifestyle. Roman triumphs also show what values were important to the Romans and where they found their significance. Using Mary Beard’s book I will demonstrate the nature of Roman triumphs by giving examples from Pompey’s triumph in 61BC, what these triumphs tell historians about the Roman world and why they are significant, and what they tell us about the values the Romans held dear.

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.

After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to