The realness, extravagance and special effects of the battles was thrilling, and entertaining to watch. However, the movie had a few high, entertaining points but the rest of the nearly three-hour movie moved painfully slow. The movie Gladiator takes place during Caesar Marcus Augustus’s reign of the Roman Empire from AD 161-180. An autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean characterized Augustus’s methods during his time of rule. This was a time when many civil wars were beginning to happen, as the Roman Republic was about to proceed the autocratic form of rule.
The plot focuses on a general in the Roman Empire, Maximus, who the dying Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius, decides to appoint as his successor over his own son, Commodus. Commodus in a fit of jealousy murders his father then asks for Maximus to be loyal to him as he was to his father. Maximus refuses and Commodus orders Maximus and his wife and son be put to death. Maximus races home to save his family but he is too late. Full of grief Maximus is captured by slave traders and is sold to become a gladiator.
Then Caesar and Pompey got into a big fight. Pompey lost. When he tried to run away to Egypt in 48 B.C., he was assassinated. But Caesar still had a problem: Pompey's sons were determined to avenge their father's death and overthrow Caesar. So Caesar tracked down Pompey's sons in Spain and stomped them out at the Battle of Munda in 45 B.C.
Some of the actions are literally barbaric, but what draws the viewer closer to Maximus is his sense of right and wrong. He states that he only fights for something he truly believes in, while others are savages. The plot thickens after the victory of the Romans over the barbarians as the Emperor tells Maximus that he has been chosen to be the next Emperor. Aurelius chooses him because he feels that Maximus can restore power to the Roman Senate, leading to a revival of the Republic. Everything seems as if it will be picture
Hannibal the Hero December 17, 2011 For Queen Victoria Matthews Esteemed Work of Knave Shervin Ghiami Hannibal Barca of Carthage (247-183 BCE) is considered today by historians as one of the brilliant military tacticians of the Classical Era. His main enemy was the Mighty Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal’s great victories against the Romans in this war include the battles of Trebbia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae. In the eyes of the Romans, Hannibal was this terrifying, merciless brute; however, he ultimately failed in conquering Rome. Firstly, the government of Carthage, in spite of being a remarkably stable system, was a poor supporter for Hannibal during his campaign.
A difference between the movie and actual history would be that, though the movie made it seem as though the army only consisted of 300 soldiers, there were around 5,000 Greeks in battle against the Persians. Though the film is not a 100% accurate rendition of the actual event, it does a great job of showing the historical events. The greatest pivotal point of the entire movie would be at the very end. Leonidas removes his armor and seems like he is about to bow down to Xerxes. He then picks up his spear and throws it at Xerxes, cutting his face.
Cinematography of 300 Compared to Gladiator In the films that have to do with the Roman Empire, Spartans, and the Greek Gods and Goddess all end in the lost of the legend. In 300, King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. After the three days all of the Spartans laid dead, including the legend Leonidas. Then in Gladiator a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by a corrupt prince, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge. After getting what he wants, which is to battle the prince, he comes out victorious but dies shortly after from a wound that was suffered in the battle.
Unlike Caesar, Brutus is able to separate completely his public life from his private life; by giving priority to matters of state, he epitomizes Roman virtue. Torn between his loyalty to Caesar and his allegiance to the state, Brutus becomes the tragic hero of the play. Julius Caesar - A great Roman general and senator recently returned to Rome in triumph after a successful military campaign. While his good friend Brutus worries that Caesar may aspire to dictatorship over the Roman republic, Caesar seems to show no such inclination, declining the crown several times. Yet while Caesar may not be unduly power-hungry, he does possess his share of flaws.
He faced many challenges, such as uniting the Britons after the brutality of which they were served by the Saxons and then defeating the Saxons at the Battle of Badon Hill. The unification of the Britons after the destruction of their homeland was a battle in itself, and the defeat of the Saxons at the Battle of Badon Hill made Aurelius an icon of hope and security for the Britons; hence the elaborate stories of Arthur being an epic hero. It is logical to deduce that the legend of King Arthur is based on the life of Ambrosius Aurelius due to the parallels between the fictitious life of Arthur and the factual life of Aurelius. Moreover, the personality that Aurelius depicts throughout the historical accounts is nearly perfectly aligned with the traits that Arthur shows throughout the legend. For example, a monk by the name of Saint Gildas wrote of Arthur and the Saxon’s
The conflict of the play begins during a struggle for the throne, which at its end only begets a period of corruption and betrayal. The dramatic qualities of the play begin to show themselves as Titus seeks to avenge the brutal rape of his daughter and in doing so begins to rid the Roman Empire of the corruptors. While Shakespeare’s emphasis on the downfall of Rome is evident throughout the play, the audience cannot help but witness the downfall of Titus’ family as well. Shakespeare displays the breakdown of each of the characters as if to symbolize the effects of the collapse of Rome in each one of them. Beginning with Bassianus, the audience witnesses his decline as the throne is taken from him and given to his brother Saturninus due to primogeniture.