+Patrick Stewart Yeah! And given that Rome had a massive empire in great need of skilled administrators, making him fight in the games just comes off as wasted talent.
+Patrick Stewart Agree! i don't get the way he makes gladiators sound like NFL players! lol...If they were treated so well, why would they want to get killed in the arena? None of them would die if that was the case! I don't get how you can be a slave in that society and also get free athletic trainers, amazing food, & hookers whenever you want! I don't think that society valued slaves of any kind THAT much! I can believe that they were like "work horses" but they were also forced to be there & had to fight for their freedom like in the movie!
+Fawad B Gladiators weren't common slaves shoveling shit in some farm. They were meant for the public entertainment and therefore they would have wanted them to be as fit and healthy as possible.
@@lordfusiondar1003 In which he didnt realize it was a joke,people make mistakes my guy.Stop trying to sound edgy by picking on an honest mistake,then acting like an asshole after he states why.
Gladiator is “as accurate as an episode of Game of Thrones.” Incidentally, Joffrey Baratheon’s actor, Jack Gleason, drew inspiration from Phoenix’s portrayal of Commodus
Both bratty sadistic little shits with daddy issues. It’s kind of remarkable how similiar Gladiator’s Commodus and even the book version of Joffrey are, not to mention the GoT version.
@@KLil37 the main reason he retired is because it felt more like a job then a fun hobby and he’s been acting since he was a child. He needed time just to be himself. He acts here and there now but he’s not constantly looking for roles like he used to
@@KLil37he’s said multiple times that people never acted strange towards him in real life. It was about acting feeling like a job rather than a paid hobby
I mean, thats generally the case with movies and why they veer off being painstakingly true to the source. Some true stories, if adopted faithfully would make for boring cinema.
Even in "The Sisters Brothers" his character is a drunken nutcase because of the abuse he received from his dad (who doesn't appear in the movie). I guess he just plays the role of an attractive yet somewhat unhinged person well, since he is a bit eccentric in real life too.
I generally think that 2 years is quite long, I find a few months quite long, because I know that time in retrospect has to do with memory(more than it has to do with time flying by), but in a 20 year total, I think we can easily round up 18 years to 20.
I've always hated Joaquin Phoenix as an actor for the same reason. I know it's not fair but I always see Commodus. I avoid his movies as I know I'm going to prejudge him.
I just want to know why he looked so pale and sick with like shadows on his eyes.. I want to assume that was part of the characters make up? Correct me if I’m wrong
Can't believe they didn't say anything about how RARE deaths were in Gladiatorial games. you really think the owners would spend all that money treating them like " well-bred race horses" if there were a 50% probability of losing one each match? How much would you invest in a race horse if you knew that if it did not win it would be immediately slaughtered? Gladiatorial combat was basically ancient RAW ( as in American wrestling) only less scripted.
+Joshua Fox You're thinking of the in the time of the Republic. In the Imperial times the games were a state-funded, and they were on a much larger scale and death was more common.
Many gladiators were not even slaves ESPECIALLY in the imperial period. It was a profression and very few ever died in the arena. But that does not mean few people died. It was a very common punishment for criminals to be sentenced to death by gladiator. So yes many people were killed in the arena they just were not gladiators.
In the movie, Marcus Aurelius didn't reject Commodus to be his successor because he didn't love him, he rejected him because he knew he was too unsuitable for the role. He knew how much of a sick, twisted little bugger he was. At least, in the movie.
The plain marble statues bug me. That's how they look in museums today, so it's what the audience expects (like undecorated stone castles), but they would have been painted and colourful.
I used to work at a video store when this movie came out, I was obsessed with it. Played it on the monitors non-stop, knew the dialogue inside and out. Best job I ever had, until I got robbed at gun point :S
Marcus Aurelius wrote "Meditations", and he actually mentions a General named Maximus, I recommend it, it's a good read and I feel it gives an insight on the kind of man he was later in his life...
Commodus was such a shit head that even ancient historians vilified his mother and made up stories that she had affairs and wasn’t Marcus’s son. They just couldn’t believe such a great man could have such an awful son.
His summary at the end perfectly sums up what I believe about historical films. They may not always be accurate, but if they get an audience interested in the actual history, then that alone justifies the changes.
It probably got a LOT of people into HEMA and into history. In the future, we may see more fantastic shows and reenactments from history, because it has always been some mystery and the more people get into it, the more likely someone is to find something new to try and it works
@@cheekymeeky1813 No. He hates Kingdom of Heaven because the inaccuracies are flat-out misrepresentations of the time period, whitewashing one side while villainizing the other to produce an intellectually-stunted, modern politics tinged lens of the Third Crusade. Just listen to the opening minutes where he goes on about how the period is presented in the opening text crawl and establishing shots of Europe and Palestine, versus how it actually went down. Or how the film presented the Crusades as nothing but European warmongering and land-grabbing, as opposed to the (relative) unification of a fractured continent against a geopolitical and existential threat.
@@X525Crossfire okay thats true, I give you that. What I don't like is the fact that he watches half the mobile, and then rants that everything sucks and thats it thanks for watching. What about the amazing fights and for fucks sake finally accurate armour and clothes! And with other movies he goes weeeelll at least are they fun and make people interested! It just sounded like: I dont like it so it must suck!
@cheekymeeky1813 I use the opening crawl as an example, mostly for the history side of things. He also just doesn't like it as a film because of its bad plot, one- or two-dimensional characters, and dialogue. And if he doesn't like it as a movie and it utterly fails as a representation of the time period, doesn't that mean...he's going to give it a bad review? 🤔 And the professional critics weren't exactly pounding tables shouting "BEST PICTURE!" when it came out, either.
I just realized that it was a Ridley Scott production and of course it wasn’t a surprise to me that he was the one in charge. Everything he does is sick af ! I’m digging the Raised By Wolves series right now! You had a chance to watch it yet? 1st full episode is on here if not!
I fucken loved Gladiator. A great moment in my childhood. I cried like a water fountain at the end. Such a powerful film. And ofc, very little could save Rome at the end, except maybe marcus aurellius taking care of his son properly, but yeah, who cares about the accuracy, when the movie is made that fucking good.
If it hadn't been Commodus, some other emperor would have failed as epically as him at doing his job eventually. There were plenty of bad ones after all. The Roman Empire would have perished regardless and you can't pinpoint its downfall on one person, there are a lot of factors that contributed to that. My personal favourite is best described by a comment under the "Ten Minute History" video about it: "Moral of the story: Outsourcing soldiers is a terrible idea".
I grew up in the 80s and early 90s watching brainless action and loved them. Then when I went cinema in 2000 aged 22 I came out of cinema in SHOCK. Never seen a modern epic like that before. Have watched a hundred times since have soundtrack and all.
Some people will criticize Gladiator for still having too many action scenes, implying that it's also a braindead movie. I think that could not be further from the truth. It's the classic hero's tale done really well. A movie doesn't have to be boring or pretentious in order to have depth.
I feel the same way! Everyone should enjoy a little bit of Rambo and Terminator. But an epic will always be an epic, and should have a place in your heart
"See that map Maximus its from the future my son will begin the decline of Rome which is why I will reinstate the senate and no longer make my sons emperor"
It was actually quite rare for a gladiator to die in the arena. It happened but it was not the norm. Race horses are a good analogy, a skilled gladiator was very valuable! You wouldnt want your race horse to be killed if it came second. Imagine if football teams where given knives and the last man standing won. Barcelona vs man city would have a massive impact on the transfer market, their clubs and their agents... thats a bad buissiness model.
@James Beech Yes, the lanistas (gladiator school owners) were a powerful business lobby, and they invested a huge amount in their gladiators, as racing stable owners do promising racehorses. A new emperor, hungry for popularity and profligate with gladiators’ lives might find himself and his bodyguards waylaid in a back alley and slaughtered by a powerful but anonymous group of thugs who suddenly disappeared in the night. The Senate, who had nominal charge of the public purse, were often behind that.
Omg, if you gave them knives, imagine how bad the flopping and rolling around after every hit would be.....however, I'd totally watch that sport....might even buy a replica chain mail jersey with my number and name on the back 👍
Great video, but there were a couple things you missed here. 1. Flaming arrows would largely be wasted arrows. They don't go far, would be expensive to make, and have reduced penetrating power. 2. Most gladiator fights did not end in death. Most deaths were accidental and the owner of the gladiator who was responsible for the death had to pay for the gladiators replacement. 3. The Colosseum is not nearly as large as it is depicted in the film. 4. The whole thumbs up or down for live or die did not happen and was actually conceived of in a painting called "Pollice Verso" that you actually included in the video. Bonus Fact. Not all legionaries wore red tunics. Roman Marines wore blue, and land units largely had a choice of color. It is said that legionaries like the color red, but that is largely the end of the historical description. Tunics likely were Red, White, as well as Yellow as those were cheap colors to make. The tunic colors were likely based upon where that legion is from. For example a Legion from modern day Spain would likely have yellow tunics as that was a regional dye.
The thumbs up meant death as in the signing of the sword raise to the sky, and it wasn't a thumb down but both of there fist closed representing a sheathed sword
Turul HEMA Why is this not the absolute top comment here? I was going to write all of this, and here I see it’s been written a year ago and is languishing halfway down the comment page.
