Gladiator II RPG

1. #1Ancient Rome

   Keys: Rome, Roma, Roman Empire,

   Ancient Rome Roma 753 BC – 476/4801 AD Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus

   Territories of the Roman civilisation: Roman Republic Roman Empire Western Roman Empire Eastern Roman Empire Status Kingdom (753‍–‍509 BC) Republic (509‍–‍27 BC) Empire (27 BC – 476 AD) Capital Rome (others during the late Empire, notably Constantinople and Ravenna) Common languages Latin, Greek Demonym Roman Government Elective absolute monarchy (753‍–‍509 BC) Mixed diarchic constitutional republic (509 BC – 476 AD, only de jure after 27 BC) Elective absolute monarchy (27 BC – 476 AD, de facto) Legislature Senate Historical era Ancient history • Founding of Rome 753 BC • Overthrow of Tarquin the Proud 509 BC • Octavian proclaimed Augustus 27 BC • Fall of the Western Roman Empire 476/4801 AD ^ While the deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 is the most commonly cited end date for the Western Empire, the last Western Roman emperor Julius Nepos, was assassinated in 480, when the title and notion of a separate Western Empire were abolished. Another suggested end date is the reorganisation of the Italian peninsula and abolition of separate Western imperial institutions under Justinian during the latter half of the 6th century. Part of a series on the History of Italy Old map of Italian peninsula Early Ancient Rome Romano-Barbarian Kingdoms Medieval Early modern Modern Contemporary By topic Timeline

   flag Italy portal vte In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509‍–‍27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC – 476 AD) until the fall of the western empire.[1][a]

   Ancient Rome began as an Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually controlled the Italian Peninsula, assimilating the Greek culture of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) and the Etruscan culture, and then became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. At its height it controlled the North African coast, Egypt, Southern Europe, and most of Western Europe, the Balkans, Crimea, and much of the Middle East, including Anatolia, the Levant, and parts of Mesopotamia and Arabia. That empire was among the largest empires in the ancient world, covering around 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) in AD 117,[2] with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of the world's population at the time.[b] The Roman state evolved from an elective monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic military dictatorship during the Empire.

   Ancient Rome is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern language, religion, society, technology, law, politics, government, warfare, art, literature, architecture, and engineering. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France.[3] It achieved impressive technological and architectural feats, such as the empire-wide construction of aqueducts and roads, as well as more grandiose monuments and facilities.

   History Early Italy and the founding of Rome Further information: Founding of Rome Capitoline Wolf The Capitoline Wolf, now illustrating the legend that a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus after their mother's imprisonment in Alba Longa Rome 753 BC Modern reconstruction of the marshy conditions of early Rome, along with a conjectural placement of the early settlement and its fortifications Archaeological evidence of settlement around Rome starts to emerge c. 1000 BC.[4] Large-scale organisation appears only c. 800 BC, with the first graves in the Esquiline Hill's necropolis, along with a clay and timber wall on the bottom of the Palatine Hill dating to the middle of the 8th century BC. Starting from c. 650 BC, the Romans started to drain the valley between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, where today sits the Roman Forum.[5] By the 6th century BC, the Romans were constructing the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline and expanding to the Forum Boarium located between the Capitoline and Aventine Hills.[6]

   The Romans themselves had a founding myth, attributing their city to Romulus and Remus, offspring of Mars and a princess of the mythical city of Alba Longa.[7] The sons, sentenced to death, were rescued by a wolf and returned to restore the Alban king and found a city. After a dispute, Romulus killed Remus and became the city's sole founder. The area of his initial settlement on the Palatine Hill was later known as Roma quadrata ('Square Rome'). The story dates at least to the 3rd century BC, and the later Roman antiquarian Marcus Terentius Varro placed the city's foundation to 753 BC.[8] Another legend, recorded by Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, says that Prince Aeneas led a group of Trojans on a sea voyage to found a new Troy after the Trojan War. They landed on the banks of the Tiber River and a woman travelling with them, Roma, torched their ships to prevent them from leaving again. They named the settlement after her.[9] The Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid.

   Kingdom Main article: Roman Kingdom

   Etruscan painting of dancer and musicians from the Tomb of the Leopards in Tarquinia Literary and archaeological evidence is clear on there having been kings in Rome, attested in fragmentary 6th-century BC texts.[10] Long after the abolition of the Roman monarchy, a vestigial rex sacrorum was retained to exercise the monarch's former priestly functions. The Romans believed that their monarchy was elective, with seven legendary kings who were largely unrelated by blood.[11]

   Evidence of Roman expansion is clear in the 6th century BC; by its end, Rome controlled a territory of some 780 square kilometres (300 square miles) with a population perhaps as high as 35,000.[11] A palace, the Regia, was constructed c. 625 BC;[11] the Romans attributed the creation of their first popular organisations and the Senate to the regal period as well.[12] Rome also started to extend its control over its Latin neighbours. While later Roman stories like the Aeneid asserted that all Latins descended from the character Aeneas,[13] a common culture is attested to archaeologically.[14] Attested to reciprocal rights of marriage and citizenship between Latin cities—the Jus Latii—along with shared religious festivals, further indicate a shared culture. By the end of the 6th century, most of this area had become dominated by the Romans.[15]

   Republic Main article: Roman Republic Capitoline Brutus The Capitoline Brutus, a bust traditionally identified as L. Junius Brutus, one of the founders of the Republic Italy in 400 BC Italy in 400 BC, just prior to the Celtic invasion under Brennus By the end of the 6th century BC, Rome and many of its Italian neighbours entered a period of turbulence. Archaeological evidence implies some degree of large-scale warfare.[16] According to tradition and later writers such as Livy, the Roman Republic was established c. 509 BC,[17] when the last of the seven kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed and a system based on annually elected magistrates and various representative assemblies was established.[18] A constitution set a series of checks and balances, and a separation of powers. The most important magistrates were the two consuls, who together exercised executive authority such as imperium, or military command.[19] The consuls had to work with the Senate, which was initially an advisory council of the ranking nobility, or patricians, but grew in size and power.[20]

   Other magistrates of the Republic include tribunes, quaestors, aediles, praetors and censors.[21] The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians, but were later opened to common people, or plebeians.[22] Republican voting assemblies included the comitia centuriata ('centuriate assembly'), which voted on matters of war and peace and elected men to the most important offices, and the comitia tributa ('tribal assembly'), which elected less important offices.[23]

   In the 4th century BC, Rome had come under attack by the Gauls, who now extended their power in the Italian peninsula beyond the Po Valley and through Etruria. On 16 July 390 BC, a Gallic army under the leadership of tribal chieftain Brennus, defeated the Romans at the Battle of the Allia and marched to Rome. The Gauls looted and burned the city, then laid siege to the Capitoline Hill, where some Romans had barricaded themselves, for seven months. The Gauls then agreed to give the Romans peace in exchange for 1000 pounds of gold.[24] According to later legend, the Roman supervising the weighing noticed that the Gauls were using false scales. The Romans then took up arms and defeated the Gauls. Their victorious general Camillus remarked "With iron, not with gold, Rome buys her freedom."[25]

   The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, including the Etruscans.[26] The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Tarentum, a major Greek colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 281 BC, but this effort failed as well.[27][26] The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic areas, thereby establishing stable control over the region.[26]

   Punic Wars Main article: Punic Wars See also: Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula

   Territorial changes over the course of the Punic Wars: Roman possessions and close allies Carthaginian Empire and close allies

   The Roman siege of the Celtiberian stronghold of Numantia in Spain in 133 BC[28] In the 3rd century BC Rome faced a new and formidable opponent: Carthage, the other major power in the Western Mediterranean.[29] The First Punic War began in 264 BC, when the city of Messana asked for Carthage's help in their conflicts with Hiero II of Syracuse. After the Carthaginian intercession, Messana asked Rome to expel the Carthaginians. Rome entered this war because Syracuse and Messana were too close to the newly conquered Greek cities of Southern Italy and Carthage was now able to make an offensive through Roman territory; along with this, Rome could extend its domain over Sicily.[30]

   Carthage was a maritime power, and the Roman lack of ships and naval experience made the path to the victory a long and difficult one for the Roman Republic. Despite this, after more than 20 years of war, Rome defeated Carthage and a peace treaty was signed. Among the reasons for the Second Punic War[31] was the subsequent war reparations Carthage acquiesced to at the end of the First Punic War.[32] The war began with the audacious invasion of Hispania by Hannibal, who marched through Hispania to the Italian Alps. Hannibal's invasion lasted over 16 years, ravaging Italy, but ultimately Carthage was defeated in the decisive Battle of Zama in October 202 BC.

   More than a half century after these events, Carthage was left humiliated and the Republic's focus was now directed towards the Hellenistic kingdoms of Greece and revolts in Hispania. However, Carthage, having paid the war indemnity, felt that its commitments and submission to Rome had ceased, a vision not shared by the Roman Senate. The Third Punic War began when Rome declared war against Carthage in 149 BC. Carthage resisted well at the first strike but could not withstand the attack of Scipio Aemilianus, who entirely destroyed the city, enslaved all the citizens and gained control of that region, which became the province of Africa. All these wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests (Sicily, Hispania and Africa) and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power.[33]

   Late Republic After defeating the Macedonian and Seleucid Empires in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the dominant people of the Mediterranean Sea.[34] The conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms brought the Roman and Greek cultures in closer contact and the Roman elite, once rural, became cosmopolitan.

   Gaius Marius Gaius Marius, a general who dramatically reformed the Roman military and was repeatedly elected consul to handle invasions of the Cimbri and Teutones L. Cornelius Sulla L. Cornelius Sulla, leader of the rival optimate party, who ultimately marched on Rome twice, established himself as dictator, massacring opponents and attempting to restore the prerogatives of the Patricians and Senate Foreign dominance led to internal strife. Senators became rich at the provinces' expense; soldiers, who were mostly small-scale farmers, were away from home longer and could not maintain their land; and the increased reliance on foreign slaves and the growth of latifundia reduced the availability of paid work.[35] Income from war booty, mercantilism in the new provinces, and tax farming created new economic opportunities for the wealthy, forming a new class of merchants, called the equestrians.[36] The lex Claudia forbade members of the Senate from engaging in commerce, so while the equestrians could theoretically join the Senate, they were severely restricted in political power.[36][37] The Senate squabbled perpetually, repeatedly blocked important land reforms and refused to give the equestrian class a larger say in the government.

   Violent gangs of the urban unemployed, controlled by rival Senators, intimidated the electorate through violence. The situation came to a head in the late 2nd century BC under the Gracchi brothers, a pair of tribunes who attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. Both brothers were killed and the Senate passed reforms reversing the Gracchi brother's actions.[38] This led to the growing divide of the plebeian groups (populares) and equestrian classes (optimates).

   Gaius Marius soon became a leader of the Republic, holding the first of his seven consulships (an unprecedented number) in 107 BC by arguing that his former patron Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus was not able to defeat and capture the Numidian king Jugurtha. Marius then started his military reform: in his recruitment to fight Jugurtha, he levied the very poor (an innovation), and many landless men entered the army. Marius was elected for five consecutive consulships from 104 to 100 BC, as Rome needed a military leader to defeat the Cimbri and the Teutones, who were threatening Rome. After Marius's retirement, Rome had a brief peace, during which the Italian socii ('allies') requested Roman citizenship and voting rights. The reformist Marcus Livius Drusus supported their legal process but was assassinated, and the socii revolted against the Romans in the Social War. At one point both consuls were killed; Marius was appointed to command the army together with Lucius Julius Caesar and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.[39]

   By the end of the Social War, Marius and Sulla were the premier military men in Rome and their partisans were in conflict, both sides jostling for power. In 88 BC, Sulla was elected for his first consulship and his first assignment was to defeat Mithridates VI of Pontus, whose intentions were to conquer the Eastern part of the Roman territories. However, Marius's partisans managed his installation to the military command, defying Sulla and the Senate. To consolidate his own power, Sulla conducted a surprising and illegal action: he marched to Rome with his legions, killing all those who showed support to Marius's cause. In the following year, 87 BC, Marius, who had fled at Sulla's march, returned to Rome while Sulla was campaigning in Greece. He seized power along with the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and killed the other consul, Gnaeus Octavius, achieving his seventh consulship. Marius and Cinna revenged their partisans by conducting a massacre.[39][40]

   Marius died in 86 BC, due to age and poor health, just a few months after seizing power. Cinna exercised absolute power until his death in 84 BC. After returning from his Eastern campaigns, Sulla had a free path to reestablish his own power. In 83 BC he made his second march on Rome and began a time of terror: thousands of nobles, knights and senators were executed. Sulla held two dictatorships and one more consulship, which began the crisis and decline of Roman Republic.[39]

   Caesar and the First Triumvirate Further information: First Triumvirate

   Landing of the Romans in Kent, 55 BC: Caesar with 100 ships and two legions made an opposed landing, probably near Deal. After pressing a little way inland against fierce opposition and losing ships in a storm, he retired back across the English Channel to Gaul from what was a reconnaissance in force, only to return the following year for a more serious invasion. In the mid-1st century BC, Roman politics were restless. Political divisions in Rome split into one of two groups, populares (who hoped for the support of the people) and optimates (the 'best', who wanted to maintain exclusive aristocratic control). Sulla overthrew all populist leaders and his constitutional reforms removed powers (such as those of the tribune of the plebs) that had supported populist approaches. Meanwhile, social and economic stresses continued to build; Rome had become a metropolis with a super-rich aristocracy, debt-ridden aspirants, and a large proletariat often of impoverished farmers. The latter groups supported the Catilinarian conspiracy—a resounding failure since the consul Marcus Tullius Cicero quickly arrested and executed the main leaders.

