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    • Is ‘Gladiator 2’ real history? The true story behind the film
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    Is ‘Gladiator 2’ real history? The true story behind the film

    Vaseline Posted on

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    Spoiler alert! We’re discussing the plot points of ‘Gladiator II’ (in theaters now), so if you haven’t seen it yet, back off.

    Pack your dusty sandals and brutal weapons, folks. It’s time for “Gladiator II” and our collective return to glorious, yet savage, ancient Rome. (And if you’re really into it, ‘Gladiator III’ might be on the way.)

    Get ready for gory scenes of gladiators fighting crazy monkeys, oversized rhinos, hungry sharks and… wait, what? Are there sharks swimming around the Colosseum?

    “Well,” says director Ridley Scott when asked about the film’s accuracy, “the short answer to that is: were you there?”

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    This time, the action takes place 16 years after we closed the book on Russell Crowe’s brave gladiator Maximus, who shook off this mortal coil in late 2000’s “Gladiator,” leaving behind his beloved Lucilla (a returning Connie Nielsen) and young son. Lucius (now a fanatical twenty-something, played by Paul Mescal).

    To summarize a few hours of brutal combat (the Colosseum has never looked so dangerous) and brutal betrayal (thanks to Denzel Washington as the cruelly conniving Macrinus), ‘Gladiator II’ finds Lucius a captured slave for whom victory in the Roman arena is achieved. is the only promise of freedom.

    Here’s how ‘Gladiator 2’ massages history in the name of cinematic drama:

    Have there ever been sea battles with sharks in the Colosseum?

    Unknown. But Scott is willing to believe that this was a possibility, especially since the Colosseum and other parts of ancient Rome, such as what is now Piazza Navona, were in fact flooded to accommodate flat-bottomed boats and stage reenactments. of age-old naval battles.

    “Have you been to the Colosseum? It would be a challenge to build that today, let alone then,” he says. “So if they could do that, could they put water in it? Naturally. And if you could do that, I’m sure you could get a damn shark in there.”

    Did gladiators really battle rampaging monkeys and men riding rhinos?

    It is known that in the Colosseum brutal fights to the death took place between gladiators. But sometimes a different category of fighter, not a gladiator but more of a hunter, would be placed in the arena and challenged to hunt a wide variety of beasts that would appear in the ring. This may include rhinos and monkeys. Lions are of course most associated with the arena and often find innocent Christians as their prey.

    In “Gladiator II” you see a hunter riding into the Colosseum on a giant rhino. This probably did not happen, as the animals were usually there to be tracked and killed.

    Did the twin emperors Caracalla and Geta really exist? And did one have the other killed?

    Yes and no. In the year 211 AD, probably also when “Gladiator II” takes place, the brothers Caracalla and Geta briefly reigned as dual emperors of Rome after their father, Septimius Severus, appointed them as such on his deathbed.

    But the boys – who are depicted as twins, even though history suggests they were separated by a year – hated each other, and without their father as a buffer, they spiraled out of control. Ultimately, Caracalla had his brother killed in front of their mother, as seen in the film. “Their father (Septimius) wasn’t a bad guy and actually did some decent things,” Scott says. “But the two sons were as crazy as anyone in the Sex Pistols.”

    Was a monkey really the right hand (OK, paw) of a Roman emperor?

    One of the most striking scenes in “Gladiator II” is when Caracalla, who has become sole emperor after killing his brother, announces his right-hand man before an enthusiastic audience of Roman senators. His choice? Not one of them, but rather his pet Capuchin monkey, Dundus.

    “Dundus was great, wasn’t he?” Scott asks. While there isn’t much in the history books about an ape being part of the ruling class in ancient Rome, the director’s gesture almost feels like a poke at current American politics.

    “There it is, dude, that was intentional,” he says, laughing. “But if you want to ask me which (political) side I end up on, I won’t tell you.”

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