@@LumiRocketsI'm assuming there is not a lot of Postgraduate students with MPhil perusing this channel. The host may just be a Ancient History buff. I don't know if he has a masters degree or if it's just a hobby. I just came across the channel and it's fairly interesting to see the films his viewers have chosen for him to dissect. He seems to throw in some humor and historical landmarks which can be akin to some popcorn entertainment.
I thought the reason many tunics worn by roman legionaries were red due to the fact that they saw themselves as the "Sons of Mars", the Roman god of war, whose color was, of course, red.
Not possible by 180. If you want to go see one that can do that go to spain. There is an old roman amphitheater that has signs of water damage that almost certainly DID host water battles. And it is possible, though highly unlikely that it happened in rome. The wooden flooring was not water tight and was not strong enough to hold the weight of water if it were flooded. It is possible that before it was upgraded by Domitian it was possible. But not in 180.
Right! The real gladiator battles were so much more epic than most of the ones in the movie. It would have been cool and wouldn't have taken away from the movie at all to have them portrayed more accurately.
I visited it less then 10 days ago and the guide told us this is a made up story. Problem would be to dispose the water unless they would led it flood into residential areas.
Yeah it may be historically inaccurate, but it is a fine film that does some justice to the memory of Rome. Plus it spurred more people to pick up Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, so the film promoted greater learning and cultural knowledge.
@@ingriddubbel8468 It would be nice if you would you be calling "nonsense" would be offering some counter arguments. They might be convincing, but id like to hear them.
I actually thought the meditations of Aurelius in the film were just shoe horned in by a preachy liberal Hollywood, I had no idea he was a philosopher when he lived.
@@chatteyj His Meditations are actually one of the most influential philosophical books ever written, many world leaders have and do keep a copy of it on hand everywhere they go.
My favourite gladiator thing is that apparently they tried to get a lion and a beer to fight expecting to be a long drawn out thing, and the bear killed the lion in a single blow
Under Constantine the Great, first Christian Roman Emperor the games still continued, however I believe that they used wooden swords etc to make it sit more comfortably with the new Christian ethic.
Depends on the source, really. The mortality rate of gladiators is unclear. It would make sense, however, that they would receive premium health care. They were athletes, tremendous investments for their owners and excellent money makers. It stands to reason that people would do whatever they could to extend the lifespan of those investments as long as possible.
True but MANY still died. Roman's loved blood. The gladiators are only a portion of the pie that was the "The Games". In a series of games so a few months 4,000 people and 11,000 were animals. I'm guessing at least 200 would have been gladiators.
@@Daylon91 That wasn't the point. The point is that gladiators didn't fight each other to the death. And they didn't, because they were expensive to replace. He didn't say they didn't kill slaves, because we all know they did.
Another historical flaw is that they call Colosseum by the name it got almost a 1000 years after it was built - Colosseum. The original name was the Flavian Theatre, which it kept until around the year 1000.
commenting on a video about a movie and its historical accuracy and mistakes in that regard, and insulting someone talking about the exact same thing. Holy shit what the fuck has this earth come to...
Also Romans favorite form of entertain was actually chariot racing, and they supported their teams so passionately that massive fights/battles would consume the city killing sometimes hundreds of people
My biggest issue with the film is that it cemented the idea that gladiators were all forced into these brutal fights to the death. Firstly, most gladiators joined voluntarily because it was a highly desirable job. Secondly, the overwhelming majority (>90%) of fights didn't end in the loser's death. The trainer had final say over whether the gladiator died and almost never did because gladiators were expensive and time-consuming to train and good gladiators were celebrities. Oh and also the whole thumb up/down thing is bollocks.
Discovered the channel yesterday...can't stop watching....help! Great video's and information giving about the historical correctness :) Really loving it!
I've never viewed Gladiator as a historical film. More like an fictional story based in a historical setting. Still, there are a few historically inaccurate decisions I found odd, like for example Marcus choosing Maximus over his son just for narrative tension. Commodus had many reasons to force Maximus into the Colosseum, like jealousy and spite, and it would have not impacted the story other than made it historically more accurate
I knew because when I joined the emperors army my lungs would collapse and I'd require medical assistance. (I was infected sadly almost immediately during the onset of the outbreak in Canada)
You’re a slave with an illusion of freedom You wear the chains of bondage & servitude you forged link by link freely & believe you have freedom & choice. You believe the lie so totally, you can’t see the truth. We are all slaves. Sold a beautiful lie.
just a few weeks ago I saw a video of a guy retardedly trying to plug an USB into his computer. It had the interstellar docking scene music and I got goosebumps.
I found out there were actually early scripts of the film where Maximus' image was used to sponsor a brand of olive oil. What's even stranger was that I also found out just how bizarrely accurate that was to real-life gladiators.
J M according to IMDB it’s a Tervuren Belgian Shepherd (very closely related to Belgian Malanois which is often mistaken for German Shepherd), which also didn’t exist yet. Apparently they were going for “pet wolf” but the UK government wouldn’t let them import wolves for filming due to rabies concerns. But that’s also kinda dumb especially since Rome did have actual attack dogs in breeds that are commonly available today like rotweilers
At the time of Marcus Aurelius's death two new provinces had been added to the Empire - Marcomannia and Sarmatia, both on the north bank of the river Danube. These gains were relinquished by Commodus as soon as he became Emperor. Technically, Marcus Aurelius did indeed expand the Roman Empire, but his son had other priorities so his father's hard work went to waste.
even with all of the backlash and all of the comments on how it didn't deserve Best Picture (because it didn't), I have to say that 16 years later, Gladiator is still a very very good film. Hell, it feels a little more special now as an epic considering all of the uninspired blockbusters we get nowadays
It does have a place in movie history because it really did bring back the massive historical epic with huge crowd scenes, huge battles and massive buildings. That particular style had pretty much died off because it was so expensive. This one brought it back and showed people how you could pull that off with CGI now.
These days when I watch a "historic" movie, I go in assuming its pretty much all bullshit. But I'm usually willing to cut them slack if its a good story that at least looks authentic.
i have that struggle with vikings. leather armor, vikings wearing no helmets (I can see that for the main characters this has theatrical reasons, but no viking warrior wears a helmet ever. it's ridiculous), swordcuts basically ignoring the laws of physics by cutting through gambeson or even chainmail... long list of inaccuracies. but the characters. damn. they make it worth watching.
A scene from the greatest film with Romans in it ever made: CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'? BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'. CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on! BRIAN: Aah! CENTURION: Come on! BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'? CENTURION: Goes like...? BRIAN: 'Annus'? CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...? BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'? CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'? BRIAN: 'Go'. Let-- CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'. BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'. CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...? BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'. CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...? BRIAN: The... imperative! CENTURION: Which is...? BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'! CENTURION: How many Romans? BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'. CENTURION: 'Ite'. BRIAN: Ah. Eh. CENTURION: 'Domus'? BRIAN: Eh. CENTURION: Nominative? BRIAN: Oh. CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy? BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! [Centurion draws sword] No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah! CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...? BRIAN: The locative, sir! CENTURION: Which is...?! BRIAN: 'Domum'. CENTURION: 'Domum'. BRIAN: Aaah! Ah. CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand? BRIAN: Yes, sir. CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times. BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir. CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off. BRIAN: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!
Chariot races were far more popular than gladiatorial games in ancient Rome. The Circus Maximus (Rome's foremost chariot track) not only sat 4 times more people than the colosseum, it was more than 500 years older. The colors of the various teams pervaded every level of Roman life. Your preferred team was an almost sacred part of your identity, so much so that the city would regularly declare war on itself due to chariot races, creating multiple city wide riots, something never caused, to my knowledge, by gladiatorial games.
That's really you need to do as a director to avoid flame from history buffs. Some get a ton of flak because they never stated their movie as historically accurate, authentic, or otherwise.
I love that Marcus Aurelius is the emperor in this movie. One of my favorite stoic philosophers. I wasn’t even aware he was an emperor as well until I watched this movie.
How the hell did you NOT know that Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor? If you even read "Meditations," even in those journal entries Aurelius shares info about his Emperor life.
William uhm very interesting question, I’m sure you are dying to know the full story. I was just getting into stoicism as a philosophy when this movie came out, I didn’t read meditations or others like Seneca until later. Also the movie isn’t very accurate at all depicting his actual time as an emperor according to his own writings and written history it was easy for me to miss the connection. I apologize for this tragedy. I will never miss that connection again when I’m getting into a field of study. Bless me father for I have sinned.
I listened to Zimmer’s Gladiator score on repeat during a study tour in Rome... I think it’s the only music I actually listened to the entire time lol. What a beautifully atmospheric film and score! Fantastic review and analysis here, by the way, thank you for sharing! Would love to see more pertaining to the Ancient World from you!
@@jakehames727 how long does it take you drive 100 miles? About 3 hours. Now consider that germany and spain are about 1200 miles apart, and you have horses who wont be able to spernt the whole way, will need rests consistently, as well as food and water, plus carrying weights.
paco ramon In the film it clearly shows the amount of time that passes. His hair overgrown, change of attire and Commodus hair also changes radically too.