   Julius Caesar reconciled the two most powerful men in Rome: Marcus Licinius Crassus, who had financed much of his earlier career, and Crassus' rival, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (anglicised as Pompey), to whom he married his daughter. He formed them into a new informal alliance including himself, the First Triumvirate ('three men'). Caesar's daughter died in childbirth in 54 BC, and in 53 BC, Crassus invaded Parthia and was killed in the Battle of Carrhae; the Triumvirate disintegrated. Caesar conquered Gaul, obtained immense wealth, respect in Rome and the loyalty of battle-hardened legions. He became a threat to Pompey and was loathed by many optimates. Confident that Caesar could be stopped by legal means, Pompey's party tried to strip Caesar of his legions, a prelude to Caesar's trial, impoverishment, and exile.

   To avoid this fate, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River and invaded Rome in 49 BC. The Battle of Pharsalus was a brilliant victory for Caesar and in this and other campaigns, he destroyed all of the optimates leaders: Metellus Scipio, Cato the Younger, and Pompey's son, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Pompey was murdered in Egypt in 48 BC. Caesar was now pre-eminent over Rome: in five years he held four consulships, two ordinary dictatorships, and two special dictatorships, one for perpetuity. He was murdered in 44 BC, on the Ides of March by the Liberatores.[41]

   Octavian and the Second Triumvirate Further information: Rise of Augustus and Second Triumvirate Caesar's assassination caused political and social turmoil in Rome; the city was ruled by his friend and colleague, Mark Antony. Soon afterward, Octavian, whom Caesar adopted through his will, arrived in Rome. Octavian (historians regard Octavius as Octavian due to the Roman naming conventions) tried to align himself with the Caesarian faction. In 43 BC, along with Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Caesar's best friend,[42] he legally established the Second Triumvirate. Upon its formation, 130–300 senators were executed, and their property was confiscated, due to their supposed support for the Liberatores.[43]

   In 42 BC, the Senate deified Caesar as Divus Iulius; Octavian thus became Divi filius,[44] the son of the deified. In the same year, Octavian and Antony defeated both Caesar's assassins and the leaders of the Liberatores, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, in the Battle of Philippi. The Second Triumvirate was marked by the proscriptions of many senators and equites: after a revolt led by Antony's brother Lucius Antonius, more than 300 senators and equites involved were executed, although Lucius was spared.[45]

   The Triumvirate divided the Empire among the triumvirs: Lepidus was given charge of Africa, Antony, the eastern provinces, and Octavian remained in Italia and controlled Hispania and Gaul. The Second Triumvirate expired in 38 BC but was renewed for five more years. However, the relationship between Octavian and Antony had deteriorated, and Lepidus was forced to retire in 36 BC after betraying Octavian in Sicily. By the end of the Triumvirate, Antony was living in Ptolemaic Egypt, ruled by his lover, Cleopatra VII. Antony's affair with Cleopatra was seen as an act of treason, since she was queen of another country. Additionally, Antony adopted a lifestyle considered too extravagant and Hellenistic for a Roman statesman.[46] Following Antony's Donations of Alexandria, which gave to Cleopatra the title of "Queen of Kings", and to Antony's and Cleopatra's children the regal titles to the newly conquered Eastern territories, war between Octavian and Antony broke out. Octavian annihilated Egyptian forces in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Now Egypt was conquered by the Roman Empire.

   Empire – the Principate Main article: Roman Empire Further information: Principate and Reign of Augustus

   The Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century AD, depicting Augustus, the first Roman emperor In 27 BC and at the age of 36, Octavian was the sole Roman leader. In that year, he took the name Augustus. That event is usually taken by historians as the beginning of Roman Empire. Officially, the government was republican, but Augustus assumed absolute powers.[47] His reform of the government brought about a two-century period colloquially referred to by Romans as the Pax Romana.

   Julio-Claudian dynasty The Julio-Claudian dynasty was established by Augustus. The emperors of this dynasty were Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. The Julio-Claudians started the destruction of republican values, but on the other hand, they boosted Rome's status as the central power in the Mediterranean region.[48] While Caligula and Nero are usually remembered in popular culture as dysfunctional emperors, Augustus and Claudius are remembered as successful in politics and the military. This dynasty instituted imperial tradition in Rome[49] and frustrated any attempt to reestablish a Republic.[50]

   Augustus (r. 27 BC – AD 14) gathered almost all the republican powers under his official title, princeps, and diminished the political influence of the senatorial class by boosting the equestrian class. The senators lost their right to rule certain provinces, like Egypt, since the governor of that province was directly nominated by the emperor. The creation of the Praetorian Guard and his reforms in the military, creating a standing army with a fixed size of 28 legions, ensured his total control over the army.[51] Compared with the Second Triumvirate's epoch, Augustus' reign as princeps was very peaceful, which led the people and the nobles of Rome to support Augustus, increasing his strength in political affairs.[52] His generals were responsible for the field command, gaining such commanders as Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Nero Claudius Drusus and Germanicus much respect from the populace and the legions. Augustus intended to extend the Roman Empire to the whole known world, and in his reign, Rome conquered Cantabria, Aquitania, Raetia, Dalmatia, Illyricum and Pannonia.[53] Under Augustus' reign, Roman literature grew steadily in what is known as the Golden Age of Latin Literature. Poets like Virgil, Horace, Ovid and Rufus developed a rich literature, and were close friends of Augustus. Along with Maecenas, he sponsored patriotic poems, such as Virgil's epic Aeneid and historiographical works like those of Livy. Augustus continued the changes to the calendar promoted by Caesar, and the month of August is named after him.[54] Augustus brought a peaceful and thriving era to Rome, known as Pax Romana.

   Extent of the Roman Empire under Augustus. The yellow legend represents the extent of the Republic in 31 BC, the shades of green represent gradually conquered territories under the reign of Augustus, and pink areas on the map represent client states; areas under Roman control shown here were subject to change even during Augustus' reign, especially in Germania. The Julio-Claudians continued to rule Rome after Augustus' death in 14 AD and remained in power until the death of Nero in 68 AD.[55] Influenced by his wife, Livia Drusilla, Augustus appointed her son from another marriage, Tiberius, as his heir.[56] The Senate agreed with the succession, and granted to Tiberius the same titles and honours once granted to Augustus: the title of princeps and Pater patriae, and the Civic Crown. However, Tiberius was not an enthusiast for political affairs: after agreement with the Senate, he retired to Capri in 26 AD,[57] and left control of the city of Rome in the hands of the praetorian prefect Sejanus (until 31 AD) and Macro (from 31 to 37 AD).

   Tiberius died (or was killed)[58] in 37 AD. The male line of the Julio-Claudians was limited to Tiberius' nephew Claudius, his grandson Tiberius Gemellus and his grand-nephew Caligula. As Gemellus was still a child, Caligula was chosen to rule the empire. He was a popular leader in the first half of his reign, but became a crude and insane tyrant in his years controlling government.[59] The Praetorian Guard murdered Caligula four years after the death of Tiberius,[60] and, with belated support from the senators, proclaimed his uncle Claudius as the new emperor.[61] Claudius was not as authoritarian as Tiberius and Caligula. Claudius conquered Lycia and Thrace; his most important deed was the beginning of the conquest of Britannia.[62] Claudius was poisoned by his wife, Agrippina the Younger in 54 AD.[63] His heir was Nero, son of Agrippina and her former husband, since Claudius' son Britannicus had not reached manhood upon his father's death.

   Nero sent his general, Suetonius Paulinus, to invade modern-day Wales, where he encountered stiff resistance. The Celts there were independent, tough, resistant to tax collectors, and fought Paulinus as he battled his way across from east to west. It took him a long time to reach the north-west coast, and in 60 AD he finally crossed the Menai Strait to the sacred island of Mona (Anglesey), the last stronghold of the druids.[64] His soldiers attacked the island and massacred the druids: men, women and children,[65] destroyed the shrine and the sacred groves and threw many of the sacred standing stones into the sea. While Paulinus and his troops were massacring druids in Mona, the tribes of modern-day East Anglia staged a revolt led by queen Boadicea of the Iceni.[66] The rebels sacked and burned Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium (modern-day Colchester, London and St Albans respectively) before they were crushed by Paulinus.[67] Boadicea, like Cleopatra before her, committed suicide to avoid the disgrace of being paraded in triumph in Rome.[68] Nero is widely known as the first persecutor of Christians and for the Great Fire of Rome, rumoured to have been started by the emperor himself.[69] A conspiracy against Nero in 65 AD under Calpurnius Piso failed, but in 68 AD the armies under Julius Vindex in Gaul and Servius Sulpicius Galba in modern-day Spain revolted. Deserted by the Praetorian Guards and condemned to death by the senate, Nero killed himself.[70]

   Flavian dynasty

   Bust of Vespasian, founder of the Flavian dynasty The Flavians were the second dynasty to rule Rome.[71] By 68 AD, the year of Nero's death, there was no chance of a return to the Republic, and so a new emperor had to arise. After the turmoil in the Year of the Four Emperors, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (anglicised as Vespasian) took control of the empire and established a new dynasty. Under the Flavians, Rome continued its expansion, and the state remained secure.[72] Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached the peak of its territorial expansion.[73] Rome's dominion now spanned 5.0 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles).[2]

   The most significant military campaign undertaken during the Flavian period was the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by Titus. The destruction of the city was the culmination of the Roman campaign in Judea following the Jewish uprising of 66 AD. The Second Temple was completely demolished, after which Titus' soldiers proclaimed him imperator in honour of the victory. Jerusalem was sacked and much of the population killed or dispersed. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of whom a majority were Jewish.[74] 97,000 were captured and enslaved. Many fled to areas around the Mediterranean.

   Vespasian was a general under Claudius and Nero and fought as a commander in the First Jewish-Roman War. Following the turmoil of the Year of the Four Emperors, in 69 AD, four emperors were enthroned in turn: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and, lastly, Vespasian, who crushed Vitellius' forces and became emperor.[75] He reconstructed many buildings which were uncompleted, like a statue of Apollo and the temple of Divus Claudius ("the deified Claudius"), both initiated by Nero. Buildings destroyed by the Great Fire of Rome were rebuilt, and he revitalised the Capitol. Vespasian started the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, commonly known as the Colosseum.[75] The historians Josephus and Pliny the Elder wrote their works during Vespasian's reign. Vespasian was Josephus' sponsor and Pliny dedicated his Naturalis Historia to Titus, son of Vespasian. Vespasian sent legions to defend the eastern frontier in Cappadocia, extended the occupation in Britannia (modern-day England, Wales and southern Scotland) and reformed the tax system. He died in 79 AD.

   Titus became emperor in 79. He finished the Flavian Amphitheater, using war spoils from the First Jewish-Roman War, and hosted victory games that lasted for a hundred days. These games included gladiatorial combats, horse races and a sensational mock naval battle on the flooded grounds of the Colosseum.[76] Titus died of fever in 81 AD, and was succeeded by his brother Domitian. As emperor, Domitian showed the characteristics of a tyrant.[77] He ruled for fifteen years, during which time he acquired a reputation for self-promotion as a living god. He constructed at least two temples in honour of Jupiter, the supreme deity in Roman religion.[78] He was murdered following a plot within his own household.

   Nerva–Antonine dynasty

   The Roman Empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan in AD 117 Following Domitian's murder, the Senate rapidly appointed Nerva as Emperor. Nerva had noble ancestry, and he had served as an advisor to Nero and the Flavians. His rule restored many of the traditional liberties of Rome's upper classes, which Domitian had over-ridden.[79] The Nerva–Antonine dynasty from 96 AD to 192 AD included the "five good emperors" Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius were part of Italic families settled in Roman colonies outside of Italy: the families of Trajan and Hadrian had settled in Italica (Hispania Baetica), that of Antoninus Pius in Colonia Agusta Nemausensis (Gallia Narbonensis), and that of Marcus Aurelius in Colonia Claritas Iulia Ucubi (Hispania Baetica). The Nerva-Antonine dynasty came to an end with Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius.[80]

   Nerva abdicated and died in 98 AD, and was succeeded by the general Trajan. Trajan is credited with the restoration of traditional privileges and rights of commoner and senatorial classes, which later Roman historians claim to have been eroded during Domitian's autocracy.[81] Trajan fought three Dacian wars, winning territories roughly equivalent to modern-day Romania and Moldova. He undertook an ambitious public building program in Rome, including Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market and Trajan's Column, with the architect Apollodorus of Damascus. He remodelled the Pantheon and extended the Circus Maximus.[82] When Parthia appointed a king for Armenia without consulting Rome, Trajan declared war on Parthia and deposed the king of Armenia. In 115 he took the Northern Mesopotamian cities of Nisibis and Batnae, organised a province of Mesopotamia (116), and issued coins that claimed Armenia and Mesopotamia were under the authority of the Roman people.[83] In that same year, he captured Seleucia and the Parthian capital Ctesiphon (near modern Baghdad).[84] After defeating a Parthian revolt and a Jewish revolt, he withdrew due to health issues, and in 117, he died of edema.

   Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall in Scotland and Northern England Trajan's successor Hadrian withdrew all the troops stationed in Parthia, Armenia and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), abandoning Trajan's conquests. Hadrian's army crushed a revolt in Mauretania and the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judea. This was the last large-scale Jewish revolt against the Romans, and was suppressed with massive repercussions in Judea. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed. Hadrian renamed the province of Judea "Provincia Syria Palaestina", after one of Judea's most hated enemies.[85] He constructed fortifications and walls, like the celebrated Hadrian's Wall which separated Roman Britannia and the tribes of modern-day Scotland. Hadrian promoted culture, especially the Greek. He forbade torture and humanised the laws. His many building projects included aqueducts, baths, libraries and theatres; additionally, he travelled nearly every province in the Empire to review military and infrastructural conditions.[86]

   Following Hadrian's death in 138 AD, his successor Antoninus Pius built temples, theatres, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and bestowed honours and financial rewards upon the teachers of rhetoric and philosophy. On becoming emperor, Antoninus made few initial changes, leaving intact as far as possible the arrangements instituted by his predecessor. Antoninus expanded Roman Britannia by invading what is now southern Scotland and building the Antonine Wall.[87] He also continued Hadrian's policy of humanising the laws. His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of Roman Empire, he left "an empire in very fine shape. It was a height that, arguably, it would never reach again."[88] He died in 161 AD.

