The film Gladiator takes place in 180 AD, during the Golden Age of Rome. At that time, the Roman Empire ruled over a quarter of the world's population. It had been more than 60 years since the last expansion of the Roman Empire, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius was now concentrating his forces solely against barbarian invasions and waging a series of wars against the Germanic tribes. Marcus Aurelius is also known as the Philosopher King. He was a Stoic philosopher and is best known for his self-discipline as emperor. He could have indulged in any short-term pleasure imaginable, but he practiced self-control. His Stoic teachings were of the utmost importance to the Stoic school of thought. Historians believe that Aurelius was the last of the five good emperors. In the film, Marcus Aurelius doubted that instead of choosing a successor to become emperor, he should return power to the Senate. Although Roman emperors did not choose their son as their successor, Marcus Aurelius actually believed for over a century in the need to hold power closely and willingly passed power to his son. Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, had already been co-emperor for three years at the time of his father's death. Commodus was not as competent as his father in his role as emperor and passed many of his responsibilities down to those under him. He managed to keep the people happy by organizing numerous gladiator fights at the Colosseum. He had even participated in many battles himself, killing gladiators and animals. However, the fights were generally organized to ensure the victory of the Emperor. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although the story of the film, Gladiator, is entirely made up and quite horribly historically inaccurate, it does have an interesting historical setting. The film begins by showing Maximus in one of the Germanic wars. The Roman Empire, as the film accurately depicts, had a very advanced army. So advanced that rebels and intruders had virtually no chance on the battlefield. A slight, but interesting, detail I noticed in the depiction of Marcus Aurelius was his behavior. Marcus Aurelius was a very humble man. Yet, during one scene, he boasts about the expansion of the Empire in his time. Not only is this absolutely irrelevant to Marcus Aurelius, but it is also factually incorrect. Although he managed to keep the Empire intact, there has been no expansion of the Empire for decades. Furthermore, it is very unlikely that Marcus Aurelius would ask a general from his army to lead the Empire, when at the time of his death, Commodus had already been co-emperor for three years. On the other hand, when it comes to Commodus' portrayal, the film accurately portrays him as a maniac. Commodus was not interested in ruling and so decided to satisfy the people by organizing fights in the Colosseum. The film does an incredible job of showing how people were distracted from a terrible government by these fights. Additionally, as shown in the film, Commodus' sister actually planned her brother's assassination. She hired an assassin to do the job. However, unfortunately for her, the assassin was caught by Commodus's guards, and she was exiled and executed a year later. Although in the film Commodus was killed by Maximus, a fictional character, in real life Commodus was killed by a wrestler. Commodus had hired a wrestler to train him. Once his concubine got him really drunk and let in the wrestler he had hired, who choked Commodus to death..