That's Ridley Scott for you. Making an epic movie with great production, costumes, set, actors, visuals but for some reason he refuses to make a normal length movie. He films and edit like 5h of footage and the just cuts half of it.
It wasn't even technically Germany! Marcus Aurelius died at Vindobona (and in the movie, right before the Battle of Zama re-fight, one of the gladiators mentioned he served with Maximus there), which is where Vienna is now.
A slave speaking (and apparently writing) seven languages wowld be equivalent to a high end computer, and using such a slave as a gladiator wowld be like using a world- class dog-show winning dog for low dog-fighting training bait.
yea its highly unlikely a trained scribe would be used as a gladiatorial slave. A trained scribe would probably have been sold to a wealthy family as a tutor for their children.
True except that gladiators were star athletes and were treated like the star athletes of today. Or like the movie stars of today. Free men would volunteer to become gladiators just for the recognition.
While this movie may have been historically inaccurate, it's still one of my all time favorite films. When I saw the previews that included one of my favorite directors, with one of my favorite actors, about my all time favorite subjects which are ancient Rome and gladiators, this is the only movie I've ever gone to see by myself when it opened. I have to say I was incredibly blown away then, and still love this movie. I doubt many of the gladiator movies I grew up with in the 60's were any more accurate or realistic, they were actually much less so. The combination of directing, acting, storyline, visuals, and soundtrack made for a truly epic film that is an exception to what we have to endure now at the box office, and that saddens me.
The barbarians knew that the emperors would sign treaties only with kings. So, now for the first time, the barbarians had a vested interest in their own kingship, and their kings had a vested interest in treaties with Rome. Without passing through some sort of screening as clients, the odds were very small that you or your friends would ever be granted permission to enter the empire as immigrants. So, if that was your goal (which it was for the barbarians), you had better create a kingship recognizable to the Romans. Thus, Romans molded barbarians into acceptable neighbors. Marcus also admitted many barbarians into Roman legions, on the condition that they formally submit to Roman imperial officers. Yes, when Marcus Aurelius died in 180, Rome was poised to complete the program of conquest, but he also inadvertently made the barbarians form kingships among themselves, a very short-sighted view of what this could present. So, the peace Marcus thought he achieved could only have been temporary, and in another half century war and invasion resumed.
This movie has a special place in my heart. I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out with my brother and 3 really good friends. I know its not accurate but I still love it.
Exactly, it was insanely expensive and incredibly time consuming to train, feed, and care for a gladiator. It would take years and years of constant training and pampering to make one gladiator able to put on a good display for the crowd, so to kill them often would be idiotic since within a few years maybe even less, you would be out of gladiators to put on good performances. Gladiators were very similar to pro wrestlers, they were taught how to fight in ways that looked very aesthetically pleasing but did the minimum amount of damage to their opponent. It was more like a very deadly form of stage performance than an actual duel to the death.
I also read that gladiators rarely died and if they did it was usually an accident. Also if they did die that the owner had to be compensated. If it was intentional the owner of the offending slave could also be charged with murder/manslaughter which wouldn’t be good for him obviously.
Gladiators were rarely killed. Most gladiators were not even slaves. They did it as a profression. But that doesnt mean alot of people didnt die. Not all those in the arena were gladiators. Many were criminals convicted to death by gladiator.
Also, the gladiator types, the fact that only certain types were pitted against another types, their armour and weapons, and that they were based on enemies Rome had faced in the past. This guy is certainly not a Roman History buff.
One thing, Romans favorite form of entertainment was actually chariot racing, supporters would kill each other over loses, with after some races hundreds of people would die
@Stephen Bidgood yeah they were called demes and there were the blues, greens, reds, and whites. (Later it was just the greens and the blues). It's pretty crazy that caused a riot that destroyed approximately half of Constantinople.
Love History Buffs and currently working my way through them, Gladiator is definitely one of my favourites of all time & one of Ollie Reed’s finest performances in my opinion
You should have mentioned the fact that thumbs up and thumbs down actually meant the reverse of what most people think. Thumbs up meant death, and thumbs down meant swords down.
When I first saw this in the theater, within five minute I was in awe of it and thought, They remade Fall of the Roman Empire. This was the kind of epic they were making fifty years prior. This was my generation's Ben Hur and Spartacus. It was masterful storytelling in an era that forgot how to tell a story. Instead of space battles and street gangs duking it out with police, it was a trip back 2000 years. I think that's an angle you missed, how this movie emulated the epics from the 1950s and stood out against the action movies of the early 21st Century.
I use this movie in my World History classes. I tell my students it's a very good movie, then show it to them. They get really into it, then I assign them a paper to write how inaccurate it is. It blows their minds. What is good about it is it really captures the essence of how people imagine Rome. It's not steeped in detail like the Didius Falco and Flavia Albia books (Roman noir murder-mysteries by Lindsey Davis, check 'em out!) nor is it painstakingly true to events like the Warrior of Rome series (Harry Sidebottom). It's not even reveling in the values dissonance of Rome vs. Modern day while being largely accurate in broad strokes and extremely accurate in the little details like the HBO-BBC Rome series (which owes a lot to Gladiator). It's a broad strokes pastiche of what comes to mind when people say 'the glory that was Rome' or 'the Roman Empire.' It's Rome at its most decadent, its most fantastical and greatest extent, the unchallenged greatest empire in the world (alongside the Eastern Han in China, but totally different spheres of influence, also Aksum in East Africa). It's for this reason I use Gladiator in school, to give my students a taste of Rome as it is best remembered, then let them know the well is far deeper than they can see from the surface.
Gladiator wasn't just a great movie. With its breathtaking cinematography, larger than life characters, and probably one of the most epic musical scores in cinematic history, Gladiator was a damn spiritual experience!
One thing that have always set this movie apart in my eyes are the epic music (As is also mentioned) Its bloody SICK and even to this day still gives me the shivers and tears to the eyes when listening to it.
He quickly lost interest in being an effective ruler once he discovered the gladiatorial lifestyle. Commodus did remain popular with the people for quite some time
I remember that my Roman History professor at university loved this movie to pieces despite its inaccuracies, and he used to say that there was one thing that they truly got historically right, and that is that "if a legion general was really put to fight into an arena with gladiators he would have munched them like delicious cookies"
Romans never enslaved their ruling elite - the senatorial aristocracy, and furthermore never made them gladiators either. If some senator (or group of senators) was found quilty in conspiracing against the emperor, they were either executed by pretorians or allowed to commit suicide. Senators were never crucified or thrown to arena in the Ancient Rome, as they were not subject to humiliating punishments. This is the very grave mistake in this very movie.
@@yunarukami14 Yeah that's what happened. He escaped and when he fell unconscious he woke up in a slave wagon and he was labeled initially as a deserter by people who just saw the SPQR tattoo. They didn't know he was a general because he didn't have any markings to signify it.
So would I! There is a video out there that comes somewhat close to what this channel does but definitely not as good and entertaining as this channel would.
This was great to get more insight into what was happening historically during this period. I've seen this movie several times and still watch it about once a year.
In my opinion, at 4:20 it's clear to see that Marcus Aurelius speaks about the world ''I created''' because he refers to himself as '''Caesar'', which is, beside the actual title - ruler, emperor, you name it, a standard, a thing beyond the meaning of the titles. I think that's more in his mind than the actually title. It's like a superpower, it's like a demigod thing. I don't know if it's true, but this thing can be an explanation.
It may not be 100% accurate, but it treats much of it's topic matter with respect. That's why people would think of this film as a good historical movie about a piece of Rome
Travis Hernandez same man! Somehow got him into my recommended and I have been watching non-stop during slow times at work lol. Simply fascinating channel and very very informative!
Small (somewhat insignificant) detail u missed and couldn't have known about unless you're a specific kinda dog guy... At 3:16 they show a "war dog". Unfortunately it's a German Shephard type dog. And while the Roman's were fighting against a Germanic army, they definitely would've been using an actual war dog. A breed of dog literally bred for war. It's called a Cane Corso or possibly a Neopolitan Mastiff if the general came from real money. The Corso is a decedent/offshoot of the Neo and has been around for about 4000 years. They were bred specifically for war and guardian purposes for at least a thousand years by this time. Look em up. They're a badass breed and terrifying to be on the bad side of
@CC not Rotweilers. That breed fidn't exist in Toman zimes. But Neopolitan Mastiffs. Impressive dogs, with deep voices. There were used to grighten, not really to fight.
funnily enough - i watched it last night and a friend told me about how the music was legendary and that hans zimmer did it. ...i then tried to remember literally any scene with music and i simply could not. as a musician, i'm kinda disappointed in myself. ha could mean though that it was a perfect complement to the movie and didn't overpower it at all. 🤷♂️
I completely disagree with your analysis of the opening battle sequence. NO, the Romans did not have NAPALM, no they did not break ranks immediately after contacting the enemy in melee combat, no they did not use volleys of fire arrows. How is this at all an accurate recreation of Roman military tactics?
+Seleukos The Victor He didn't say the battle was realistic, he said it captured what a warmachine the Roman army really was well. Just because it does a good job of showing what a beast the Roman legions truly were doesn't mean its realistic.
+MrBanausos Did you actually watch the video? Go back to 4:50, where he describes the battle and says that it "authentically" portrays Roman tactics. This is false.