   The Pantheon, Rome, built during the reign of Hadrian, which still contains the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world Marcus Aurelius, known as the Philosopher, was the last of the Five Good Emperors. He was a stoic philosopher and wrote the Meditations. He defeated barbarian tribes in the Marcomannic Wars as well as the Parthian Empire.[89] His co-emperor, Lucius Verus, died in 169 AD, probably from the Antonine Plague, a pandemic that killed nearly five million people through the Empire in 165–180 AD.[90]

   From Nerva to Marcus Aurelius, the empire achieved an unprecedented status. The powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. All the citizens enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth. The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence. The Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government. Gibbon declared the rule of these "Five Good Emperors" the golden era of the Empire.[91] During this time, Rome reached its greatest territorial extent.[92]

   Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, became emperor after his father's death. He is not counted as one of the Five Good Emperors, due to his direct kinship with the latter emperor; in addition, he was militarily passive. Cassius Dio identifies his reign as the beginning of Roman decadence: "(Rome has transformed) from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust."[89]

   Severan dynasty Commodus was killed by a conspiracy involving Quintus Aemilius Laetus and his wife Marcia in late 192 AD. The following year is known as the Year of the Five Emperors, during which Helvius Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus held the imperial dignity. Pertinax, a member of the senate who had been one of Marcus Aurelius's right-hand men, was the choice of Laetus, and he ruled vigorously and judiciously. Laetus soon became jealous and instigated Pertinax's murder by the Praetorian Guard, who then auctioned the empire to the highest bidder, Didius Julianus, for 25,000 sesterces per man.[93] The people of Rome were appalled and appealed to the frontier legions to save them. The legions of three frontier provinces—Britannia, Pannonia Superior, and Syria—resented being excluded from the "donative" and replied by declaring their individual generals to be emperor. Lucius Septimius Severus Geta, the Pannonian commander, bribed the opposing forces, pardoned the Praetorian Guards and installed himself as emperor. He and his successors governed with the legions' support. The changes on coinage and military expenditures were the root of the financial crisis that marked the Crisis of the Third Century.

   The Severan Tondo, c. 199, Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta, whose face is erased Severus was enthroned after invading Rome and having Didius Julianus killed. Severus attempted to revive totalitarianism and, addressing the Roman people and Senate, praised the severity and cruelty of Marius and Sulla, which worried the senators.[94] When Parthia invaded Roman territory, Severus successfully waged war against that country. Notwithstanding this military success, Severus failed in invading Hatra, a rich Arabian city. Severus killed his legate, who was gaining respect from the legions; and his soldiers fell victim to famine. After this disastrous campaign, he withdrew.[95] Severus also intended to vanquish the whole of Britannia. To achieve this, he waged war against the Caledonians. However, he became ill and died in 211 AD.

   Bust of Caracalla from the Capitoline Museums, Rome His sons Caracalla and Geta were made emperors. Caracalla had his brother, a youth, assassinated in his mother's arms, and may have murdered 20,000 of Geta's followers. Like his father, Caracalla was warlike. He continued Severus' policy and gained respect from the legions. Knowing that the citizens of Alexandria disliked him and were denigrating his character, Caracalla served a banquet for its notable citizens, after which his soldiers killed all the guests. From the security of the temple of Sarapis, he then directed an indiscriminate slaughter of Alexandria's people.[96] In 212, he issued the Edict of Caracalla, giving full Roman citizenship to all free men living in the Empire, with the exception of the dediticii, people who had become subject to Rome through surrender in war, and freed slaves.[97]

   Mary Beard points to the edict as a fundamental turning point, after which Rome was "effectively a new state masquerading under an old name".[98]

   Macrinus conspired to have Caracalla assassinated by one of his soldiers during a pilgrimage to the Temple of the Moon in Carrhae, in 217 AD. Macrinus assumed power, but soon removed himself from Rome to the east and Antioch. His brief reign ended in 218, when the youngster Bassianus, high priest of the temple of the Sun at Emesa, and supposedly illegitimate son of Caracalla, was declared Emperor by the disaffected soldiers of Macrinus. He adopted the name of Antoninus but history has named him after his Sun god Elagabalus, represented on Earth in the form of a large black stone. An incompetent and lascivious ruler,[99] Elagabalus adopted his cousin Severus Alexander, as Caesar, but subsequently grew jealous and attempted to assassinate him. However, the Praetorian guard preferred Alexander, murdered Elagabalus, dragged his mutilated corpse through the streets of Rome, and threw it into the Tiber. Severus Alexander then succeeded him. Alexander waged war against many foes, including the revitalised Persia and also the Germanic peoples, who invaded Gaul. His losses generated dissatisfaction among his soldiers, and some of them murdered him during his Germanic campaign in 235 AD.[100]

   Crisis of the Third Century Main article: Crisis of the Third Century

   The Roman Empire suffered internal schisms, forming the Palmyrene Empire and the Gallic Empire A disastrous scenario emerged after the death of Alexander Severus: the Roman state was plagued by civil wars, external invasions, political chaos, pandemics and economic depression.[101] The old Roman values had fallen, and Mithraism and Christianity had begun to spread through the populace. Emperors were no longer men linked with nobility; they usually were born in lower-classes of distant parts of the Empire. These men rose to prominence through military ranks, and became emperors through civil wars.

   There were 26 emperors in a 49-year period, a signal of political instability. Maximinus Thrax was the first ruler of that time, governing for just three years. Others ruled just for a few months, like Gordian I, Gordian II, Balbinus and Hostilian. The population and the frontiers were abandoned, since the emperors were mostly concerned with defeating rivals and establishing their power. The economy also suffered: massive military expenditures from the Severi caused a devaluation of Roman coins. Hyperinflation came at this time as well. The Plague of Cyprian broke out in 250 and killed a huge portion of the population.[102] In 260 AD, the provinces of Syria Palaestina, Asia Minor and Egypt separated from the rest of the Roman state to form the Palmyrene Empire, ruled by Queen Zenobia and centered on Palmyra. In that same year the Gallic Empire was created by Postumus, retaining Britannia and Gaul.[103] These countries separated from Rome after the capture of emperor Valerian by the Sassanids of Persia, the first Roman ruler to be captured by his enemies; it was a humiliating fact for the Romans.[102] The crisis began to recede during the reigns of Claudius Gothicus (268–270), who defeated the Gothic invaders, and Aurelian (271–275), who reconquered both the Gallic and Palmyrene Empires.[104] The crisis was overcome during the reign of Diocletian.

   Empire – The Tetrarchy Main article: Tetrarchy Diocletian

   A Roman follis depicting the profile of Diocletian In 284 AD, Diocletian was hailed as Imperator by the eastern army. Diocletian healed the empire from the crisis, by political and economic shifts. A new form of government was established: the Tetrarchy. The Empire was divided among four emperors, two in the West and two in the East. The first tetrarchs were Diocletian (in the East), Maximian (in the West), and two junior emperors, Galerius (in the East) and Flavius Constantius (in the West). To adjust the economy, Diocletian made several tax reforms.[105]

   Diocletian expelled the Persians who plundered Syria and conquered some barbarian tribes with Maximian. He adopted many behaviours of Eastern monarchs. Anyone in the presence of the emperor had now to prostrate himself—a common act in the East, but never practised in Rome before.[106] Diocletian did not use a disguised form of Republic, as the other emperors since Augustus had done.[107] Between 290 and 330, half a dozen new capitals had been established by the members of the Tetrarchy, officially or not: Antioch, Nicomedia, Thessalonike, Sirmium, Milan, and Trier.[108] Diocletian was also responsible for a significant Christian persecution. In 303 he and Galerius started the persecution and ordered the destruction of all the Christian churches and scripts and forbade Christian worship.[109] Diocletian abdicated in 305 AD together with Maximian, thus, he was the first Roman emperor to resign. His reign ended the traditional form of imperial rule, the Principate (from princeps) and started the Tetrarchy.

   The Aula Palatina of Trier, Germany (then part of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica), a Christian basilica built during the reign of Constantine I (r. 306–337 AD) Constantine and Christianity Constantine assumed the empire as a tetrarch in 306. He conducted many wars against the other tetrarchs. Firstly he defeated Maxentius in 312. In 313, he issued the Edict of Milan, which granted liberty for Christians to profess their religion.[110] Constantine was converted to Christianity, enforcing the Christian faith. He began the Christianization of the Empire and of Europe—a process concluded by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. He was defeated by the Franks and the Alamanni during 306–308. In 324 he defeated another tetrarch, Licinius, and controlled all the empire, as it was before Diocletian. To celebrate his victories and Christianity's relevance, he rebuilt Byzantium and renamed it Nova Roma ("New Rome"); but the city soon gained the informal name of Constantinople ("City of Constantine").[111]

   The reign of Julian, who under the influence of his adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion, only briefly interrupted the succession of Christian emperors. Constantinople served as a new capital for the Empire. In fact, Rome had lost its central importance since the Crisis of the Third Century—Mediolanum was the western capital from 286 to 330, until the reign of Honorius, when Ravenna was made capital, in the 5th century.[112] Constantine's administrative and monetary reforms, that reunited the Empire under one emperor, and rebuilt the city of Byzantium, as Constantinopolis Nova Roma, changed the high period of the ancient world.

   Fall of the Western Roman Empire Main article: Fall of the Western Roman Empire In the late 4th and 5th centuries the Western Empire entered a critical stage which terminated with the fall of the Western Roman Empire.[113] Under the last emperors of the Constantinian dynasty and the Valentinianic dynasty, Rome lost decisive battles against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic barbarians: in 363, emperor Julian the Apostate was killed in the Battle of Samarra, against the Persians and the Battle of Adrianople cost the life of emperor Valens (364–378); the victorious Goths were never expelled from the Empire nor assimilated.[114] The next emperor, Theodosius I (379–395), gave even more force to the Christian faith, and after his death, the Empire was divided into the Eastern Roman Empire, ruled by Arcadius and the Western Roman Empire, commanded by Honorius, both of which were Theodosius' sons.[115]

   Ending invasions on Roman Empire between AD 100–500. Visigoths entering Athens. The Sack of Rome by the Barbarians in 410 by Joseph-Noël Sylvestre. The situation became more critical in 408, after the death of Stilicho, a general who tried to reunite the Empire and repel barbarian invasion in the early years of the 5th century. The professional field army collapsed. In 410, the Theodosian dynasty saw the Visigoths sack Rome.[116] During the 5th century, the Western Empire experienced a significant reduction of its territory. The Vandals conquered North Africa, the Visigoths claimed the southern part of Gaul, Gallaecia was taken by the Suebi, Britannia was abandoned by the central government, and the Empire suffered further from the invasions of Attila, chief of the Huns.[117] General Orestes refused to meet the demands of the barbarian "allies" who now formed the army, and tried to expel them from Italy. Unhappy with this, their chieftain Odoacer defeated and killed Orestes, invaded Ravenna and dethroned Romulus Augustus, son of Orestes. This event of 476, usually marks the end of Classical antiquity and beginning of the Middle Ages.[118] The Roman noble and former emperor Julius Nepos continued to rule as emperor from Dalmatia even after the deposition of Romulus Augustus until his death in 480. Some historians consider him to be the last emperor of the Western Empire instead of Romulus Augustus.[119]

   After 1200 years of independence and nearly 700 years as a great power, the rule of Rome in the West ended.[120] Various reasons for Rome's fall have been proposed, including loss of Republicanism, moral decay, military tyranny, class war, slavery, economic stagnation, environmental change, disease, the decline of the Roman race, as well as the inevitable ebb and flow that all civilisations experience. The Eastern Empire survived for almost 1000 years after the fall of its Western counterpart and became the most stable Christian realm during the Middle Ages. During the 6th century, Justinian reconquered the Italian peninsula from the Ostrogoths, North Africa from the Vandals, and southern Hispania from the Visigoths. But within a few years of Justinian's death, Byzantine possessions in Italy were greatly reduced by the Lombards who settled in the peninsula.[121] In the east, partially due to the weakening effect of the Plague of Justinian as well as a series of mutually destructive wars against the Persian Sassanian Empire, the Byzantines were threatened by the rise of Islam. Its followers rapidly brought about the conquest of the Levant, the conquest of North Africa and the conquest of Egypt during the Arab–Byzantine wars, and soon presented a direct threat to Constantinople.[122][123] In the following century, the Arabs captured southern Italy and Sicily.[124] In the west, Slavic populations penetrated deep into the Balkans.

   The Byzantine Romans, however, managed to stop further Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century and, beginning in the 9th century, reclaimed parts of the conquered lands.[122][125] In 1000 AD, the Eastern Empire was at its height: Basil II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia, and culture and trade flourished.[126] However, soon after, this expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 with the Byzantine defeat in the Battle of Manzikert. The aftermath of this battle sent the empire into a protracted period of decline. Two decades of internal strife and Turkic invasions ultimately led Emperor Alexios I Komnenos to send a call for help to the Western European kingdoms in 1095.[122] The West responded with the Crusades, eventually resulting in the Sack of Constantinople by participants of the Fourth Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 fragmented what remained of the Empire into successor states; the ultimate victor was the Empire of Nicaea.[127] After the recapture of Constantinople by Imperial forces, the Empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegean coast. The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire collapsed when Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople on 29 May 1453.[128]

   Society

   The Roman Forum, the political, economic, cultural, and religious center of the city during the Republic and later Empire The imperial city of Rome was the largest urban center in the empire, with a population variously estimated from 450,000 to close to one million.[129] Around 20% of the population under jurisdiction of ancient Rome (25–40%, depending on the standards used, in Roman Italy)[130] lived in innumerable urban centers, with population of 10,000 and more and several military settlements, a very high rate of urbanisation by pre-industrial standards. Most of those centers had a forum, temples, and other buildings similar to Rome's. The average life expectancy in the Middle Empire was about 26–28 years.[131][132]

   Law Main article: Roman law The roots of the legal principles and practices of the ancient Romans may be traced to the Law of the Twelve Tables promulgated in 449 BC and to the codification of law issued by order of Emperor Justinian I around 530 AD (see Corpus Juris Civilis). Roman law as preserved in Justinian's codes continued into the Byzantine Roman Empire, and formed the basis of similar codifications in continental Western Europe. Roman law continued, in a broader sense, to be applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 17th century.

