Warning: This post contains spoilers for Gladiator II.

The drama at Ridley Scott’s Gladiator IIon November 22, takes place not only on the arena floor of the Colosseum, but also in the stands, between the emperors Geta and his older brother Caracalla, played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger respectively. Geta and Caracalla were real emperors, and the film is set during their joint reign, from 209-211.

But not much is known about the brothers and their short reign. According to Mary Beard, classicist and author of Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman Worldmost of that time would have been spent in transit to Rome from present-day York, UK, where their father Septimius Severus had died.

Some contemporary accounts suggest that they made plans. “One of the sources even says they had a plan to split the empire in two,” says Andrew Scott, professor of Classical Studies at Villanova University. “One of them would take the eastern half, and one of them would take the western half.”

But that didn’t happen. Throughout the film, they spend their reign partying and watching gladiator fights in the Colosseum. Then Caracalla turns on his brother, kills him and parades his head through the Roman Senate. It is believed that Caracalla murdered Geta in 211.

“It is said that Geta was with his mother when he was murdered, and, as the story goes, he clung to his mother’s lap and said as his last words, ‘Mama, mama, I’m being killed,’” says Beard. say.

Read more: What Gladiator II gets right and wrong about real battles in the Colosseum

It is also unclear why Caracalla killed Geta. “All the sources we have on Caracalla portray him as an evil maniac who was responsible for the murder of his brother shortly after they took power together,” says Villanova’s Scott. There is nothing in the historical record to indicate that Geta did anything to fall victim to his brother’s “evil.”

“It is anyone’s guess what is causing the apparent hatred between Caracalla and Geta,” says Beard. She points out that accounts of their relationship are not considered reliable.

It is believed that Caracalla spent most of his reign outside Rome. In the film he appoints a miniature monkey as his “first counselor,” and while there is no evidence of this, it appears to be a nod to another Roman emperor Caligula, who, according to legend, threatened to appoint his horse counselor before he was assassinated.

Caracalla eventually gets his. He was assassinated in 217 while one of his most trusted soldiers campaigned in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. According to Beard, he is “killed while urinating on the road.”