MrBanausos Ahem, if you go to the 300 video and skip to about 14:17. And I quote "it manages to be historically authentic and completely bonkers at the same time". 300 was in no way historically authentic, it got characters wrong, it got tactics wrong, it got events wrong, it got equipment wrong, it even got the Spartan political system completely wrong. Dumb ass.
If you had a slave that was a scribe who could read and write 7 languages, why would you make him a Gladiator? He'd be more useful as, well, a scribe!
+Patrick Stewart Yeah! And given that Rome had a massive empire in great need of skilled administrators, making him fight in the games just comes off as wasted talent.
MrBanausos
You're trying too hard.
MrBanausos
Aaaand you're blocked. Have a nice day :)
+Patrick Stewart Agree! i don't get the way he makes gladiators sound like NFL players! lol...If they were treated so well, why would they want to get killed in the arena? None of them would die if that was the case! I don't get how you can be a slave in that society and also get free athletic trainers, amazing food, & hookers whenever you want! I don't think that society valued slaves of any kind THAT much! I can believe that they were like "work horses" but they were also forced to be there & had to fight for their freedom like in the movie!
+Fawad B Gladiators weren't common slaves shoveling shit in some farm. They were meant for the public entertainment and therefore they would have wanted them to be as fit and healthy as possible.
As Commodus dies at the end of the movie he whispers to Maximus “my life was never a tragedy, it was always a comedy.”
🖤
you sneaky boy
@@lordfusiondar1003 In which he didnt realize it was a joke,people make mistakes my guy.Stop trying to sound edgy by picking on an honest mistake,then acting like an asshole after he states why.
LordFusionDaR cringe
Give this man an oscar
Biggus Dickus, the greatest champion in all
Of gladiator history
i had a nephew named Biggus.
Don't forget his wife, Incontinentia Buttocks.
WestKraven heard about him
Rip graham
Hail Theethaaah!
"Can you imagine Russel Crowe chocking out a naked Joaquin Phoenix?"
I see you've read my fan-fiction.
I can imagine Russel C, chocking the Jocker Phoenix !
@@waterfountain4145 Jor-El/Zeus choking out the Joker.
😁
How like a wrestler strangled the real life Commodus.
"Is Rome worth one good mans life?"
Romulus: "Yes."
but Remus tho
@@endaloresandsprinkles9345 You better not mess with the man when he says he's building a great wall.
@@henrik3291 -... --- ..
@@endaloresandsprinkles9345 B8? Bait? xD
@@henrik3291 oh did I write it wrong, I meant to put -... ... .., wich means boi
Gladiator is “as accurate as an episode of Game of Thrones.” Incidentally, Joffrey Baratheon’s actor, Jack Gleason, drew inspiration from Phoenix’s portrayal of Commodus
@@KLil37 it's true! To make the audiences hate you that much takes amazing acting skills!
Both bratty sadistic little shits with daddy issues.
It’s kind of remarkable how similiar Gladiator’s Commodus and even the book version of Joffrey are, not to mention the GoT version.
@@KLil37 the main reason he retired is because it felt more like a job then a fun hobby and he’s been acting since he was a child. He needed time just to be himself. He acts here and there now but he’s not constantly looking for roles like he used to
@@KLil37he’s said multiple times that people never acted strange towards him in real life. It was about acting feeling like a job rather than a paid hobby
@@So1asola I stand corrected then, deleting the comment
Despite its inaccuracies, Gladiator is a damn good movie.
I mean, thats generally the case with movies and why they veer off being painstakingly true to the source. Some true stories, if adopted faithfully would make for boring cinema.
I slightly agree, it's nothing GREAT though. Too much action and CGI, couldve been better written. Best thing is acting
Andrew Hoyle you don’t notice the cgi unless ur looking for it tbh
@@lilfrezzy456 yep, and even then it was very well done. Ahead of its time I think
Abdullah Wosaibi that’s a good point, thinking back at other movies from that time it’s definitely goof cgi
I just realized that Joaquin Phoenix plays a dude with daddy issues in all these movies:
Joker
Gladiator
Walk the line
We own the night
In Joker, it is more like Mommy issues.
@@captainhowlerwilson508 both actually
And don’t forget Buffalo soldiers. Hehe in a way😏
His look of instability has made for a very stable career - talk about turning around adversity, after having a James-Dean-esque brother.
Even in "The Sisters Brothers" his character is a drunken nutcase because of the abuse he received from his dad (who doesn't appear in the movie). I guess he just plays the role of an attractive yet somewhat unhinged person well, since he is a bit eccentric in real life too.
Amazing how this movie was released 20 years ago yet looks like something that could’ve been released now. Amazing visuals in so many ways.
Justin Watson 20yrs ago?!?! Noooo I feel old!
Wait, what?!?
Yeah.
I generally think that 2 years is quite long, I find a few months quite long, because I know that time in retrospect has to do with memory(more than it has to do with time flying by), but in a 20 year total, I think we can easily round up 18 years to 20.
I know right? Still one of my favorite movies
''are you ready to rule the empire?''
''yes father''
''well guess what? no you're not lmao''
Based
I like how he actually says it. “Are you ready to do your duty to Rome?” His duty was to man up and take the rejection well.
just watched this 2 hours ago. it was awesome.
''The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum.'' For some reason I just love that quote.
It's only a model!
In a modern connotation it would be: politics is downstream from culture. Which is the truth.
My nigga Carolus
@@ChevySpeedAddict And yet 90% of politicians think they're above us mere mortals.
“When Marcus Aurelius finally declares that communists will not be emperor” Google subtitles so close yet so far off
We did it boys, communism is no more.
🤣
@@TheAurelianProject Based. Marcy Marc just decimated the commies. How can they ever recover?
That's what ya get when leftists run corporations
Joe Biden here.
i love how all romans have british accents in any movie
Evil aliens from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away had British accents too. Pretty amazing!
@@roysheaks1261 that just wouldn't work in a movie lmao
Or Australian in this case. Also Quintus is clearly American.
@@Robert399 New Zealand, but that's a common slip up since they sound similar.
If you were going to pick a modern accent to use, it makes a kind of sense since the British were the last big empire in modern history.
Joaquin Phoenix did such a good job in gladiator that 20 years later I still hate him🤣
My mom calls his performance “slimy” which is perfectly apt. Joaquin was excellent in the role
One of the most satisfying movie deaths of all time. He was such a slimeball, amazing performance.
@@kevinbarry4325 that’s how Ben seemed to me for some reason but I thought I was being prejudging him .
I've always hated Joaquin Phoenix as an actor for the same reason. I know it's not fair but I always see Commodus. I avoid his movies as I know I'm going to prejudge him.
I just want to know why he looked so pale and sick with like shadows on his eyes.. I want to assume that was part of the characters make up? Correct me if I’m wrong
Can't believe they didn't say anything about how RARE deaths were in Gladiatorial games. you really think the owners would spend all that money treating them like " well-bred race horses" if there were a 50% probability of losing one each match? How much would you invest in a race horse if you knew that if it did not win it would be immediately slaughtered? Gladiatorial combat was basically ancient RAW ( as in American wrestling) only less scripted.
THANK YOU!
Yeah I'm kinda surprised how that little factoid wasn't mentioned.
+Joshua Fox
You're thinking of the in the time of the Republic. In the Imperial times the games were a state-funded, and they were on a much larger scale and death was more common.
Many gladiators were not even slaves ESPECIALLY in the imperial period. It was a profression and very few ever died in the arena. But that does not mean few people died. It was a very common punishment for criminals to be sentenced to death by gladiator. So yes many people were killed in the arena they just were not gladiators.
removes helmet* my name is jvnicus felix antonius cina. (band starts playing the catchy tune*)
In the movie, Marcus Aurelius didn't reject Commodus to be his successor because he didn't love him, he rejected him because he knew he was too unsuitable for the role. He knew how much of a sick, twisted little bugger he was.
At least, in the movie.
You're correct. In one scene he says "Commodus is not a moral man"
The plain marble statues bug me. That's how they look in museums today, so it's what the audience expects (like undecorated stone castles), but they would have been painted and colourful.
With eggshells and colorful stones/gems for the eyes
I always think that too
Not just the statues. The whole city, the HBO Rome was much more accurate, but even they screwed up the statues
@@maximiliand2544 eggshells? What you mean ?
You can only be so authentic, at some point the audience stops recognizing history and believe it’s unrealistic.
Bottom line on Gladiator: were you not entertained?
valar YES I I I said a Yes
valar It was one of the best films I've seen. History Buff can definitely be a bit of a kill joy.
Good answer...
"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"
😂 😂
Joaquin Phoenix got robbed. He should have earned an Oscar for best supporting actor in this role.
I agree, but I think Russell Crowe had the harder role. It's more fun playing a raving megalomaniacal psycho than a stalwart, upright good guy.
Yes but Russell won best actor. Joaquin lost to Benicio Del Toro for his role in Traffic. I’ve seen Traffic... he wasn’t that good in it.
@@ERODEROD37 I do think Russell deserved that Oscar. I don't think Joaquin was given much to test him in Traffic.
Not really. He was over the top.