   The major divisions of the law of ancient Rome, as contained within the Justinian and Theodosian law codes, consisted of Jus civile, Jus gentium, and Jus naturale. The Jus civile ('citizen law') was the body of common laws that applied to Roman citizens.[133] The praetores urbani (sing. Praetor Urbanus) were the people who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens. The Jus gentium ('law of nations') was the body of common laws that applied to foreigners, and their dealings with Roman citizens.[134] The praetores peregrini (sing. Praetor Peregrinus) were the people who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens and foreigners. Jus naturale encompassed natural law, the body of laws that were considered common to all beings.

   Class structure Main articles: Social class in ancient Rome and Status in Roman legal system

   The Orator, c. 100 BC, from the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, Italy, an Etrusco-Roman bronze statue depicting Aule Metele (Latin: Aulus Metellus), an Etruscan man wearing a Roman toga while engaged in rhetoric; the statue features an inscription in the Etruscan language Roman society is largely viewed as hierarchical, with slaves (servi) at the bottom, freedmen (liberti) above them, and free-born citizens (cives) at the top. Free citizens were subdivided by class. The broadest, and earliest, division was between the patricians, who could trace their ancestry to one of the 100 patriarchs at the founding of the city, and the plebeians, who could not. This became less important in the later Republic, as some plebeian families became wealthy and entered politics, and some patrician families fell economically. Anyone, patrician or plebeian, who could count a consul as his ancestor was a noble (nobilis); a man who was the first of his family to hold the consulship, such as Marius or Cicero, was known as a novus homo ('new man') and ennobled his descendants. Patrician ancestry, however, still conferred considerable prestige, and many religious offices remained restricted to patricians.

   A class division originally based on military service became more important. Membership of these classes was determined periodically by the censors, according to property. The wealthiest were the Senatorial class, who dominated politics and command of the army. Next came the equestrians (equites, sometimes translated "knights"), originally those who could afford a warhorse, and who formed a powerful mercantile class. Several further classes, originally based on the military equipment their members could afford, followed, with the proletarii, citizens who had no property other than their children, at the bottom. Before the reforms of Marius they were ineligible for military service and are often described as being just above freed slaves in wealth and prestige.

   Voting power in the Republic depended on class. Citizens were enrolled in voting "tribes", but the tribes of the richer classes had fewer members than the poorer ones, all the proletarii being enrolled in a single tribe. Voting was done in class order, from top down, and stopped as soon as most of the tribes had been reached, so the poorer classes were often unable to cast their votes.

   Women in ancient Rome shared some basic rights with their male counterparts, but were not fully regarded as citizens and were thus not allowed to vote or take part in politics. At the same time the limited rights of women were gradually expanded (due to emancipation) and women reached freedom from pater familias, gained property rights and even had more juridical rights than their husbands, but still no voting rights, and were absent from politics.[135]

   Allied foreign cities were often given the Latin Rights, an intermediary level between full citizens and foreigners (peregrini), which gave their citizens rights under Roman law and allowed their leading magistrates to become full Roman citizens. While there were varying degrees of Latin rights, the main division was between those cum suffragio ('with vote'; enrolled in a Roman tribe and able to take part in the comitia tributa) and sine suffragio ('without vote'; could not take part in Roman politics). Most of Rome's Italian allies were given full citizenship after the Social War of 91–88 BC, and full Roman citizenship was extended to all free-born men in the Empire by Caracalla in 212, with the exception of the dediticii, people who had become subject to Rome through surrender in war, and freed slaves.[97]

   Education Main article: Education in ancient Rome

   Roman portraiture fresco of a young man with a papyrus scroll, from Herculaneum, 1st century AD In the early Republic, there were no public schools, so boys were taught to read and write by their parents, or by educated slaves, called paedagogi, usually of Greek origin.[136][137][138] The primary aim of education during this period was to train young men in agriculture, warfare, Roman traditions, and public affairs.[136] Young boys learned much about civic life by accompanying their fathers to religious and political functions, including the Senate for the sons of nobles.[137] The sons of nobles were apprenticed to a prominent political figure at the age of 16, and campaigned with the army from the age of 17.[137] Educational practices were modified after the conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the 3rd century BC and the resulting Greek influence, although Roman educational practices were still much different from Greek ones.[137][139] If their parents could afford it, boys and some girls at the age of 7 were sent to a private school outside the home called a ludus, where a teacher (called a litterator or a magister ludi, and often of Greek origin) taught them basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and sometimes Greek, until the age of 11.[137][138][140]

   Beginning at age 12, students went to secondary schools, where the teacher (now called a grammaticus) taught them about Greek and Roman literature.[137][140] At the age of 16, some students went on to rhetoric school (where the teacher, usually Greek, was called a rhetor).[137][140] Education at this level prepared students for legal careers, and required that the students memorise the laws of Rome.[137]

   Government Main articles: Roman Constitution and History of the Roman Constitution Further information: History of citizenship § Roman conceptions of citizenship Initially, Rome was ruled by kings, who were elected from each of Rome's major tribes in turn.[141] The exact nature of the king's power is uncertain. He may have held near-absolute power, or may have merely been the chief executive of the Senate and the people. In military matters, the king's authority (Imperium) was likely absolute. He was also the head of the state religion. In addition to the authority of the King, there were three administrative assemblies: the Senate, which acted as an advisory body for the King; the Comitia Curiata, which could endorse and ratify laws suggested by the King; and the Comitia Calata, which was an assembly of the priestly college that could assemble the people to bear witness to certain acts, hear proclamations, and declare the feast and holiday schedule for the next month.

   Representation of a sitting of the Roman Senate: Cicero attacks Catilina, from a 19th-century fresco by Cesare Maccari, in Palazzo Madama, home to Italy's Senate The class struggles of the Roman Republic resulted in an unusual mixture of democracy and oligarchy. The word republic comes from the Latin res publica, which literally translates to 'public business'. Roman laws traditionally could only be passed by a vote of the Popular assembly (Comitia Tributa). Likewise, candidates for public positions had to run for election by the people. However, the Roman Senate represented an oligarchic institution, which acted as an advisory body.

   In the Republic, the Senate held actual authority (auctoritas), but no real legislative power; it was technically only an advisory council. However, as the Senators were individually very influential, it was difficult to accomplish anything against the collective will of the Senate. New senators were chosen from among the most accomplished patricians by censors (Censura), who could also remove a senator from his office if he was found "morally corrupt". Later, under the reforms of the dictator Sulla, quaestors were made automatic members of the Senate, though most of his reforms did not survive.

   The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy, and collected taxes through the practice of tax farming. Government positions such as quaestor, aedile, or praefect were funded by the office-holder. To prevent any citizen from gaining too much power, new magistrates were elected annually and had to share power with a colleague. For example, under normal conditions, the highest authority was held by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary dictator could be appointed. Throughout the Republic, the administrative system was revised several times to comply with new demands. In the end, it proved inefficient for controlling the ever-expanding dominion of Rome, contributing to the establishment of the Roman Empire.

   In the early Empire, the pretense of a republican form of government was maintained. The Roman emperor was portrayed as only a princeps, or 'first citizen', and the Senate gained legislative power and all legal authority previously held by the popular assemblies. However, the rule of the Emperors became increasingly autocratic, and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body appointed by the Emperor. The Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy from the Republic, since the Republic did not have any permanent governmental structures apart from the Senate. The Emperor appointed assistants and advisers, but the state lacked many institutions, such as a centrally planned budget. Some historians have cited this as a significant reason for the decline of the Roman Empire.

   Military Main articles: Military history of ancient Rome, Military of ancient Rome, Structural history of the Roman military, Roman army, and Roman navy

   Part of a series on the Military of ancient Rome 753 BC – AD 476 Structural history Campaign history Technological history Political history Strategy and tactics Frontiers and fortifications Ancient Rome portal vte

   Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus, c. 122 BC; the altar shows two Roman infantrymen equipped with long scuta and a cavalryman with his horse. All are shown wearing chain mail armour.

   Roman tower (reconstruction) at Limes – Taunus / Germany The early Roman army (c. 500 BC) was, like those of other contemporary city-states influenced by Greek civilisation, a citizen militia that practised hoplite tactics. It was small and organised in five classes (in parallel to the comitia centuriata, the body of citizens organised politically), with three providing hoplites and two providing light infantry. The early Roman army was tactically limited and its stance during this period was essentially defensive.[142][143][144]

   By the 3rd century BC, the Romans abandoned the hoplite formation in favour of a more flexible system in which smaller groups of 120 (or sometimes 60) men called 'maniples could manoeuvre more independently on the battlefield. Thirty maniples arranged in three lines with supporting troops constituted a legion, totalling between 4,000 and 5,000 men.[142][143] The early Republican legion consisted of five sections: manipular heavy infantry (hastati, principes and triarii), a force of light infantry (velites), and the cavalry (equites). With the new organisation came a new orientation toward the offensive and a much more aggressive posture toward adjoining city-states.[142][143]

   Until the late Republican period, the typical legionary was a property-owning citizen farmer from a rural area (an adsiduus) who served for particular (often annual) campaigns,[c] and who supplied his own equipment. After 200 BC, economic conditions in rural areas deteriorated as manpower needs increased, so that the property qualifications for compulsory service were gradually reduced. Beginning in the 3rd century BC, legionaries were paid a stipend. By the time of Augustus, the ideal of the citizen-soldier had been abandoned and the legions had become fully professional. At the end of the Civil War, Augustus reorganised Roman military forces, discharging soldiers and disbanding legions. He retained 28 legions, distributed through the provinces of the Empire.[146]

   During the Principate, the tactical organisation of the Army continued to evolve. The auxilia remained independent cohorts, and legionary troops often operated as groups of cohorts rather than as full legions. A new and versatile type of unit, the cohortes equitatae, combined cavalry and legionaries in a single formation. They could be stationed at garrisons or outposts and could fight on their own as balanced small forces or combine with similar units as a larger, legion-sized force. This increase in organizational flexibility helped ensure the long-term success of Roman military forces.[147] The Emperor Gallienus (253–268 AD) began a reorganisation that created the last military structure of the late Empire. Withdrawing some legionaries from the fixed bases on the border, Gallienus created mobile forces (the comitatenses, or field armies) and stationed them behind and at some distance from the borders as a strategic reserve. The border troops (limitanei) stationed at fixed bases continued to be the first line of defence. The basic units of the field army were regimental; legiones or auxilia for infantry and vexillationes for cavalry. Nominal strengths may have been 1,200 men for infantry regiments and 600 for cavalry, but actual troop levels could have been much lower—800 infantry and 400 cavalry.[148] Many infantry and cavalry regiments operated in pairs under the command of a comes. Field armies included regiments recruited from allied tribes and known as foederati. By 400 AD, foederati regiments had become permanently established units of the Roman army, paid and equipped by the Empire, led by a Roman tribune and used just as Roman units were used. The Empire also used groups of barbarians to fight along with the legions as allies without integration into the field armies, under overall command of a Roman general, but led by their own officers.[148]

   Military leadership evolved over the course of the history of Rome. Under the monarchy, the hoplite armies were led by the kings. During the early and middle Roman Republic, military forces were under the command of one of the two elected consuls for the year. During the later Republic, members of the Roman Senatorial elite, as part of the normal sequence of elected public offices known as the cursus honorum, would have served first as quaestor (often posted as deputies to field commanders), then as praetor.[149][150] Following the end of a term as praetor or consul, a Senator might be appointed by the Senate as a propraetor or proconsul (depending on the highest office held before) to govern a foreign province. Under Augustus, whose most important political priority was to place the military under a permanent and unitary command, the Emperor was the legal commander of each legion but exercised that command through a legatus (legate) he appointed from the Senatorial elite. In a province with a single legion, the legate commanded the legion (legatus legionis) and served as provincial governor, while in a province with more than one legion, each legion was commanded by a legate and the legates were commanded by the provincial governor (also a legate but of higher rank).[151]

   During the later stages of the Imperial period (beginning perhaps with Diocletian), the Augustan model was abandoned. Provincial governors were stripped of military authority, and command of the armies in a group of provinces was given to generals (duces) appointed by the Emperor. These were no longer members of the Roman elite but men who came up through the ranks and had seen much practical soldiering. With increasing frequency, these men attempted (sometimes successfully) to usurp the positions of the Emperors. Decreased resources, increasing political chaos and civil war eventually left the Western Empire vulnerable to attack and takeover by neighbouring barbarian peoples.[152]

   Roman navy

   A Roman naval bireme depicted in a relief from the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste (Palastrina), [153] which was built c. 120 BC;[154] exhibited in the Pius-Clementine Museum (Museo Pio-Clementino) in the Vatican Museums. Less is known about the Roman navy than the Roman army. Prior to the middle of the 3rd century BC, officials known as duumviri navales commanded a fleet of twenty ships used mainly to control piracy. This fleet was given up in 278 AD and replaced by allied forces. The First Punic War required that Rome build large fleets, and it did so largely with the assistance of and financing from allies. This reliance on allies continued to the end of the Roman Republic. The quinquereme was the main warship on both sides of the Punic Wars and remained the mainstay of Roman naval forces until replaced by the time of Caesar Augustus by lighter and more manoeuvrable vessels.[155]

   As compared with a trireme, the quinquereme permitted the use of a mix of experienced and inexperienced crewmen (an advantage for a primarily land-based power), and its lesser manoeuvrability permitted the Romans to adopt and perfect boarding tactics using a troop of about 40 marines in lieu of the ram. Ships were commanded by a navarch, a rank equal to a centurion, who was usually not a citizen. Potter suggests that because the fleet was dominated by non-Romans, the navy was considered non-Roman and allowed to atrophy in times of peace.[155]

   Information suggests that by the time of the late Empire (350 AD), the Roman navy comprised several fleets including warships and merchant vessels for transportation and supply. Warships were oared sailing galleys with three to five banks of oarsmen. Fleet bases included such ports as Ravenna, Arles, Aquilea, Misenum and the mouth of the Somme River in the West and Alexandria and Rhodes in the East. Flotillas of small river craft (classes) were part of the limitanei (border troops) during this period, based at fortified river harbours along the Rhine and the Danube. That prominent generals commanded both armies and fleets suggests that naval forces were treated as auxiliaries to the army and not as an independent service. The details of command structure and fleet strengths during this period are not well known, although fleets were commanded by prefects.[156]

   Economy Main articles: Roman economy, Roman agriculture, Roman commerce, Roman finance, Roman currency, and Roman metallurgy

   Workers at a cloth-processing shop, in a painting from the 'fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus in Pompeii Ancient Rome commanded a vast area of land, with tremendous natural and human resources. As such, Rome's economy remained focused on farming and trade. Agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the 1st century BC, vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers, who were unable to match the imported grain price. The annexation of Egypt, Sicily and Tunisia in North Africa provided a continuous supply of grains. In turn, olive oil and wine were Italy's main exports. Two-tier crop rotation was practised, but farm productivity was low.

