History Essay Outline

The movie Gladiator was set in Rome in the year 154 AD and was not extremely accurate in terms of its architecture, military, and religion. The inaccuracies do not take away from the movie, but can be a little distracting when it is looked at carefully and re-examined. Architecturally, the movie was off when it came to the buildings and when the buildings were made. The military outfits were not what they actually were in the past. As for the religious aspect of the movie, the references are correct for the time in the movie, but the religious aspect of the movie was not very strong even though the religious belief was great in the time period that the movie was really set.
Architecturally, the movie portrays the Rome which everyone would expect to see, but the real Rome was not the same as it is shown in the movie. The movie was not very architecturally accurate. In the scene with the gladiator caravan coming into Rome, a wall that surrounds the entire city can be seen, which resembles the Aurelian Wall. The Aurelian Wall was not made until 275 A.D and the movie was set 100 years before the wall was built. Another instance in which the architecture is not accurate is that most Roman architecture in the film is portrayed as being white. Historical excavations and archaeologists often say that this is not the case. Most of the buildings and structures were coloured to some degree, and that we only believe this because what we find from Roman time are ruins of coloured buildings and often look white. This is only because the original colour has slowly in time began to disappear from the surface of the buildings and left structures and buildings looking white. “However, some of the older buildings might have already had the time to go through this process in the period of the film so this is not true for all the buildings in the movie” (Wikipedia, Gladiator Historical Accuracy), but the majority of the buildings should have been coloured as it would have been the present time where the movie was set. The last historical accuracy regarding architecture in the movie, is when the Colosseum is referred to as the “Colosseum, when in fact during the Roman Empire it was known as the Flavian Amphitheatre which was derived from a Latin word. The name Colosseum is actually derived from another Latin word, colosseus, meaning colossal. This is in reference to the broken remains of a giant statue of the Emperor Nero found there. The name “colosseum” came into common use around the 10th century. After visiting the Colosseum, Ridley Scott, the director of Galdiator, “thought it was too small so the one in the film is larger than the real Colosseum.” (Wikipedia, Gladiator Historical Accuracy).
Religion was a big part of Ancient Rome. Before battles, the soldiers would pray to their gods, and before continuing on with the day, the common people would pray. This means that religion in the time that this movie takes place in really had a religious background which they respected and followed. However, in the movie, the gods are not really mentioned all that. There were only some instances throughout the movie in which someone would make a religious reference by saying “Gods” or “Our gods”. Although the movie does not portray much of the religious affects of the time period, it is accurate in showing that in that time they were not Christians yet and that most people at that time believed in the “gods”. The movie was accurate in that sense, but it still doesn’t show the major impact it had on romans during that time period.
Lastly, the Military shown in the movie beginning of the movie is fairly sizable, which is accurate to ancient Rome’s actual army. Unfortunately, the costumes are almost never completely historically correct. The soldiers wear helmets that don’t resemble the actual helmets worn by the real Romans. There are also bands wrapped around their lower arms which were rarely worn. Keeping in mind that the movie is set in the middle of the 2nd century AD, the body armour worn is something referred to as “Imperial Gallic”, which was used by the Romans from 75 AD to 100 AD due to a new design Another Inaccuracy in the movie regarding the military are when the catapults and ballistae are used in the beginning of the movie. These weapons would not have been used in a forest. They were rarely used in open battles and reserved primarily for sieges.
All in all, the movie was not extremely accurate. It had similar themes compared to what you would most likely see in Ancient Rome, but ultimately, the movie was not accurate and showed more of the Rome that would appeal to an audience rather than a critical historian. For these reasons, the movie was not accurate and could be made much more accurate if research was conducted about Ancient Rome.

Bibliography

Internet:
"Ancient Rome and Religion." Ancient Rome and Religion. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
"Religion in Ancient Rome." Religion in Ancient Rome. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
"Religion in Ancient Rome." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 May 2013.

Movie:
Gladiator

Bibliography: Internet: "Ancient Rome and Religion." Ancient Rome and Religion. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013. BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 01 May 2013. "Religion in Ancient Rome." Religion in Ancient Rome. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013. "Religion in Ancient Rome." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 May 2013. Movie: Gladiator