Browse Essays. Sign in. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. Read More. Words: - Pages: 7. Words: - Pages: 5. Film Adaptation Of Rome Avidius Cassius should have been the general who was shown in beginning battle of the film to be historically accurate instead of Maximus.
Words: - Pages: 4. Caesar Augustus He is the nephew of Caesar 's grandchild, in 44 BC, he was designated as the first heir and adopted as son. Words: - Pages: 6. Theme Of Propaganda In The Aeneid The gods state that his destiny awaits in Rome, and they remind him that his son inherits the kingdom after Aeneas dies. Elements Of Julius Caesar Tragic Hero Essay Shakespeare introduces his tragic hero by incorporating the traditional elements of a tragic hero into the play.
Related Topics. Ready To Get Started? Create Flashcards. Discover Create Flashcards Mobile apps. There were numerous plots and attempts upon his life, but the one which finally succeeded was carried out by a wrestler named Narcissus, while Commodus was in his b ath.
The plot was orchestrated by his closest advisors, and apparently even included his mistress, Marcia. It occurred on the very last day of the year CE, and indeed, exactly when the rest of Rome was preparing festivities for the New Year, CE. This he reportedly was going to do even outfitted as a gladiator, in his lion skins, with appropriate weapons.
This was the final outrage, according to our ancient sources, and thus, his fate was sealed. Commodus ruled for 12 years, a much longer period than alluded to in the film. The film is very wrong on this count. A republic is a system of government which does not have a hereditary monarch. An emperor is a monarch. The United States for instance is a republic, and England is not.
Rome was not founded as a republic, as was stated erroneously by a senator, who would have known better, as all educated Romans would hold this as basic knowledge, in the film. Legend has it that Rome was originally ruled by Etruscan kings.
The first king was Romulus. The kings were overthrown in a revolution, which was sparked by the rape of Lucretia, in BCE, by Sextus Tarquin, the son of the seventh and last king, Tarquinius Superbus. Dictators and kings were thereafter despised by Romans, hence, the ideological adulation of a republican system of government, which was a central theme of Roman history, and thus correctly emphasized in the movie, and unlikely by accident, it should be noted.
After Commodus was murdered, the Senate met before daybreak, and declared sixty-six year old Pertinax, who was the son of a former slave, emperor. Pertinax thus became emperor on January 1st, but he was murdered by a group of soldiers the following March, after less than three months in power. Maximus Decimus Meridius his full name is stated only once in the film is a fictitious character! Although he did not exist, he seems as if he could be be a composite of actual historical figures.
He however, was assassinated by his own soldiers. It is true that there was, in the later Empire, a General by the name of Maximus who appears to have had revolutionary intentions. He is most likely an inspiration as well. Maximus also reminds one of the emperor Diocletian.
Remember that in the film, Marcus Aurelius names Maximus as his heir. Diocletian, who ruled Rome from to CE, was born in the lower cl asses, like Maximus. Finally he was named heir, and thus became emperor. Commodus, in reality, was not murdered in the arena by Maximus. He was however murdered by a wrestler.
So the character Maximus, whil e fictitious, is not that far-fetched. He appears credibly, as if he could perhaps be inspired by a collage of other, real, historical figures that have been researched, even if not one himself. As for his personality, he was definitely a stoic, as evidenced by his sense of obligation to the state, and concern for duty and virtue.
This makes sense, given his admiration for Marcus Aurelius, who was a stoic philosopher. One difficulty is, even though many Romans and not just Christians believed in an afterlife, stoics usually did not.
So this is problematic pertaining to his mentalite in the film, as it is a glaring inconsistency with his other somewhat more correctly presented stoical beliefs. The ideology which he represents is however, somewhat authentic.
Senator Gracchus appears to be based upon Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. During the Republic, these two brothers, were, one after the other, plebeian tribunes not senators. They were champions of the common people, and paid the cost with their lives. Thankfully this order was ignored. He had a penchant for spectacle, and loved the crowd.
Styling himself after the Greek hero Hercules, he fought as a gladiator in the Colosseum, though it was never a fair fight. It was forbidden for the Emperor to come to any real harm in the Colosseum, so he invariably won every bout. In all, Commodus participated in contests as a gladiator, according to the Historia Augusta. With official matters left unattended, and an Emperor dishonoring his title, the Senate conspired to have the Emperor assassinated. His name was largely erased from Roman buildings, except for a public bath built in his honor.
Today, Commodus is known as the Emperor who fought in the Colosseum, but his legacy is much larger than that. His rule ended years of stability and relative peace in the Empire, and it was almost entirely his own doing.
0コメント