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Gladiator: What Happened To Every Historical Character In Real Life
Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000) is a Roman historical epic, considered to be one of Scott's directorial movie masterpieces. The film stars Russell Crowe as General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is forced into the life of a gladiator after his family is murdered by the Emperor's son, Commodus. The film is based on real historical events, but like any film of this genre, some historical deviation had to occur in order to allow for artistic license.
Gladiator is set in Rome in 180 AD and focuses on the political and military figures of this era. Several historians worked with Scott on the film's production to try to keep things as authentic as possible. However, some of the hired historians disagreed with Scott regarding the extent of changes that were being made, leading to them stepping away from the production or preferring not to be credited. There are several anachronisms throughout Gladiator, especially when it comes to costume design, language, or the landscape of Ancient Rome.
Gladiator's protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridius isn't a real historical figure but is instead an amalgamation of several people. Many of the other characters are entirely fictionalized. For the characters who are based on real people, their on-screen stories don't exactly follow the events of their real lives. Some people believe that the historical changes were made for the better and are what helped Gladiator become the global success that it is. Others believe Gladiator would be just as good, possibly even better, if it were more historically accurate. Regardless of its historical inaccuracies, Gladiator remains beloved by audiences who are still holding out hope for a sequel even after 20 years.
Lucilla
In Gladiator Connie Nielsen plays Lucilla, Maximus' former lover and the oldest child of the murdered Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. She rejects the incestuous advances of her brother, Commodus, while protecting her son, Lucius Veras. Lucilla and Maximus come together to formulate a plot to overthrow Commodus. Commodus and Maximus' short but fatal final duel occurs after Lucilla's plans are thwarted when Lucius Veras accidentally reveals the plot to his uncle. After his death, Lucilla encourages the crowd of Romans to remember Maximus as a hero and to honor him over Commodus.
In real life, Lucilla may have had a lot more political influence than she was given in the movie since her marriage to Emperor Lucius Veras conferred on her the title of Empress. While Gladiator shows Lucilla remaining a widow of some status after the death of her husband, the real Lucilla actually lost her imperial titles. She was forced to remarry into a lower social rank. Lucilla did have a son also named Lucius Veras, but he died when he was very young and she went on to have three other children. Just like Nielsen's character plotted against Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus, the real Lucilla did plot against her brother. She planned to take the throne for herself and her new husband but just like in the film, the plan failed. She was forced into exile and then many years later, when she was about 33, she was executed on her brother's orders.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius, played by Richard Harris, is the wise old Emperor of Gladiator up to the moment of his betrayal and murder at the hands of his son Commodus. The character's ultimate goal is to return Rome to a Republic, but there's no evidence that the historical Marcus Aurelius wanted the same thing. Although he was known as one of the "Five Good Emperors," Marcus' reign was not entirely peaceful. The film shows him coming out victorious against the barbarians, but in reality, the war continued until after Marcus' death, when his son secured a peace treaty. In the film, Marcus intends to make "the Spaniard," Maximus his successor but in real life, there's no evidence that Marcus attempted to remove his son as heir.
The real Emperor also never banned gladiator games in Rome, as the film claims. Marcus Aurelius only banned the games in Antioch to punish the city for supporting his rival, Avidius Cassius. Perhaps Gladiator's biggest on-screen change to Marcus Aurelius' life is that he was never murdered by his son. In fact, the two of them ruled together as co-Emperors for three years, meaning that they probably got on together quite well. The real Marcus Aurelius' died from plague at the age of 58. He was deified after his death and later given the affectionate nickname "the philosopher-king."
Commodus
The timeframe of Gladiator significantly condenses the events of Commodus' reign. In reality, he ruled for over 12 years in total. Commodus did take part in gladiatorial combat but he didn't die in the arena, as he did in the conclusive, perfect ending of Gladiator. Instead, he faced several assassination conspiracies, including one attempt to poison his food. It was the wrestler, Narcissus, who eventually strangled Commodus while he was in his bathtub. He died at the age of 31. His murderer, Narcisuss, who was one of the inspirations for Maximus' character, went on to meet an equally bloody fate when he was executed during the series of civil wars following Commodus' death.
Commodus was a megalomaniac who renamed the city of Rome all of the months of the year after himself. Because of this, the Senate declared him as a public enemy after his death and promptly restored everything to its original name. It was only several years later that Septimus Severus, in an attempt to gain favor with Marcus Aurelius's family, decided to change Commodus' legacy by having him deified. Both Commodus' and Maximus' death were necessary to bring a satisfying conclusion to Gladiator. Yet, in reality, although Commodus was by no means the perfect Emperor, he also wasn't the cinematic villain as seen in Gladiator which means his death wasn't a one-fix solution to all the problems of Rome. Rather than marking a great return to the Roman Republic, Commodus' death is generally regarded as the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire.