I do know Rease Witherspoon didn't deserve an Oscar for Walk The Line and he did.
He made the movie work, really.
I used to work at a video store when this movie came out, I was obsessed with it. Played it on the monitors non-stop, knew the dialogue inside and out. Best job I ever had, until I got robbed at gun point :S
for DVDs???
@@drartemisa21 lol got robbed for cash at the register!
You should have yelled: *ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED*
sorry
@@johanjonsson6504 I will have my vengeance in this life or the next
Sorry mate
I never viewed Gladiator as a "historical" flick. It was simply a good, entertaining movie.
Of course it was. But intelligent people tend to be interested in the history behind the drama. Stupid people aren't.
@@aquamarine99911 that's a dumbass claim to call people not interested in history stupid but whatever makes you feel special
r/iamverysmart?
Take a load of this guy, a fucking intellectual.
it's really a fan fiction of spartacus
Marcus Aurelius wrote "Meditations", and he actually mentions a General named Maximus, I recommend it, it's a good read and I feel it gives an insight on the kind of man he was later in his life...
Imagine being such a man but your son ends up being a major piece of shit
Commodus was such a shit head that even ancient historians vilified his mother and made up stories that she had affairs and wasn’t Marcus’s son. They just couldn’t believe such a great man could have such an awful son.
He mentions his mentor named Maximus
The book opens with Marcus giving props to his teachers and mentors.
@@RabiddRabitt1984 very good wisdom in those props
His summary at the end perfectly sums up what I believe about historical films. They may not always be accurate, but if they get an audience interested in the actual history, then that alone justifies the changes.
It probably got a LOT of people into HEMA and into history. In the future, we may see more fantastic shows and reenactments from history, because it has always been some mystery and the more people get into it, the more likely someone is to find something new to try and it works
Then he is a hypocrite of the highest level. Didn't he hate Kingdom of Heaven for that reason?
@@cheekymeeky1813 No. He hates Kingdom of Heaven because the inaccuracies are flat-out misrepresentations of the time period, whitewashing one side while villainizing the other to produce an intellectually-stunted, modern politics tinged lens of the Third Crusade. Just listen to the opening minutes where he goes on about how the period is presented in the opening text crawl and establishing shots of Europe and Palestine, versus how it actually went down. Or how the film presented the Crusades as nothing but European warmongering and land-grabbing, as opposed to the (relative) unification of a fractured continent against a geopolitical and existential threat.
@@X525Crossfire okay thats true, I give you that. What I don't like is the fact that he watches half the mobile, and then rants that everything sucks and thats it thanks for watching. What about the amazing fights and for fucks sake finally accurate armour and clothes! And with other movies he goes weeeelll at least are they fun and make people interested! It just sounded like: I dont like it so it must suck!
@cheekymeeky1813 I use the opening crawl as an example, mostly for the history side of things. He also just doesn't like it as a film because of its bad plot, one- or two-dimensional characters, and dialogue. And if he doesn't like it as a movie and it utterly fails as a representation of the time period, doesn't that mean...he's going to give it a bad review? 🤔 And the professional critics weren't exactly pounding tables shouting "BEST PICTURE!" when it came out, either.
Ridley Scott did some amazing work with Gladiator. The directing, the acting and the music all came together perfectly.
I just realized that it was a Ridley Scott production and of course it wasn’t a surprise to me that he was the one in charge. Everything he does is sick af ! I’m digging the Raised By Wolves series right now! You had a chance to watch it yet? 1st full episode is on here if not!
Joaquin Phoenix is exactly how I'd picture a Roman emperor to look. It was a perfect casting.
Yes he really looked like a Roman Patrician. Dark haired and Italic look, not tall and slightly stout.
He had the correct gravitas for the part and was the far more interesting character than Russell Crowe was
I also thought he looked very Roman, especially when he was wearing a wreath.
Eddie Izard “HeLlO.. wErE tHe RoMaNs!”
After Malcolm McDowell as Caligula.
I fucken loved Gladiator. A great moment in my childhood. I cried like a water fountain at the end. Such a powerful film. And ofc, very little could save Rome at the end, except maybe marcus aurellius taking care of his son properly, but yeah, who cares about the accuracy, when the movie is made that fucking good.
or an un-murdered Aurelian, or an un-murdered Flavius Aetius. Jeez, a lot of competent romans got murdered...
@Klausbärbel Fömm Lol all of those movies are cornball, except Star Wars. Gladiator even hits the corn factor at times, especially the ending.
@@Grathom15 Thats a wheat field sir, not corn.
If it hadn't been Commodus, some other emperor would have failed as epically as him at doing his job eventually. There were plenty of bad ones after all. The Roman Empire would have perished regardless and you can't pinpoint its downfall on one person, there are a lot of factors that contributed to that. My personal favourite is best described by a comment under the "Ten Minute History" video about it: "Moral of the story: Outsourcing soldiers is a terrible idea".
Inge Bolme Maybe the US has reached such a moment in history today as of Roman Empire.
I grew up in the 80s and early 90s watching brainless action and loved them. Then when I went cinema in 2000 aged 22 I came out of cinema in SHOCK. Never seen a modern epic like that before. Have watched a hundred times since have soundtrack and all.
Some people will criticize Gladiator for still having too many action scenes, implying that it's also a braindead movie.
I think that could not be further from the truth. It's the classic hero's tale done really well. A movie doesn't have to be boring or pretentious in order to have depth.
Ralph cifaretto approves . Strength and honor .
@@MsJavaWolf yes the movie isn't just about revenge it has a strong moral messege too.
I feel the same way! Everyone should enjoy a little bit of Rambo and Terminator. But an epic will always be an epic, and should have a place in your heart
@Coxyboy ! Thanks will check it out
I was almost named Maximus, my parents loved this movie.
Got to visit the colesium and it is unreal that events kinda similar to this took place.
Hah, I know a girl named Novara.
Ancient cities make for some amazing names… like Jericho, Alexandria, Aswan, Memphis, Sais, I could go on
if that had happened and you built a fort of your own, would it have been called Fortress Maximus? (kudos if you get the reference I tried to make)
I know a kid named Maximus, and I keep asking him to day "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridias..." and he won't.
@@lhunt8249 "My name is gladiator" would be badass answer.
@@IntrepidFC Jericho always gives me shivers, i played the game Clive Barker's Jericho when i was a kid, i enjoyed it but that stuff terrified me.
4:14 "See that map on the wall, Marcus? It's a 12th Century Arab Muslim World Map, and shouldn't exist yet,"
Prince of Antioch bohemond?
"See that map Maximus its from the future my son will begin the decline of Rome which is why I will reinstate the senate and no longer make my sons emperor"
What on that map exactly do you think was unknown in Roman times?
Grow up Asshole!!! Seriously Grow up!!!!
Holy shit your right. ;( This film. The people were so lazy, major points redacted for me.
It was actually quite rare for a gladiator to die in the arena. It happened but it was not the norm. Race horses are a good analogy, a skilled gladiator was very valuable! You wouldnt want your race horse to be killed if it came second. Imagine if football teams where given knives and the last man standing won. Barcelona vs man city would have a massive impact on the transfer market, their clubs and their agents... thats a bad buissiness model.
@JAMES BEECH I have to agree. As an equestrian, I appreciate an excellently executed comparison, especially one connecting horses and history.
@James Beech Yes, the lanistas (gladiator school owners) were a powerful business lobby, and they invested a huge amount in their gladiators, as racing stable owners do promising racehorses.
A new emperor, hungry for popularity and profligate with gladiators’ lives might find himself and his bodyguards waylaid in a back alley and slaughtered by a powerful but anonymous group of thugs who suddenly disappeared in the night. The Senate, who had nominal charge of the public purse, were often behind that.
while this is true, thousands diedwhen they did the naval battle re-enactments mostly because they would drown
Omg, if you gave them knives, imagine how bad the flopping and rolling around after every hit would be.....however, I'd totally watch that sport....might even buy a replica chain mail jersey with my number and name on the back 👍
JAMES BEECH yeah, around 15 percent of Gladiators died in the history of the Roman Empire
Great video, but there were a couple things you missed here. 1. Flaming arrows would largely be wasted arrows. They don't go far, would be expensive to make, and have reduced penetrating power. 2. Most gladiator fights did not end in death. Most deaths were accidental and the owner of the gladiator who was responsible for the death had to pay for the gladiators replacement. 3. The Colosseum is not nearly as large as it is depicted in the film. 4. The whole thumbs up or down for live or die did not happen and was actually conceived of in a painting called "Pollice Verso" that you actually included in the video. Bonus Fact. Not all legionaries wore red tunics. Roman Marines wore blue, and land units largely had a choice of color. It is said that legionaries like the color red, but that is largely the end of the historical description. Tunics likely were Red, White, as well as Yellow as those were cheap colors to make. The tunic colors were likely based upon where that legion is from. For example a Legion from modern day Spain would likely have yellow tunics as that was a regional dye.
Turul HEMA About the thumb up or down bit, I’ve heard they’d actually do a closed fist or an open upward palm. I haven’t looked deep into it though
The thumbs up meant death as in the signing of the sword raise to the sky, and it wasn't a thumb down but both of there fist closed representing a sheathed sword
Turul HEMA Why is this not the absolute top comment here? I was going to write all of this, and here I see it’s been written a year ago and is languishing halfway down the comment page.