   Industrial and manufacturing activities were small. The largest such activities were the mining and quarrying of stones, which provided basic construction materials for the buildings of that period. In manufacturing, production was on a relatively small scale, and generally consisted of workshops and small factories that employed at most dozens of workers. However, some brick factories employed hundreds of workers.

   The economy of the early Republic was largely based on smallholding and paid labour. However, foreign wars and conquests made slaves increasingly cheap and plentiful, and by the late Republic, the economy was largely dependent on slave labour for both skilled and unskilled work. Slaves are estimated to have constituted around 20% of the Roman Empire's population at this time and 40% in the city of Rome. Only in the Roman Empire, when the conquests stopped and the prices of slaves increased, did hired labour become more economical than slave ownership.

   View of Trajan's Market, built by Apollodorus of Damascus Although barter was used in ancient Rome, and often used in tax collection, Rome had a very developed coinage system, with brass, bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the Empire and beyond—some have even been discovered in India. Before the 3rd century BC, copper was traded by weight, measured in unmarked lumps, across central Italy. The original copper coins (as) had a face value of one Roman pound of copper, but weighed less. Thus, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic value as metal. After Nero began debasing the silver denarius, its legal value was an estimated one-third greater than its intrinsic value.

   Horses were expensive and other pack animals were slower. Mass trade on the Roman roads connected military posts, where Roman markets were centered.[157] These roads were designed for wheels.[158] As a result, there was transport of commodities between Roman regions, but increased with the rise of Roman maritime trade in the 2nd century BC. During that period, a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia, spanning the entire length of the Mediterranean.[73] Transport by sea was around 60 times cheaper than by land, so the volume for such trips was much larger.

   Some economists consider the Roman Empire a market economy, similar in its degree of capitalistic practices to the 17th-century Netherlands and 18th-century England.[159]

   Family Main article: Family in ancient Rome

   A gold glass portrait of a family from Roman Egypt. The Greek inscription on the medallion may indicate either the name of the artist or the pater familias who is absent in the portrait.[160]

   A funerary relief with members of the gens Vibia, late 1st century BC, Vatican Museums The basic units of Roman society were households and families.[134] Groups of households connected through the male line formed a family (gens), based on blood ties, a common ancestry or adoption. During the Republic, some powerful families, or Gentes Maiores, came to dominate political life. Families were headed by their oldest male citizen, the pater familias (father of the family), who held lawful authority (patria potestas, 'father's power') over wives, sons, daughters, and slaves of the household, and the family's wealth.[134]

   The extreme expressions of this power—the selling or killing of family members for moral or civil offences, including simple disobedience—were very rarely exercised, and were forbidden in the Imperial era. A pater familias had moral and legal duties towards all family members. Even the most despotic pater familias was expected to consult senior members of his household and gens over matters that affected the family's well-being and reputation. Traditionally, such matters were regarded as outside the purview of the state and its magistrates; under the emperors, they were increasingly subject to state interference and legislation.[161]

   Once accepted into their birth family by their fathers, children were potential heirs. They could not be lawfully given away, or sold into slavery. If parents were unable to care for their child, or if its paternity was in doubt, they could resort to infant exposure (Boswell translates this as being "offered" up to care by the gods or strangers). If a deformed or sickly newborn was patently "unfit to live", killing it was a duty of the pater familias. A citizen father who exposed a healthy freeborn child was not punished, but automatically lost his potestas over that child. Abandoned children were sometimes adopted; some would have been sold into slavery.[162] Slavery was near-ubiquitous and almost universally accepted. In the early Republic, citizens in debt were allowed to sell their labour, and perhaps their sons, to their debtor in a limited form of slavery called nexum but this was abolished in the middle Republic. Freedom was considered a natural and proper state for citizens; slaves could be lawfully freed, with consent and support of their owners, and still serve their owners' family and financial interests, as freedmen or freed women. This was the basis of the client-patron relationship, one of the most important features of Rome's economy and society.[163]

   In law, a pater familias held potestas over his adult sons with their own households. This could give rise to legal anomalies, such as adult sons also having the status of minors. No man could be considered a pater familias, nor could he truly hold property under law, while his own father lived.[164][165] During Rome's early history, married daughters came under the control (manus) of their husbands' pater familias. By the late Republic, most married women retained lawful connection to their birth family, though any children from the marriage belonged to her husband's family.[166] The mother or an elderly relative often raised both boys and girls.[167] Roman moralists held that marriage and child-raising fulfilled a basic duty to family, gens, and the state. Multiple remarriages were not uncommon. Fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when these reached an age between twelve and fourteen, but most commoner-class women stayed single until their twenties, and in general seem to have been far more independent than wives of the elite. Divorce required the consent of one party, along with the return of any dowry. Both parents had power over their children during their minority and adulthood, but husbands had much less control over their wives.[168]

   Roman citizen women held a restricted form of citizenship; they could not vote but were protected by law. They ran families, could own and run businesses, own and cultivate land, write their own wills, and plead in court on their own behalf, or on behalf of others, all under dispensation of the courts and the nominal supervision of a senior male relative. Throughout the late Republican and Imperial eras, a declining birthrate among the elite, and a corresponding increase among commoners was cause of concern for many gentes; Augustus tried to address this through state intervention, offering rewards to any woman who gave birth to three or more children, and penalising the childless. The latter was much resented, and the former had seemingly negligible results. Aristocratic women seem to have been increasingly disinclined to childbearing.[169]

   Time and dates See also: Roman timekeeping, Roman calendar, and Roman consul § Consular dating Roman hours were counted ordinally from dawn to dawn. Thus, if sunrise was at 6 am, then 6 to 7 am was called the 'first hour'. Midday was called meridies, and it is from this word that the terms am (ante meridiem) and pm (post meridiem) stem. The English word "noon" comes from nona ('ninth (hour)'), which referred to 3 pm in ancient Rome.[d] The Romans had clocks (horologia), which included giant public sundials (solaria) and water clocks (clepsydrae).

   The ancient Roman week originally had eight days, which were identified by letters A to H, with the eighth day being the nundinum, or market day, a kind of weekend when farmers sold their produce on the streets. The seven-day week, introduced from the East during the early Empire, was officially adopted during the reign of Constantine. Romans named week days after celestial bodies from at least the 1st century AD.

   The Roman year originally had ten months from Martius (March) to December, with the winter period not included in the calendar. The first four months were named after gods (Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius) and the others were numbered (Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December). Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome (716–673 BC), is said to have introduced the months of January and February, both also named after gods, beginning the 12-month calendar still in use today. In 44 BC, the month Quintilis was renamed to Julius (July) after Julius Caesar and in 8 BC, Sextilis was renamed to Augustus (August) after Augustus.

   The Romans had several ways of tracking years. One widespread way was the consular dating, which identified years by the two consuls who ruled each year. Another way, introduced in the late 3rd century AD, was counting years from the indictio, a 15-year period based on the announcement of the delivery of food and other goods to the government. Another way, less popular but more similar to present day, was ab urbe condita, which counted years from the mythical foundation of Rome in 753 BC.

   Culture Main article: Culture of ancient Rome

   The seven hills of Rome Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, located on seven hills. The city had a vast number of monumental structures like the Colosseum, the Trajan's Forum and the Pantheon. It had theatres, gymnasiums, marketplaces, functional sewers, bath complexes complete with libraries and shops, and fountains with fresh drinking water supplied by hundreds of miles of aqueducts. Throughout the territory under the control of ancient Rome, residential architecture ranged from modest houses to country villas.

   In Rome, there were imperial residences on Palatine Hill. The low plebeian and middle equestrian classes lived in the city center, packed into apartments, or insulae, which were almost like modern ghettos. These areas, often built by upper class property owners to rent, were often centred upon collegia or taberna. These people, provided with a free supply of grain, and entertained by gladiatorial games, were enrolled as clients of patrons among the upper class patricians, whose assistance they sought and whose interests they upheld.

   Language

   The Roman Empire in 180 AD. Latin had a great influence in the western part of the empire, both as a native language and as an administrative language. In the eastern part, the Greek language was predominant. Main article: Latin The native language of the Romans was Latin, an Italic language the grammar of which relies little on word order, conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems.[170] Its alphabet was based on the Etruscan alphabet, which was in turn based on the Greek alphabet.[171] Although surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, an artificial and highly stylised and polished literary language from the 1st century BC, the spoken language of the Roman Empire was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar and vocabulary, and eventually in pronunciation.[172] Speakers of Latin could understand both until the 7th century when spoken Latin began to diverge so much that 'Classical' or 'Good Latin' had to be learned as a second language.[173]

   While Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, Greek came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a practice that first started during the Punic wars.[174] In the eastern part of the Roman Empire (and later the Eastern Roman Empire), Latin was never able to replace Greek, a legacy of the Hellenistic period.[175] Justinian would be the last emperor to use Latin in government and marks when Greek officially took over.[176] The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and Vulgar Latin evolved into many distinct Romance languages.

   Religion Main articles: Religion in ancient Rome, Roman mythology, and Roman temple Further information: Constantine the Great and Christianity and State church of the Roman Empire

   Punishment of Ixion: in the center is Mercury holding the caduceus and on the right Juno sits on her throne. Behind her Iris stands and gestures. On the left is Vulcan (blond figure) standing behind the wheel, manning it, with Ixion already tied to it. Nephele sits at Mercury's feet; a Roman fresco from the eastern wall of the triclinium in the House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Fourth Style (60–79 AD). Archaic Roman religion, at least concerning the gods, was made up not of written narratives, but rather of complex interrelations between gods and humans.[177] Unlike in Greek mythology, the gods were not personified, but were vaguely defined sacred spirits called numina. Romans also believed that every person, place or thing had its own genius, or divine soul. During the Roman Republic, Roman religion was organised under a strict system of priestly offices, which were held by men of senatorial rank. The College of Pontifices was uppermost body in this hierarchy, and its chief priest, the Pontifex Maximus, was the head of the state religion. Flamens took care of the cults of various gods, while augurs were trusted with taking the auspices. The sacred king took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings. In the Roman Empire, deceased emperors who had ruled well were deified by their successors and the Senate.[178] and the formalised imperial cult became increasingly prominent.

   As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became increasingly associated with Greek gods.[179] Under the Empire, the Romans absorbed the mythologies of their conquered subjects, often leading to situations in which the temples and priests of traditional Italian deities existed side by side with those of foreign gods.[180]

   Beginning with Emperor Nero in the 1st century AD, Roman official policy towards Christianity was negative, and at some point, being a Christian could be punishable by death. Under Emperor Diocletian, the persecution of Christians reached its peak. However, it became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Diocletian's successor, Constantine I, with the signing of the Edict of Milan in 313, and quickly became dominant. All religions except Christianity were prohibited in 391 AD by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.[181]

   Ethics and morality Like many ancient cultures, concepts of ethics and morality, while sharing some commonalities with modern society, differed greatly in several important ways. Because ancient civilisations like Rome were under constant threat of attack from marauding tribes, their culture was necessarily militaristic with martial skills being a prized attribute.[182] Whereas modern societies consider compassion a virtue, Roman society considered compassion a vice, a moral defect. One of the primary purposes of the gladiatorial games was to inoculate Roman citizens from this weakness.[183][182][184] Romans instead prized virtues such as courage and conviction (virtus), a sense of duty to one's people, moderation and avoiding excess (moderatio), forgiveness and understanding (clementia), fairness (severitas), and loyalty (pietas).[185]

   Roman society had well-established and restrictive norms related to sexuality, though as with many societies, the lion's share of the responsibilities fell on women. Women were generally expected to be monogamous having only a single husband during their life (univira), though this was much less regarded by the elite, especially under the empire. Women were expected to be modest in public avoiding any provocative appearance and to demonstrate absolute fidelity to their husbands (pudicitia). Wearing a veil was a common expectation to preserve modesty. Sex outside of marriage was generally frowned upon for men and women and was made illegal during the imperial period.[186] Nevertheless, prostitution was an accepted and regulated practice.[187]

   Public demonstrations of death, violence, and brutality were used as a source of entertainment in Roman communities; however it was also a way to maintain social order, demonstrate power, and signify communal unity.

