Location:

Manchester, UK

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Date:

October 2021

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Brief: 

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With one day's notice I was to put together an engaging but accessible session on the ancient world. Having just watched Gladiator, I thought... where better to start?

 

In addition to the general design and research behind the presentation, I was especially proud of the observation which speared this argument: Russell Crowe's Maximus in the Hollywood film 'Gladiator' was never supposed to be about a real gladiator at all, instead a manifestation of the many things Commodus claimed to be. Maximus acts as a distorted mirror for which the real Commodus saw himself oh-so many centuries ago.

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It makes you wonder, would Marcus Aurelius be the last of the 'five good emperors' had Commodus been who he thought he was?