@@LumiRocketsI'm assuming there is not a lot of Postgraduate students with MPhil perusing this channel. The host may just be a Ancient History buff. I don't know if he has a masters degree or if it's just a hobby. I just came across the channel and it's fairly interesting to see the films his viewers have chosen for him to dissect. He seems to throw in some humor and historical landmarks which can be akin to some popcorn entertainment.
I thought the reason many tunics worn by roman legionaries were red due to the fact that they saw themselves as the "Sons of Mars", the Roman god of war, whose color was, of course, red.
The score deserves high praise. It made a great contribution to the experience, and you appreciate the music even more when you listen to a recording
sea battles in that coleseum...... I WANNA TRAVEL BACK IN TIME NOW !!
Not possible by 180. If you want to go see one that can do that go to spain. There is an old roman amphitheater that has signs of water damage that almost certainly DID host water battles. And it is possible, though highly unlikely that it happened in rome. The wooden flooring was not water tight and was not strong enough to hold the weight of water if it were flooded. It is possible that before it was upgraded by Domitian it was possible. But not in 180.
before it was upgraded lol
Right! The real gladiator battles were so much more epic than most of the ones in the movie. It would have been cool and wouldn't have taken away from the movie at all to have them portrayed more accurately.
Wrong... there is evident at the fucking amphitheater if you go to it today. It hosted water battles since the creation.
I visited it less then 10 days ago and the guide told us this is a made up story. Problem would be to dispose the water unless they would led it flood into residential areas.
HB: he's portrayed perfectly
Me: Ooh....
HB: By Joaquin Phoenix
Me: No wonder
Yeah it may be historically inaccurate, but it is a fine film that does some justice to the memory of Rome. Plus it spurred more people to pick up Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, so the film promoted greater learning and cultural knowledge.
It's a shame the film didn't also portray Marcus Aurelius as the only Roman Emperor who was also truly a philosopher.
What nonsense.
@@ingriddubbel8468 It would be nice if you would you be calling "nonsense" would be offering some counter arguments. They might be convincing, but id like to hear them.
I actually thought the meditations of Aurelius in the film were just shoe horned in by a preachy liberal Hollywood, I had no idea he was a philosopher when he lived.
@@chatteyj His Meditations are actually one of the most influential philosophical books ever written, many world leaders have and do keep a copy of it on hand everywhere they go.
My favourite gladiator thing is that apparently they tried to get a lion and a beer to fight expecting to be a long drawn out thing, and the bear killed the lion in a single blow
Cuz where did you find this information
Sounds extemely unlikely.... They are about the same size, and lions are used to hunting prey that is even much larger than themselfs.
Fun fact: most gladiators didn’t fight to the death
Imagine being a history channel and getting history wrong
Under Constantine the Great, first Christian Roman Emperor the games still continued, however I believe that they used wooden swords etc to make it sit more comfortably with the new Christian ethic.
Depends on the source, really. The mortality rate of gladiators is unclear. It would make sense, however, that they would receive premium health care. They were athletes, tremendous investments for their owners and excellent money makers. It stands to reason that people would do whatever they could to extend the lifespan of those investments as long as possible.
True but MANY still died. Roman's loved blood. The gladiators are only a portion of the pie that was the "The Games". In a series of games so a few months 4,000 people and 11,000 were animals. I'm guessing at least 200 would have been gladiators.
@@Daylon91 That wasn't the point. The point is that gladiators didn't fight each other to the death. And they didn't, because they were expensive to replace. He didn't say they didn't kill slaves, because we all know they did.
Another historical flaw is that they call Colosseum by the name it got almost a 1000 years after it was built - Colosseum. The original name was the Flavian Theatre, which it kept until around the year 1000.
commenting on a video about a movie and its historical accuracy and mistakes in that regard, and insulting someone talking about the exact same thing. Holy shit what the fuck has this earth come to...
99 percent dont know that. And Colosseum was and is a better name. :P cool fact though...
You're right except for the fact that it was called the Flavian Amphitheatre not the Flavian Theatre
Also Romans favorite form of entertain was actually chariot racing, and they supported their teams so passionately that massive fights/battles would consume the city killing sometimes hundreds of people
and if i remember correctly the name Colosseum comes from the large statue of Nero that was outside of it.
My biggest issue with the film is that it cemented the idea that gladiators were all forced into these brutal fights to the death. Firstly, most gladiators joined voluntarily because it was a highly desirable job. Secondly, the overwhelming majority (>90%) of fights didn't end in the loser's death. The trainer had final say over whether the gladiator died and almost never did because gladiators were expensive and time-consuming to train and good gladiators were celebrities. Oh and also the whole thumb up/down thing is bollocks.
To be fair many gladiators WERE slaves for PoWs. But still no chance of a general (especially a successful one) would fight as a gladiator)
you are right.only 20% gladiatorial battle ended in death.and yes, many successful gladiators had status of celebrities just like modern sports stars.
like pro wrestling
Many Gladiators also did not die because they were being sponsored by companies.
much less an emperor
Who else want to see the authentic "strangled in the bath" ending.
Discovered the channel yesterday...can't stop watching....help!
Great video's and information giving about the historical correctness :) Really loving it!
Same with me today
Just..One...More...Video...
Just discovered this channel today and I've already watched 8 of these videos on my favorite movies. Love it!!!
The old intro was absolutely brilliant!!!You should definitely bring it back.
I discovered this channel 2 hours ago. It's fucking awesome.
Thanks for finding it!
+Ben I discovered it 20 min ago and i know how u feel !
+Ben Ren lol me too
+Ben Ren me too, he is great, and extremely critical about historical movies.
+Ben Ren IKR
I've never viewed Gladiator as a historical film. More like an fictional story based in a historical setting. Still, there are a few historically inaccurate decisions I found odd, like for example Marcus choosing Maximus over his son just for narrative tension. Commodus had many reasons to force Maximus into the Colosseum, like jealousy and spite, and it would have not impacted the story other than made it historically more accurate
“People should know when they have been quarantined”
Would you know?
Did you? Did I?
Would you..would I
I knew because when I joined the emperors army my lungs would collapse and I'd require medical assistance. (I was infected sadly almost immediately during the onset of the outbreak in Canada)
Why are comments like this so popular were you born in 2005?
I cry every time i hear this movie's climax music...
It is pretty awesome, isn't it?
Hans Zimmer is an amazing Composer
me too, damm
i cry every time i climax
Sherb The Superb
As opposed to climaxing every time one cries?
"People should know when they are conquered"
"Would YOU, Quintus? Would i?"
Those lines man.
So damn good.
You’re a slave with an illusion of freedom
You wear the chains of bondage & servitude you forged link by link freely & believe you have freedom & choice. You believe the lie so totally, you can’t see the truth.
We are all slaves. Sold a beautiful lie.
It's also a comment on the 20th century and who started European wars and why.
When a film character is more like a human than the real person he was based on
I thoroughly, _fundemantally_ disagree with your position.
Hans Zimmer can make _anything_ look epic
Anyone know who does the music for the intro?
A. Vendre exactly his music makes everything cool
just a few weeks ago I saw a video of a guy retardedly trying to plug an USB into his computer. It had the interstellar docking scene music and I got goosebumps.
Ranger Jauregui
Wondering too. Sounds like Rasputina.
@ 🤡
I found out there were actually early scripts of the film where Maximus' image was used to sponsor a brand of olive oil. What's even stranger was that I also found out just how bizarrely accurate that was to real-life gladiators.
That is true. Gladiators just like a lot of modern day athletes, were approached by manufacturers to sponsor and advertise their products.
Maximus’ attack dog is the wrong breed. German Shepherds didn’t exist yet. He could have used a rotweiler though
Didnt even look like a german shepard. Looked more like a wolf hybrid
J M according to IMDB it’s a Tervuren Belgian Shepherd (very closely related to Belgian Malanois which is often mistaken for German Shepherd), which also didn’t exist yet. Apparently they were going for “pet wolf” but the UK government wouldn’t let them import wolves for filming due to rabies concerns. But that’s also kinda dumb especially since Rome did have actual attack dogs in breeds that are commonly available today like rotweilers
Pretty sure the Romans used mongrels, although they admired the wolf imagery in their iconography.
The Roman's had a black mastiff like dog. The Cane Corso
@@andyrihn1 That's weird because they have "tamed" wolves in England already. My parents did a wolf tour last time they were over there.
At the time of Marcus Aurelius's death two new provinces had been added to the Empire - Marcomannia and Sarmatia, both on the north bank of the river Danube. These gains were relinquished by Commodus as soon as he became Emperor. Technically, Marcus Aurelius did indeed expand the Roman Empire, but his son had other priorities so his father's hard work went to waste.
even with all of the backlash and all of the comments on how it didn't deserve Best Picture (because it didn't), I have to say that 16 years later, Gladiator is still a very very good film. Hell, it feels a little more special now as an epic considering all of the uninspired blockbusters we get nowadays
It does have a place in movie history because it really did bring back the massive historical epic with huge crowd scenes, huge battles and massive buildings. That particular style had pretty much died off because it was so expensive. This one brought it back and showed people how you could pull that off with CGI now.
why didn't it deserve best picture?