   Art, music and literature Main articles: Roman art, Latin literature, Music of ancient Rome, Roman sculpture, Theatre of ancient Rome, and Art collection in ancient Rome See also: Ancient Rome (painting)

   Frescoes from the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, Italy, Roman artwork dated to the mid-1st century BC

   Woman playing a kithara, from the Villa Boscoreale, Italy, circa 40–30 BC Roman painting styles show Greek influences, and surviving examples are primarily frescoes used to adorn the walls and ceilings of country villas, though Roman literature includes mentions of paintings on wood, ivory, and other materials.[188][189] Several examples of Roman painting have been found at Pompeii, and from these art historians divide the history of Roman painting into four periods.

   The first style of Roman painting was practised from the early 2nd century BC to the early- or mid-1st century BC. It was mainly composed of imitations of marble and masonry, though sometimes including depictions of mythological characters. The second style began during the early 1st century BC and attempted to depict realistically three-dimensional architectural features and landscapes. The third style occurred during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), and rejected the realism of the second style in favour of simple ornamentation. A small architectural scene, landscape, or abstract design was placed in the center with a monochrome background. The fourth style, which began in the 1st century AD, depicted scenes from mythology, while retaining architectural details and abstract patterns.

   Portrait sculpture used youthful and classical proportions, evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. During the Antonine and Severan periods, ornate hair and bearding, with deep cutting and drilling, became popular. Advancements were also made in relief sculptures, usually depicting Roman victories.

   Roman music was largely based on Greek music, and played an important part in many aspects of Roman life.[190] In the Roman military, musical instruments such as the tuba (a long trumpet) or the cornu were used to give various commands, while the buccina (possibly a trumpet or horn) and the lituus (probably an elongated J-shaped instrument), were used in ceremonial capacities.[191] Music was used in the Roman amphitheatres between fights and in the odea, and in these settings is known to have featured the cornu and the hydraulis (a type of water organ).[192] Most religious rituals featured musical performances.[193] Some music historians believe that music was used at almost all public ceremonies.[190]

   The graffiti, brothels, paintings, and sculptures found in Pompeii and Herculaneum suggest that the Romans had a sex-saturated culture.[194]

   Literature and libraries Latin literature was, from its start, influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest extant works are of historical epics telling the early military history of Rome. As the Republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy.

   Ancient Rome's literary contributions are still recognised today and the works by ancient Roman authors were available in bookshops as well as in public and private libraries. Many scholars and statesmen of ancient Rome cultivated private libraries that were used both as demonstrations of knowledge and displays of wealth and power.[195]

   Although Julius Caesar had intended to establish public libraries to further establish Rome as a great cultural center like Athens and Alexandria, he died before this was accomplished. Caesar's former lieutenant, Gaius Asinius Pollio, took up the project and opened the first public library in Rome in the Atrium Libertatis.[196] Emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Vespasian, Domitian, and Trajan also founded or expanded public libraries in Rome during their reigns.[197][198][199] These included the Ulpian Library in Trajan's Forum and libraries in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, the Temple of Peace in the Roman Forum, the Temple of Divus Augustus, which was dedicated to Minerva when it was rebuilt under Emperor Domitian's orders.[200] By the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city of Rome had more than two dozen public libraries.[201] As the Roman Empire spread, public libraries were established in other major cities and cultural centers including Ephesos, Athens, and Timgad.[202][203]

   Cuisine Main articles: Ancient Roman cuisine, Ancient Rome and wine, and Food and dining in the Roman Empire

   A boy with a platter of fruits and what may be a bucket of crabs, in a kitchen with fish and squid, on the June panel from a 3rd-century mosaic depicting the months, in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia[204] Ancient Roman cuisine changed over the long duration of this ancient civilisation. Dietary habits were affected by the influence of Greek culture, the political changes from Kingdom to Republic to Empire, and the Empire's enormous expansion, which exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits and cooking techniques. In the beginning the differences between social classes were relatively small, but disparities evolved with the Empire's growth. Men and women drank wine with their meals.[205]

   The ancient Roman diet included many items that are staples of modern Italian cooking. Pliny the Elder discussed more than 30 varieties of olive, 40 kinds of pear, figs (native and imported from Africa and the eastern provinces), and a wide variety of vegetables, including carrots (of different colours, but not orange[206]) as well as celery, garlic, some flower bulbs, cabbage and other brassicas (such as kale and broccoli), lettuce, endive, onion, leek, asparagus, radishes, turnips, parsnips, beets, green peas, chard, cardoons, olives, and cucumber.[207]

   However, some foods now considered characteristic of modern Italian cuisine were not used.[208] In particular, spinach and eggplant (aubergine) were introduced later from the Arab world, and tomatoes, potatoes, capsicum peppers, and maize (the modern source of polenta)[207] only appeared in Europe following the discovery of the New World and the Columbian Exchange.[208] The Romans knew of rice, but it was very rarely available to them. There were also few citrus fruits.[208]

   Butcher's meat such as beef was an uncommon luxury. The most popular meat was pork, especially sausages.[209] Fish was more common than meat, with a sophisticated aquaculture and large-scale industries devoted to oyster farming. The Romans also engaged in snail farming and oak grub farming. Some fish were greatly esteemed and fetched high prices, such as mullet raised in the fishery at Cosa, and "elaborate means were invented to assure its freshness".[210]

   Traditionally, a breakfast called ientaculum[211] was served at dawn. At mid-day to early afternoon, Romans ate cena,[211] the main meal of the day, and at nightfall a light supper called vesperna.[212] With the increased importation of foreign foods, the cena grew larger in size and included a wider range of foods. Thus, it gradually shifted to the evening, while the vesperna[212] was abandoned completely over the course of the years. The mid-day meal prandium became a light meal to hold one over until cena.[211]

   Fashion See also: Clothing in ancient Rome

   Detail of a Paleochristian Roman mosaic from the basilica of Santa Pudenziana in Rome, c. 410 AD, depicting Saint Pudentiana The toga, a common garment during the era of Julius Caesar, was gradually abandoned by all social classes of the Empire. At the early 4th century, the toga had become just a garment worn by senators in Senate and ceremonial events. At the 4th century, the toga was replaced by the paenula (a garment similar to a poncho) as the everyday garment of the Romans, from the lower classes to the upper classes. Another garment that was popular among the Romans in the later years of the Western Roman Empire was the pallium, which was mostly worn by philosophers and scholars in general. Due to external influences, mainly from the Germanic peoples, the Romans adopted tunics very similar to those used by the Germanic peoples with whom they interacted in the final years of the Western Empire, also adopted trousers and hats like the pileus pannonicus. During the Late Empire, the paludamentum (a type of military clothing) was used only by the Emperor of Rome (since the reign of Augustus, the first emperor) while the dalmatic (also used by the Christian clergy) began to spread throughout the empire.[213]

   Games and recreation See also: History of physical training and fitness

   Gladiator combat was strictly a spectator sport. This mosaic shows combatants and referee, from the villa at Nennig, Germany, c. 2nd–3rd century AD.

   The "bikini girls" mosaic, showing women playing sports, from the Villa Romana del Casale, Italy, Roman province of Sicilia, 4th century AD The youth of Rome had several forms of athletic play and exercise. Play for boys was supposed to prepare them for active military service, such as jumping, wrestling, boxing, and racing.[214] In the countryside, pastimes for the wealthy also included fishing and hunting.[215] The Romans also had several forms of ball playing, including one resembling handball.[214] Dice games, board games, and gamble games were popular pastimes.[214] For the wealthy, dinner parties presented an opportunity for entertainment, sometimes featuring music, dancing, and poetry readings.[188] The majority, less well-off, sometimes enjoyed similar parties through clubs or associations, but for most Romans, recreational dining usually meant patronising taverns.[188] Children entertained themselves with toys and such games as leapfrog.[215][188]

   Public games and spectacles were sponsored by leading Romans who wished to advertise their generosity and court popular approval; in Rome or its provinces, this usually meant the emperor or his governors. Venues in Rome and the provinces were developed specifically for public games. Rome's Colosseum was built in 70 AD under the Roman emperor Vespasian and opened in 80 AD to host other events and gladiatorial combats. Gladiators sometimes fought to the death, but more often to an adjudicated victory, usually in keeping with the mood of the watching crowd. Shows of exotic animals were popular in their own right; but sometimes animals were pitted against human beings, either armed professionals or unarmed criminals who had been condemned to public death.

   Chariot racing was extremely popular among all classes. In Rome, these races were usually held at the Circus Maximus, which had been purpose-built for chariot and horse-racing and, as Rome's largest public place, was also used for festivals and animal shows.[216] It could seat around 150,000 people.[217]

   Technology Main article: Ancient Roman technology

   Pont du Gard in France is a Roman aqueduct built in c. 19 BC. It is a World Heritage Site. Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advancements that were lost in the Middle Ages and not rivalled again until the 19th and 20th centuries. An example of this is insulated glazing, which was not invented again until the 1930s. Many practical Roman innovations were adopted from earlier Greek designs. Advancements were often divided and based on craft. Artisans guarded technologies as trade secrets.[218]

   Roman civil engineering and military engineering constituted a large part of Rome's technological superiority and legacy, and contributed to the construction of hundreds of roads, bridges, aqueducts, public baths, theatres and arenas. Many monuments, such as the Colosseum, Pont du Gard, and Pantheon, remain as testaments to Roman engineering and culture.

   The Romans were renowned for their architecture, which is grouped with Greek traditions into "Classical architecture". Although there were many differences from Greek architecture, Rome borrowed heavily from Greece in adhering to strict, formulaic building designs and proportions. Aside from two new orders of columns, composite and Tuscan, and from the dome, which was derived from the Etruscan arch, Rome had relatively few architectural innovations until the end of the Republic.

   In the 1st century BC, Romans started to use Roman concrete widely. Concrete was invented in the late 3rd century BC. It was a powerful cement derived from pozzolana, and soon supplanted marble as the chief Roman building material and allowed many daring architectural forms.[219] Also in the 1st century BC, Vitruvius wrote De architectura, possibly the first complete treatise on architecture in history.

   The Romans also largely built using timber, causing a rapid decline of the woodlands surrounding Rome. The first evidence of long-distance wood trading come from the discovery of wood planks, felled between AD 40 and 60, coming from the Jura mountains in northeastern France and ending up more than 1,055 miles (1,700 km) away, in the foundations of a lavish portico that was part of a vast wealthy patrician villa, in Central Rome. It is suggested that timber, around 4 metres (13 ft) long, came up to Rome via the Tiber River on ships travelling across the Mediterranean Sea from the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers in what is now the city of Lyon in present-day France.[220]

   The Appian Way (Via Appia), a road connecting the city of Rome to the southern parts of Italy, remains usable even today With solid foundations and good drainage,[221] Roman roads were known for their durability and many segments of the Roman road system were still in use a thousand years after the fall of Rome. The construction of a vast and efficient travel network throughout the Empire dramatically increased Rome's power and influence. They allowed Roman legions to be deployed rapidly, with predictable marching times between key points of the empire, no matter the season.[222] These highways also had enormous economic significance, solidifying Rome's role as a trading crossroads—the origin of the saying "all roads lead to Rome". The Roman government maintained a system of way stations, known as the cursus publicus, and established a system of horse relays allowing a dispatch to travel up to 80 km (50 mi) a day.

   The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water to cities and industrial sites and to aid in their agriculture. By the third century, the city of Rome was supplied by 11 aqueducts with a combined length of 450 km (280 mi). The Romans also made major advancements in sanitation. Romans were particularly famous for their public baths, called thermae, which were used for both hygienic and social purposes. Many Roman houses had flush toilets and indoor plumbing, and a complex sewer system, the Cloaca Maxima, was used to drain the local marshes and carry waste into the Tiber. Some historians have speculated that lead pipes in the sewer and plumbing systems led to widespread lead poisoning, which contributed to fall of Rome; however, lead content would have been minimised.[223][224]

   Legacy Main articles: Legacy of the Roman Empire and Classics Ancient Rome is the progenitor of Western civilisation.[225] The customs, religion, law, technology, architecture, political system, military, literature, languages, alphabet, government and many factors and aspects of western civilisation are all inherited from Roman advancements. The rediscovery of Roman culture revitalised Western civilisation, playing a role in the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment.[226]

   Historiography Primary and secondary sources Main article: Roman historiography The two longest ancient accounts of the Roman history, the histories of Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, were composed 500 years later than the date for the founding of the republic and 200 years from the defeat of Hannibal.[227] Although there has been a diversity of works on ancient Roman history, many of them are lost. As a result of this loss, there are gaps in Roman history, which are filled by unreliable works, such as the Historia Augusta.[228] Caesar wrote his own accounts of his military campaigns in Gaul and during the Civil War in part to impress his contemporaries.[229]

   In the Empire, the biographies of famous men and early emperors flourished, examples being The Twelve Caesars of Suetonius, and Plutarch's Parallel Lives. Other major works of Imperial times were that of Livy and Tacitus.

   Polybius – The Histories Sallust – Bellum Catilinae and Bellum Jugurthinum Julius Caesar – De Bello Gallico and De Bello Civili Livy – Ab urbe condita Dionysius of Halicarnassus – Roman Antiquities Pliny the Elder – Naturalis Historia Josephus – The Jewish War Suetonius – The Twelve Caesars (De Vita Caesarum) Tacitus – Annales and Histories Plutarch – Parallel Lives (a series of biographies of famous Roman and Greek men) Cassius Dio – Historia Romana Herodian – History of the Roman Empire since Marcus Aurelius Ammianus Marcellinus – Res Gestae Interest in studying, and idealising, ancient Rome became prevalent during the Italian Renaissance. Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire "began the modern study of Roman history in the English-speaking world".[230] Barthold Georg Niebuhr was a founder of the examination of ancient Roman history and wrote The Roman History, tracing the period until the First Punic War. During the Napoleonic, The History of Romans by Victor Duruy highlighted the Caesarean period popular at the time. History of Rome, Roman constitutional law and Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, all by Theodor Mommsen,[231] became milestones.

   Executive summary The “joint rule” of Caracalla and Geta in Rome, strictly speaking, was extremely brief: after the death of Septimius Severus in early 211 CE, the brothers returned to Rome as co-emperors, but their relationship rapidly collapsed into mutual suspicion, open faction-building, and (by late 211) fratricide and purge. Primary narrative sources emphasize that the co-emperors’ public posture of concordia (harmony) was largely performative, while court politics and urban security were increasingly militarized—especially through court guards and the city’s armed forces.

   Rome itself, however, did not become a “different city” overnight: the daily life of most inhabitants still revolved around dense housing, the provisioning system (grain and other staples arriving by sea and distributed through public and market channels), monumental public amenities (baths, forums, entertainment venues), and long-lived infrastructure (aqueduct-fed water distribution and drainage/sewer networks). What does change sharply in the evidence for 211–212 is the political atmosphere: violence at the top translated into visible urban traces—public speeches under guard, fast-moving purges, and a citywide campaign of erasure against Geta’s name and image.

   Material evidence (inscriptions, reliefs, and coinage) is unusually important for this moment. The urban landscape of Rome preserved (and still preserves) “scarred” monuments where Geta’s titulature was chiseled out, indicating how memory sanctions were enacted as physical intervention in the city’s texts and images. This complements primary narrative accounts of purge and fear, and it anchors the politics of co-rule and its collapse to observable changes in the built environment.

   Legally and fiscally, the joint reign itself left limited securely datable “signature” legislation, but it sits inside a broader Severan pattern: heavy reliance on imperial decisions communicated as constitutions/rescripts, with learned jurists in or near top administration. In the immediate aftermath of Geta’s death, Cassius Dio (primary) describes both an amnesty-type measure and aggressive fiscal extraction, and he explicitly attributes the later universal grant of citizenship (212) to revenue strategy; papyrological survival of that edict is fragmentary and scholarly debate remains active.

   Evidence base and constraints Primary evidence (narrative): The core surviving narratives for the co-rule and its breakdown are from Cassius Dio in Roman History and from Herodian in History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus. Both authors foreground court politics, soldiers, and the Senate; both are also shaped by genre, audience, and viewpoint. Modern scholarship repeatedly stresses that Dio’s senatorial position and personal career incentives can distort how “the Senate’s experience” is generalized, so Dio should be read as evidence for elite political culture and perceived threats as much as for raw “statistics.”

   Primary evidence (material/administrative): Epigraphy and iconography provide critical checks on narrative rhetoric. In Rome, the erasure of Geta’s name and image is directly visible on inscribed monuments and relief programs (e.g., the bankers’/merchants’ arch near the Forum Boarium), and it is independently attested across multiple inscriptions catalogued in CIL and related databases. Coins minted in the brothers’ lifetime also document the officially desired message (CONCORDIA, joint sacrifice, clasped hands), showing how “harmony” was projected even as the polity destabilized.

   What is hard to know: “What Rome was like” at street level in 211 CE cannot be reconstructed day-by-day. For the urban majority, ordinary living conditions must be inferred from long-run features (housing stock, water systems, food supply logistics) and from scattered snapshots (e.g., narratives mentioning chariot factions, or inscriptions for city services). Even core demographic quantities (total population, proportion on distributions) remain debated; already in older but still methodologically useful discussions, estimates are shown to depend heavily on assumptions and late or problematic figures.

   Political structure and imperial administration Co-emperorship as institution vs reality (Primary): Formally, the Roman imperial system could accommodate multiple Augusti, and both Dio and Herodian present the brothers publicly “sharing power.” Yet Dio states bluntly that Caracalla “nominally” shared power while “in reality he ruled alone from the very outset,” a narrative claim that matters because it frames the co-rule as a legitimacy problem even before the murder. The Senate’s own ritual response—voting sacrifices for the brothers’ concordia—appears in Dio as both a public act of state religion and a narrative omen when the rite fails to take place smoothly.

   Court faction and the near-partition plan (Primary): Herodian describes the co-emperors’ fear and hostility on the return to Rome and then reports that they discussed dividing the empire geographically—Caracalla taking Europe and Geta “Asia,” with the straits as a natural boundary—an extraordinary proposal that highlights how the palace crisis threatened to become constitutional and geographic. Herodian also makes Julia Domna central as mediator and obstacle to partition, which aligns with Dio’s depiction of her role in attempted reconciliation (even if Dio emphasizes her powerlessness to prevent the killing).

   Rule through soldiers and intimidation (Primary): After Geta’s murder, both Dio and Herodian stress the sequence: first secure soldiers with promises/donatives, then confront the Senate. Dio quotes Caracalla’s message to troops as a pledge of favors and access to “treasuries,” while Herodian portrays a Senate appearance backed by an unusually heavy armed escort and a speech that attempts to reframe fratricide as self-defense. This is a Rome where elite politics is inseparable from armed presence, and where senatorial ritual and deliberation are subordinated to coercive credibility.

   Law, justice, and notable edicts Imperial law as administrative output (Primary + Secondary): The Severan period is often treated (in modern syntheses) as an era of high-profile jurists operating close to the imperial center. In a third-century context, this emerges most concretely through the survival (albeit in later compilations) of imperial rescripts and legal rulings transmitted into late antique law codes. A key methodological constraint is that many legal texts come to us filtered through later selection and editing. Still, the presence of rescripts explicitly dated by the joint consulate of “Antoninus and Geta” (209 CE) is direct evidence that official legal business could be stamped with their joint titulature during the years leading into the 211 crisis.

   Jurists, office-holding, and the politics of justice (Primary + Secondary): Dio reports that Caracalla dismissed/killed high officials after consolidating power, including Aemilius Papinianus, and frames these killings as part of a broader purge. Modern legal-historical work is cautious about attributing the “voice” of imperial law directly to the emperor as individual; instead it emphasizes the administrative machinery (petitioning, drafting, secretaries, juristic expertise) that produced decisions. One concrete case-study is Kaius Tuori’s analysis of a Dio passage depicting Julia Domna handling petitions/correspondence on Caracalla’s behalf later (214–215), illustrating how “imperial justice” could be mediated through the court rather than personally delivered in Rome.

   Edicts and fiscal-legal change in the immediate aftermath (Primary + Secondary): Dio describes a broad act restoring exiles shortly after the murder (a policy gesture useful for legitimacy), but he also depicts a swift return to coercion and renewed exile. In the same book, Dio provides a detailed (and hostile) account of fiscal measures: increased demands on communities, forced provisioning, and a “ten percent” tax replacing a “five percent” tax on manumissions, inheritances, and legacies—plus removal of certain exemptions for close kin. This matters because Dio then explicitly links these fiscal moves to the universal citizenship grant of 212 (Constitututio Antoniniana), claiming it was done to increase revenue since “aliens did not have to pay most of these taxes.” Secondary work on the edict emphasizes both the fragmentary state of the surviving papyrus and ongoing debate over motive (fiscal, military, ideological, or mixed).

   Economy, taxation, and provisioning Elite extraction and “the cost of security” (Primary): Dio’s narrative paints the post-211 state as a fiscal machine directed toward military loyalty: he depicts repeated demands for ceremonial “gold crowns,” compulsory supplies without compensation, and construction burdens imposed on communities for imperial travel and display. While Dio is rhetorically hostile and cannot be treated as a neutral accountant, the specificity of the categories he lists (crowns, requisitions, tax-rate changes, exemption removals) provides strong primary evidence that contemporaries connected political survival to intensified extraction.

   Military pay and the fiscal backdrop (Primary + Secondary): The Severan dynasty is widely associated in modern scholarship with increased military costs and the political necessity of rewarding soldiers; these dynamics offer context for Dio’s emphasis on donatives and the redirection of resources toward the army. Modern analyses of Roman military pay stress how hard it is to reconstruct exact scales across time, but they treat pay as a major budget driver with broad social and monetary consequences (taxation pressure, requisitions, monetization strategies).

   Coinage, debasement, and uncertainty (Secondary): Monetary change in the early third century is often summarized as “debasement,” but specialist work cautions against simplistic narratives and emphasizes complex interactions among metal content, overvaluation, money supply, and prices. This matters for Rome in 211–212 because it shapes how we interpret Dio’s fiscal picture: even if we accept extraction and new taxes, the macroeconomic outcome (inflation, price instability) is unevenly evidenced and varies regionally, and “debasement” itself is not a single event but a pattern best tracked with scientific and numismatic methods.

   Provisioning of the capital (Primary + Secondary): Rome’s scale required sustained imports and sophisticated logistics. Even if we cannot measure Rome’s 211 population precisely, provisioning remains a structural constant, with imperial institutions and private commerce interlocking. Scholarly work on the grain trade highlights how evidence for distributions and entitlements becomes clearer in the early third century in certain domains (e.g., rights to publicly issued grain for specific categories of state servants), which is relevant to understanding how urban stability could be maintained despite top-level violence.

   Social, cultural, and religious life in the city Urban demographics and social structure (Secondary, with uncertainty): Rome in the early third century remained one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world, but estimates of total population and density are highly model-dependent. Scholarly discussions show how attempts to infer population from grain figures rely on late sources and fragile assumptions; even when large recipient groups can be hypothesized, the proportion of the total urban population they represent cannot be firmly established. For bot-safe modeling, the best-supported statement is that Rome was a very large, highly stratified city with a heavy reliance on multi-occupancy housing and intense demand for imported staples.

   Entertainment as politics (Primary): The sources depict public spectacle not as “leisure apart from politics” but as a domain where imperial preferences and violence were visible. Dio reports that Caracalla killed a famous charioteer for backing the “wrong” racing faction, and he also portrays the emperor as personally enthusiastic about blood sports and gladiatorial violence—evidence that elite conflict did not prevent, and may even have intensified, the performative politics of the arena and circus. These vignettes also underscore that Roman popular culture (racing factions, celebrity performers) could intersect with lethal court power.

   Religion, ritual, and cultural life (Primary + Secondary): Dio’s account of the Senate voting sacrifices to the goddess Concord and to “Concord herself” demonstrates the civic-religious language used to frame political stability: harmony between emperors was treated not simply as a virtue but as a ritual matter of state. At the same time, modern syntheses of Severan intellectual life emphasize a culturally dynamic period: the continuation of the Second Sophistic, major developments in Greek and Latin literary culture, and the growing public presence of Christianity as a literary and philosophical force. Scholarship on the “circle” around Julia Domna cautions that the topic is burdened by modern projection and misinterpretation, which is important when using “court culture” claims in automated summaries.

   Propaganda and memory sanctions (Primary + Secondary): The most concrete “Rome-specific” signal of the regime break is the physical transformation of texts and images. Scholarship on memory sanctions stresses that “damnatio memoriae” is not a single standard legal formula but a set of practices (erasing names, defacing images, reworking honorific material) applied variably. In Rome, the bankers’/merchants’ arch (dedicated to the Severan family) preserves erasures of Geta (and others), and epigraphic dossiers include multiple examples where Geta’s and Plautilla’s names were removed from dedications connected to state services (including the vigiles). Coinage, conversely, documents the earlier official message of harmony—e.g., issues showing the brothers together with motifs of concord and mutual recognition.

   Daily urban life, infrastructure, and public services Housing and neighborhood experience (Secondary): The typical urban experience for non-elites was shaped by multi-story apartment blocks (insulae), mixed-use streets with shops at ground level, and stark inequality in space and amenities. Comparative archaeological-historical work uses Ostia as a partial analogue for Rome’s built environment, while simultaneously warning that Rome’s population cannot be reconstructed securely from provisioning arithmetic alone; these cautions are particularly relevant for automated “facts” about who lived how, and in what numbers.

   Food, distribution, and state visibility (Primary + Secondary): Whatever the precise mechanics in 211, the emperor’s legitimacy in Rome was structurally tied to feeding and entertaining the capital. Scholarship on the grain trade underscores that early third-century evidence is important for understanding entitlements and the integration of state-linked groups in the provisioning system. During political crises, stability did not require that every resident receive state food—rather, it required that the overall supply chain and distributive expectations not collapse, a condition difficult to document directly but fundamental to Rome’s social equilibrium.

   Sanitation and water (Secondary): Rome’s drainage and sewer network expanded over centuries, with large-scale outflow capacity linked to the Tiber and older trunk systems such as the Cloaca Maxima. Recent scholarly review work emphasizes that Roman sanitation concepts differed from modern ones, but also that the physical integration of drains and water flow was central to the Roman urban environment. Technical history perspectives add that sewers mixed multiple flows and relied heavily on water volume and gravity for flushing—features that shape any realistic model of daily smell, standing water risk, and neighborhood hygiene.

   Public services and urban security (Primary + Secondary): Rome’s public order and emergency response relied on multiple armed or quasi-armed bodies: the vigiles (fire brigade/night watch), the urban cohorts, and the palace guards. Epigraphic evidence in Rome includes dedications by cohorts of vigiles to the imperial family—later reworked to remove Geta—demonstrating both institutional visibility and susceptibility to political rewriting. Dio’s account of the crowd and city troops reacting when a former urban prefect was threatened also suggests that “the people” and the city’s security forces could (at times) constrain palace violence, at least when violence became publicly explosive.