These days when I watch a "historic" movie, I go in assuming its pretty much all bullshit. But I'm usually willing to cut them slack if its a good story that at least looks authentic.
So...
Have you watched Dunkirk yet?
i have that struggle with vikings. leather armor, vikings wearing no helmets (I can see that for the main characters this has theatrical reasons, but no viking warrior wears a helmet ever. it's ridiculous), swordcuts basically ignoring the laws of physics by cutting through gambeson or even chainmail... long list of inaccuracies. but the characters. damn. they make it worth watching.
Guess you might be looking forward to the “Outlaw King”
A scene from the greatest film with Romans in it ever made:
CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.
CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!
BRIAN: Aah!
CENTURION: Come on!
BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'?
CENTURION: Goes like...?
BRIAN: 'Annus'?
CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?
BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'?
CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
BRIAN: 'Go'. Let--
CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.
CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...?
BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.
CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?
BRIAN: The... imperative!
CENTURION: Which is...?
BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!
CENTURION: How many Romans?
BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.
CENTURION: 'Ite'.
BRIAN: Ah. Eh.
CENTURION: 'Domus'?
BRIAN: Eh.
CENTURION: Nominative?
BRIAN: Oh.
CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! [Centurion draws sword] No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...?
BRIAN: The locative, sir!
CENTURION: Which is...?!
BRIAN: 'Domum'.
CENTURION: 'Domum'.
BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.
CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand?
BRIAN: Yes, sir.
CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.
BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.
CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.
BRIAN: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!
+ludocrat Made my day, thanks a lot!
Love Life of Brian
Chariot races were far more popular than gladiatorial games in ancient Rome. The Circus Maximus (Rome's foremost chariot track) not only sat 4 times more people than the colosseum, it was more than 500 years older. The colors of the various teams pervaded every level of Roman life. Your preferred team was an almost sacred part of your identity, so much so that the city would regularly declare war on itself due to chariot races, creating multiple city wide riots, something never caused, to my knowledge, by gladiatorial games.
I did not know that! Interesting
So Formula 1 mixed with typical Philadelphia Eagles fan behaviour, FORMVLA PRIMA if you will.
@@Ballin4Vengeance 🤣🤣🤣
Same with the medieval eastern roman empire in Constantinople.
@@Ballin4Vengeance FORMVLA PRIMA 😂
Tbf Ridley even admitted he wasn't trying to make the film historically accurate
That's really you need to do as a director to avoid flame from history buffs. Some get a ton of flak because they never stated their movie as historically accurate, authentic, or otherwise.
I love that Marcus Aurelius is the emperor in this movie. One of my favorite stoic philosophers. I wasn’t even aware he was an emperor as well until I watched this movie.
Born in the Serbia
@@ilionilion2693 No. He wasn't.
How can Marcus Aurelius be your favorite philosopher when you dont even know that he was an emperor,i mean its literaly not possible lmao
How the hell did you NOT know that Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor?
If you even read "Meditations," even in those journal entries Aurelius shares info about his Emperor life.
William uhm very interesting question, I’m sure you are dying to know the full story. I was just getting into stoicism as a philosophy when this movie came out, I didn’t read meditations or others like Seneca until later. Also the movie isn’t very accurate at all depicting his actual time as an emperor according to his own writings and written history it was easy for me to miss the connection. I apologize for this tragedy. I will never miss that connection again when I’m getting into a field of study. Bless me father for I have sinned.
- "People should know when they're conquered."
Would you? Would i?
Ha! Germania has never been successfully conquered!
Would you Guintas?
@@HarionDafar ehhhhh the soviet tank invasion of ww2 disagrees with you.
@@jamessalvatore7054 No it doesn't. I was talking about a regional's that was called Germania. I am not talking about Germany. Obviously.
“Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt” - Juvenal
This movie is still one of my favorite movies of all time. And, in 2020 I still tear up this movie, to me was pure perfection.
I listened to Zimmer’s Gladiator score on repeat during a study tour in Rome... I think it’s the only music I actually listened to the entire time lol. What a beautifully atmospheric film and score!
Fantastic review and analysis here, by the way, thank you for sharing! Would love to see more pertaining to the Ancient World from you!
This is the one movie I can watch over and over and never get tired of it. Without a doubt my favorite movie. 🎥 🍿
BEST. INTRO. EVER. MADE. the extra drums and guitar combined with historic battles, its too good.
No word about how Maximus gone from Germany to Spain in no time.
@@jakehames727 how long does it take you drive 100 miles? About 3 hours. Now consider that germany and spain are about 1200 miles apart, and you have horses who wont be able to spernt the whole way, will need rests consistently, as well as food and water, plus carrying weights.
paco ramon In the film it clearly shows the amount of time that passes. His hair overgrown, change of attire and Commodus hair also changes radically too.
That's Ridley Scott for you. Making an epic movie with great production, costumes, set, actors, visuals but for some reason he refuses to make a normal length movie. He films and edit like 5h of footage and the just cuts half of it.
Ethan b05 normal length movie?
It wasn't even technically Germany! Marcus Aurelius died at Vindobona (and in the movie, right before the Battle of Zama re-fight, one of the gladiators mentioned he served with Maximus there), which is where Vienna is now.
A slave speaking (and apparently writing) seven languages wowld be equivalent to a high end computer, and using such a slave as a gladiator wowld be like using a world- class dog-show winning dog for low dog-fighting training bait.
yea its highly unlikely a trained scribe would be used as a gladiatorial slave. A trained scribe would probably have been sold to a wealthy family as a tutor for their children.
He probably screwed someone wife and ended up on their shit list hence he was royally fucked.
Eric Moore ya know that’s a good point that guy could have quite a backstory to him given how unusual his circumstances were
True except that gladiators were star athletes and were treated like the star athletes of today. Or like the movie stars of today. Free men would volunteer to become gladiators just for the recognition.
Shawn H Corey well yes but clearly that guy did not want to be there lol
While this movie may have been historically inaccurate, it's still one of my all time favorite films. When I saw the previews that included one of my favorite directors, with one of my favorite actors, about my all time favorite subjects which are ancient Rome and gladiators, this is the only movie I've ever gone to see by myself when it opened. I have to say I was incredibly blown away then, and still love this movie. I doubt many of the gladiator movies I grew up with in the 60's were any more accurate or realistic, they were actually much less so. The combination of directing, acting, storyline, visuals, and soundtrack made for a truly epic film that is an exception to what we have to endure now at the box office, and that saddens me.
Excited for History Buffs: Gladiator II
The barbarians knew that the emperors would sign treaties only with kings. So, now for the first time, the barbarians had a vested interest in their own kingship, and their kings had a vested interest in treaties with Rome. Without passing through some sort of screening as clients, the odds were very small that you or your friends would ever be granted permission to enter the empire as immigrants. So, if that was your goal (which it was for the barbarians), you had better create a kingship recognizable to the Romans. Thus, Romans molded barbarians into acceptable neighbors. Marcus also admitted many barbarians into Roman legions, on the condition that they formally submit to Roman imperial officers. Yes, when Marcus Aurelius died in 180, Rome was poised to complete the program of conquest, but he also inadvertently made the barbarians form kingships among themselves, a very short-sighted view of what this could present. So, the peace Marcus thought he achieved could only have been temporary, and in another half century war and invasion resumed.
This movie has a special place in my heart. I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out with my brother and 3 really good friends. I know its not accurate but I still love it.
How do you not mention that gladiators were rarely killed in these games?
vorbo01 i also heard it was often like fake american wrestling today, everything choreographed.
Exactly, it was insanely expensive and incredibly time consuming to train, feed, and care for a gladiator. It would take years and years of constant training and pampering to make one gladiator able to put on a good display for the crowd, so to kill them often would be idiotic since within a few years maybe even less, you would be out of gladiators to put on good performances. Gladiators were very similar to pro wrestlers, they were taught how to fight in ways that looked very aesthetically pleasing but did the minimum amount of damage to their opponent. It was more like a very deadly form of stage performance than an actual duel to the death.
I also read that gladiators rarely died and if they did it was usually an accident. Also if they did die that the owner had to be compensated. If it was intentional the owner of the offending slave could also be charged with murder/manslaughter which wouldn’t be good for him obviously.
Gladiators were rarely killed. Most gladiators were not even slaves. They did it as a profression. But that doesnt mean alot of people didnt die. Not all those in the arena were gladiators. Many were criminals convicted to death by gladiator.
Also, the gladiator types, the fact that only certain types were pitted against another types, their armour and weapons, and that they were based on enemies Rome had faced in the past. This guy is certainly not a Roman History buff.
Who's rewatching this before the sequel review ?
Congrats on your huge sub boost !
Thanks mate!
+History Buffs Nicky poo
+History Buffs Could you do a review of the movie Gettysburg
I'm new to the channel
WTF was that intro
subbed for its sheer coolness
I was looking for it just like you, and found it deeper in the comments - Palladio by Escala. Cheers!
@@dire_5 THANK YOU. I was looking for the name of the song for so long. THANK YOU
Great take on everything. Just found your channel looking for other history-based video makers... Now going to loose a day binge watching your vids!
Thanks mate! Hopefully I wont let you down :)
+History Buffs I have a request. Although it's not a movie I'd love to hear your take on the Starz Spartacus series.
+History Buffs you should also do a video on Fall of the Roman Empire, since it and Gladiator are the same story, more or less
The business machine has given us the follow up that we didnt need, GLADIATOR 2: please history buff, ENTERTAIN US
One thing, Romans favorite form of entertainment was actually chariot racing, supporters would kill each other over loses, with after some races hundreds of people would die
Romans, not exactly civilized.
Gamble responsibly.
Circus Maximus was THE venue in Rome. Way bigger than the Colusseum.
TY @uppernorwood i never knew that was that huge! its like twice of that of the Colosseum
@Stephen Bidgood yeah they were called demes and there were the blues, greens, reds, and whites. (Later it was just the greens and the blues).
It's pretty crazy that caused a riot that destroyed approximately half of Constantinople.
History Buff: Black Hawk Down and possibly the mash movie
Yes
ImmaLittlePip: I would love his take on ‘Mash’. That was a seventies take on 1950’s events, replete with innuendo and silly comedy and sex takes.
Love History Buffs and currently working my way through them, Gladiator is definitely one of my favourites of all time & one of Ollie Reed’s finest performances in my opinion
lesson of the day: joaquin phoenix is very good at acting as a depressed character
You should have mentioned the fact that thumbs up and thumbs down actually meant the reverse of what most people think. Thumbs up meant death, and thumbs down meant swords down.
Really?! Damn, I didn't know that!
@@SapphireCrusader1988 he is 100% correct.
When I first saw this in the theater, within five minute I was in awe of it and thought, They remade Fall of the Roman Empire. This was the kind of epic they were making fifty years prior. This was my generation's Ben Hur and Spartacus. It was masterful storytelling in an era that forgot how to tell a story. Instead of space battles and street gangs duking it out with police, it was a trip back 2000 years. I think that's an angle you missed, how this movie emulated the epics from the 1950s and stood out against the action movies of the early 21st Century.
Yes! Nailed it perfectly.
16:13 "....However, the 'real' Commodus, the lil' shit that he was."
Lol! Subscribed!
George Edwards instant subscription
I use this movie in my World History classes. I tell my students it's a very good movie, then show it to them. They get really into it, then I assign them a paper to write how inaccurate it is. It blows their minds.
What is good about it is it really captures the essence of how people imagine Rome. It's not steeped in detail like the Didius Falco and Flavia Albia books (Roman noir murder-mysteries by Lindsey Davis, check 'em out!) nor is it painstakingly true to events like the Warrior of Rome series (Harry Sidebottom). It's not even reveling in the values dissonance of Rome vs. Modern day while being largely accurate in broad strokes and extremely accurate in the little details like the HBO-BBC Rome series (which owes a lot to Gladiator). It's a broad strokes pastiche of what comes to mind when people say 'the glory that was Rome' or 'the Roman Empire.' It's Rome at its most decadent, its most fantastical and greatest extent, the unchallenged greatest empire in the world (alongside the Eastern Han in China, but totally different spheres of influence, also Aksum in East Africa).
It's for this reason I use Gladiator in school, to give my students a taste of Rome as it is best remembered, then let them know the well is far deeper than they can see from the surface.
Gladiator wasn't just a great movie. With its breathtaking cinematography, larger than life characters, and probably one of the most epic musical scores in cinematic history, Gladiator was a damn spiritual experience!
One thing that have always set this movie apart in my eyes are the epic music (As is also mentioned) Its bloody SICK and even to this day still gives me the shivers and tears to the eyes when listening to it.
Commodus is a prime example as to why hereditary succession breeds weakness
He quickly lost interest in being an effective ruler once he discovered the gladiatorial lifestyle. Commodus did remain popular with the people for quite some time
Yeah but he is a fictionalized character in this movie.
Linus D N Based on a real person who was just as incompetent.
Basically he was Stalin of the Roman Empire xD
But Marcus Aurelius did try his best. The boy just could havd never been a good leader.
Can’t wait for the compassion between the sequel and this one
I remember that my Roman History professor at university loved this movie to pieces despite its inaccuracies, and he used to say that there was one thing that they truly got historically right, and that is that "if a legion general was really put to fight into an arena with gladiators he would have munched them like delicious cookies"
Russel crowe when he was commanding his fellow gladiators 😍
Romans never enslaved their ruling elite - the senatorial aristocracy, and furthermore never made them gladiators either. If some senator (or group of senators) was found quilty in conspiracing against the emperor, they were either executed by pretorians or allowed to commit suicide. Senators were never crucified or thrown to arena in the Ancient Rome, as they were not subject to humiliating punishments. This is the very grave mistake in this very movie.
@@tbolt2378 I thought Maximus was literally about to be executed by the Praetorian guards. But he escaped because he managed to defeat those guards
@@yunarukami14 Yeah that's what happened. He escaped and when he fell unconscious he woke up in a slave wagon and he was labeled initially as a deserter by people who just saw the SPQR tattoo. They didn't know he was a general because he didn't have any markings to signify it.
I'd like to see one on Gangs of New York!
гладатт
гладатр
@@ispartacus1337 Sweet
@@sayatnersissyann5565 I agree. Sayat, but that's not giving the source material enough credit.
So would I! There is a video out there that comes somewhat close to what this channel does but definitely not as good and entertaining as this channel would.
Just found your channel! its a gem glad to have come across it. Now about to binge watch your videos.
Thanks for finding it! Would you mind telling me how you did? It will just give me an idea of ways to help promote it
On the suggested videos category. After watching other history related videos by the way epic intro
+History Buffs do courage under fire
This was great to get more insight into what was happening historically during this period. I've seen this movie several times and still watch it about once a year.
In my opinion, at 4:20 it's clear to see that Marcus Aurelius speaks about the world ''I created''' because he refers to himself as '''Caesar'', which is, beside the actual title - ruler, emperor, you name it, a standard, a thing beyond the meaning of the titles. I think that's more in his mind than the actually title. It's like a superpower, it's like a demigod thing. I don't know if it's true, but this thing can be an explanation.
It may not be 100% accurate, but it treats much of it's topic matter with respect. That's why people would think of this film as a good historical movie about a piece of Rome
Warhammered good call brozilla!
Not a good historical movie, no. A good entertaining movie yes.
To say "Not 100% accurate" is quite an understatement.
Been binge watching your channel for 2 days since I found you. Keep up the great work buddy👌🏼
Travis Hernandez same man! Somehow got him into my recommended and I have been watching non-stop during slow times at work lol. Simply fascinating channel and very very informative!
Small (somewhat insignificant) detail u missed and couldn't have known about unless you're a specific kinda dog guy...
At 3:16 they show a "war dog". Unfortunately it's a German Shephard type dog. And while the Roman's were fighting against a Germanic army, they definitely would've been using an actual war dog. A breed of dog literally bred for war. It's called a Cane Corso or possibly a Neopolitan Mastiff if the general came from real money. The Corso is a decedent/offshoot of the Neo and has been around for about 4000 years. They were bred specifically for war and guardian purposes for at least a thousand years by this time. Look em up. They're a badass breed and terrifying to be on the bad side of
From what I've read I have heard the Roman soldiers used Rottweilers.
Mastiffs yes...but geese were great before the claymores were set off...
@CC not Rotweilers. That breed fidn't exist in Toman zimes. But Neopolitan Mastiffs. Impressive dogs, with deep voices. There were used to grighten, not really to fight.
The music makes this movie 10x better! Overall amazing movie
funnily enough - i watched it last night and a friend told me about how the music was legendary and that hans zimmer did it.
...i then tried to remember literally any scene with music and i simply could not. as a musician, i'm kinda disappointed in myself. ha
could mean though that it was a perfect complement to the movie and didn't overpower it at all. 🤷♂️
Is that the revenant in your pfp?
I completely disagree with your analysis of the opening battle sequence. NO, the Romans did not have NAPALM, no they did not break ranks immediately after contacting the enemy in melee combat, no they did not use volleys of fire arrows. How is this at all an accurate recreation of Roman military tactics?
+Seleukos The Victor He didn't say the battle was realistic, he said it captured what a warmachine the Roman army really was well.
Just because it does a good job of showing what a beast the Roman legions truly were doesn't mean its realistic.
+Seleukos The Victor
He liked 300 and called it "authentic". I don't think History Buffs is particularly fomerly qualified when it comes to history.
+MrBanausos Did you actually watch the video? Go back to 4:50, where he describes the battle and says that it "authentically" portrays Roman tactics. This is false.
+Jen'Ari-Asha Except he literally says that it "authentically" depicts the Roman military.
MrBanausos
Ahem, if you go to the 300 video and skip to about 14:17. And I quote "it manages to be historically authentic and completely bonkers at the same time". 300 was in no way historically authentic, it got characters wrong, it got tactics wrong, it got events wrong, it got equipment wrong, it even got the Spartan political system completely wrong. Dumb ass.
One of my favorites of all time, and I have seen A LOT of movies. Yes, I was entertained.
9:41 They weren't all fights to the death either, gladiators were incredibly valuable superstar athletes. Only 1 in 10 gladiators died in matches...