   Monumental amenities and building trajectory (Secondary): The early third century is also a period of continued monumental investment in Rome (or at least initiation/planning), exemplified by the Baths of Caracalla, begun shortly after the co-rule period and presented in modern scholarship as a politically meaningful urban intervention—topographically and symbolically integrated into dynastic messaging. While this construction is mostly post-Geta, it is best interpreted as part of the same Severan political economy: legitimacy through grandeur, mass public amenities, and controlled spectacle.

2. #2Caracalla

   Keys: Caracalla, Emporer Caracalla, Older brother, Older twin, Co-Emporer of Rome

   Caracalla Gladiator II Character Posters 02 Relatives Geta (twin brother) Occupation Emperor Date of birth Deceased Place of death Colosseum Cause of death Stabbed through the ear by Macrinus Gender Male Portrayed by Fred Hechinger Appears in Gladiator II War! Real war! —Geta, to Macrinus, upon seeing Lucilla's execution not going as planned, Gladiator II

   Caracalla serves a co-emperor of Rome alongside his twin brother, Geta. In the film Gladiator II, he is portrayed by Fred Hechinger.

   Contents 1 Profile 2 History 2.1 Personality 3 Historical accuracy 4 Behind the scenes 5 References Profile He and his brother Geta are both damaged goods from birth. The two of the threaten Lucilla's well-being as a means of controlling General Marcus Acacius. Their leadership is a harbinger of the end of Roman dominance.[1]

   He has a pet monkey called Dundus, which served as ‘yet another inspiration’ for Caracalla’s character.[2]

   Gladiator II - Emperors (2024 Movie) - Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington History He and his brother Geta at some point seized power following the death of Commodus. Under their rule, the leadership of Rome has become almost entirely corrupt, the influence of the Senate reduced to a shell of what it was once was. Marcus Aurelius's wish of a Rome for the people has not been realized and Lucilla has been forced to sit by and watch.

   Under his and his brother's rule, Rome has continued to greatly expand its territory via conquest. Their latest capture is that of the city of Numidia in Africa, a campaign led by General Marcus Acacius. During this campaign, a number of the town's villagers are captured and pressed into service as Gladiators, including one "Hanno," who is secretly Lucius Verus, son of the hero Maximus Decimus Meridius and Lucilla and grandson of Marcus Aurelius.

   Upon his return from Numidia, Marcus Acacius hatches a plan with Lucilla to lead his forces in the overthrow of Geta and Caracalla. The two, however, are warned of the plan by Senator Thraex and capture both Lucilla and Marcus Acacius, intending to kill the both of them, though wary, as Lucilla is highly respected by the people.

   The two place Marcus Acacius in the Colosseum, matching him against Lucius Verus, who has made something of a name for himself as a Gladiator. At first, Lucius is full of rage for the man that he fought against at Numidia and who oversaw the death of his wife, Arishat. However, General Acacius reveals to him that he knows the truth of his parentage and tells him that he truly loves his mother, Lucilla. Drained of his rage, Lucius decides to spare the man. Aggravated, Caracalla and Geta call for his death and when Lucius will not do it, they order the Praetorian Guard to kill him instead and he is shot dead by multiple arrows from the stands.

   Lucius addresses the crowd, asking if this is how Rome treats its heroes. The crowd is whipped up into a rage and Caraclla, Geta and those with them are forced to retreat. Caracalla and Geta take refuge inside their palace, even as an angry mob outside calls for their heads. Meanwhile, Macrinus, arms-dealer and Gladiator-owner, takes Caracalla aside, stoking him against his brother, Geta. He tells him that Geta is plotting against him, feeding Caracalla's own belief in his brother's treachery, claiming that he never had anything to himself and that Geta was against him even in the womb. He goes to Geta and, driven on by Macrinus, kills him.

   Caracalla then goes before the Senate. There, he declares his monkey, Dondus, to be his first consul and Macrinus his second. He then, with Macrinus, arranges Lucilla to be brought to the Colosseum, where she is to be tied up and face off against the Praetorian Guard, defended only by a single Gladiator, her son Lucius. Lucius, however, manages to free his fellow Gladiators. When Lucilla and the Praetorian Guard arrive, it ends up being not a lone warrior that they face, but an entire mob of Gladiators. Caracalla, however, far from being annoyed, is delighted by the spectacle. His amusement, however, comes to an end, when he is stabbed in the ear and killed by Macrinus, who intends to seize power for himself.

   Personality Caracalla was a sadistic, tyrannical ruler who ruled Rome and all of the Colosseum's entertainment. He got amused easily by people fighting each other, as he enjoyed watching discord unfold among combatants in the Colosseum. His corrupt rule impacted the amount of bloodshed on the floors of the arena, showing his intense liking for war. Despite he is the older of two brothers in real life, he seems less-sane than Geta in the movie due to cognitive erosion in his brain, this may be to highlight his madness and brutality. Real life Caracalla was a serious and tyrannical ruler but also was a capable person and didn’t has some childishness manner like the movie.

   Historical accuracy In real-life, Caracalla was proclaimed joint emperor of Rome alongside Geta upon the death of their father, Septimius Severus. The two proved incapable of sharing power and Caracalla arranged the murder of his brother later that same year.

   Gladiator II creator/director Ridley Scott describes the characters in the film as being the equivalent of the legend of Romulus and Remus, "the two lunatics who formed Rome but were bred from the milk of a wolf? [Caracalla and Geta] came up a different way, but were probably brain damaged."[3]

   Behind the scenes In an interview with Empire magazine, Caracalla actor Fred Hechinger stated that Ridley Scott's influences for Caracalla and Geta were pretty varied and ranged from the real Caracalla and Geta (being very loosely based on the historical figures), to Beavis and Butt-Head, Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten, with Caracalla being the Beavis and Sid Vicious of the duo, being the less-sane brother.[4]

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   Evil-doer Caracallas photo1 Full Name Lucius Septimus Bissianus (birth name) Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

   Alias Caracalla Emperor Caracalla

   Origin Gladiator II Occupation Co-Emperor of the Roman Empire with his brother Geta Powers / Skills Monkey training skills Charisma Complete control over his Imperial military forces Leadership

   Goals Keep ruling and expanding the Roman Empire by controlling Lucilla for her influence (succeeded for a while, then failed). Have Persia and India conquered just like Numidia. Kill Lucius “Hanno” Verus for nearly murdering him in the Colisseum (both failed). Execute Justus Acasius and Lucilla for conspiring with Senator Gracchus and other disgruntled politicians to overthrow him (succeeded with Acasius, but failed with Lucilla and the other traitors)

   Crimes Mass murder War crimes Slavery Abuse of power Extortion Death threats Fratricide Regicide

   Type of Villain Psychotic Tyrant “ This is war! Real war! „ ~ Caracalla's last words before Macrinus stabs to death in the brain. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimus Bissianus), best known by his nickname Caracalla or Emperor Caracalla, is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Emperor Geta) of the 2024 epic historical drama film Gladiator II, the sequel of the 2000 film Gladiator.

   He is a sadistic Roman emperor who ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire sixteen years after the brief reign of Commodus. Upon coming across with a gladiator named Hanno (who is actually Lucilla's son and Commodus' nephew Lucius Verus), Caracalla and his brother Geta use him to gain their people’s approval but soon get concerned over a conspiracy to their joint rule, unaware they are being manipulated by the real threat.

   He was portrayed by Fred Hechinger, who also played Ethan Russell in The Woman in the Window, Randolph Ballinger in The Pale Blue Eyes and the Chameleon in Kraven the Hunter.

   Contents 1 Personality 2 History 2.1 Past 2.2 Gladiator II 3 Trivia 4 Navigation Personality Caracalla was a sadistic, tyrannical ruler who ruled Rome and all of the Colosseum's entertainment. He got amused easily by people fighting each other, as he enjoyed watching discord unfold among combatants in the Colosseum. His corrupt rule impacted the amount of bloodshed on the floors of the arena, showing his intense liking for war.

   Despite the fact he is the older of two brothers, he seems less-sane than Geta idue to cognitive erosion in his brain, this may be to highlight his madness and brutality. Moreover, he is less intelligent than his brother as he was easily manipulated by Macrinus into killing his own brother after believing that Geta will blame Acasius' death on him and have him and his pet monkey killed to save himself.

   History Past Caracalla and Geta were born sometime prior to the events of the original Gladiator film. Allegedly, when they were in their mother’s womb, Caracalla was nearly a victim to Geta as he tried to cut his umbilical cord so he would suffocate and be born dead, but failed. They grew up together well into adulthood, but Caracalla privately feared Geta. Following Emperor Commodus’ death and his nephew Lucius Verus’ disappearance, Caracalla and Geta rose up to become the Roman Emperors, exploiting Lucius’ mother Lucilla to do so, but Rome’s people feared them rather than liking them, and corruption was widespread under their reign. Additionally, Lucilla and politicians sympathetic to her, like Senator Gracchus, conspired to overthrow them. At some point, Caracalla acquired a monkey whom he trained as his pet, naming him Dundus.

   Gladiator II Sixteen years after Maximus Decimus Meridius’ last stand, Caracalla and Geta dispatch General Justus Acasius, Lucilla’s lover, to Numidia in order to fully conquer Africa Nova, leading to an attack that claims the lives of several including Lucius’ wife Arishat and captures the survivors like Lucius (now known as “Hanno”) to sell them as slaves back in Rome. Once the Roman Army returns triumphantly, Caracalla and Geta receive Acasius as a hero and announce that they will celebrate gladiatorial games in the Colisseum in his honor. Later on, Caracalla and Geta tell Acasius that, no matter his feelings, he must keep leading their armies to conquer more territories like Persia and India, then allowing him to leave to meet with Lucilla at their house.

   Sometime afterwards, after Lucius gets sold to Macrinus for killing savage monkeys and showing his potential as a gladiator, Geta and Caracalla come to see Lucius accompanied by their entourage. There, Lucius manages to kill a rival gladiator, which impresses both brothers, convinced that Lucius will entertain the audience in the gladiatorial games after he recites a poem of Virgil that they don’t get to understand. Later on, Caracalla and Geta attend Lucius’ debut in the Colisseum’s arena, where he fights a gladiator mounting a rhinoceros. While he initially loses, Caracalla and Geta recite his poem and ask Lucilla if they should give him mercy. Realizing “Hanno” is her son, Lucilla quickly agrees, but Lucius refuses to accept mercy and defeats the gladiator, proceeding to kill him under Geta’s demands.

   Some days afterwards, the Colisseum hosts a naval battle, where Lucius comes close to shoot an arrow to Acasius to avenge his wife, but fails and nearly hits Caracalla and Geta, prompting them to leave their podium and demand the culprit to be found, with no success. Confirming that “Hanno” is her son Lucilla confides Acasius about her discovery after talking to Macrinus and Lucius, asking him to protect her son. Unfortunately, Lucilla’s maid betrays her employers by telling Macrinus and his associates about the truth of Lucilla’s plans, after which Macrinus alerts Geta and Caracalla in his plot to gain their trust.

   Alarmed, Caracalla and Geta have Lucilla, Acasius and their collaborators captured after killing their guards. While thinking on the punishment for their treason, Caracalla loses his cool when Acasius mocks Geta and tries to slash him to death, but Geta stops him and the prisoners are taken away. While intending to crucify Acasius for his betrayal, Macrinus insists that due to his popularity, he should instead be sent to the gladiatorial games. Both emperors agree and Acasius is forced to kill four of his former troopers before facing Lucius, which Caracalla and Geta force a shackled Lucilla to watch, ignoring her pleas. However, Acasius manages to make Lucius hear him, so Lucius declines to kill him and the archers do it under Geta’s orders.

   Acasius’ death causes an uproar upon Rome’s population, challenging the brothers’ rule, much to their dismay. While discussing what to do with Macrinus, who has become close to them by this point, Caracalla finds himself at the end of his brother’s wrath, who throws him and Dundus his drink to the face, prompting them to leave the room. Taking the chance, Macrinus approaches Caracalla and plays on his insecurities about Geta, leading Caracalla to tell Macrinus how Geta may hate him after failing to kill him on the womb, concluding that Geta is too dangerous to stay in power. Hours later, Caracalla comes across Geta armed with a knife and lunges at him to kill him. Caracalla struggles to do so due to Geta wrestling him, but Macrinus comes to his aid and the two stab Geta to death.

   The following day, Caracalla announces his brother’s death and appoints Dundus (to the shock and dismay of the court) and Macrinus as his consuls to assist him in ruling Rome as a sole emperor, putting himself at odds even more with the court to the point they agree to side with Macrinus if he overthrows Caracalla after he leaves the room. Now a pawn, Caracalla hosts an execution eventby the Praetorian Guard for Lucilla and her fellow conspirators at the Colisseum, but Lucius and his fellow gladiators break into the Colisseum to free Rome. In the ensuing chaos, as the audience rebels against the archers, Caracalla gets finally backstabbed by Macrinus through a nail being introduced on his ear to perforate his brain. However, Macrinus’ plot ends up going nowhere as he proceeds to shoot an arrow to Lucilla, angering Lucius and prompting him to avenge his mother by chasing Macrinus out of the city and killing him in front of the country’s militaries, avenging Arishat and all those who were killed under Caracalla’s commands.

   Trivia Despite being an epic historical drama, much like its predecessor, Gladiator II takes many historical liberties with the real Caracalla. In 200 AD, the real-life Roman Emperor was Septimius Severus, the father of Caracalla and Geta, not them, as he succeeded Commodus in reality after Commodus’ twelve years as emperor, instead of the mere months he reigned in the universe of the two films. The real Caracalla never had a pet monkey named Dundus nor a pet in general, being Dundus an original character to the film. Despite his claims that he and Geta shared a womb in the film, which implies they were fraternal twins born concurrently, Caracalla was born in reality over a year before Geta. While Caracalla murdered Geta as in the film, he did it out of his own volition (with Macrinus, who was a Praetorian prefect instead of an acquaintance to the emperors having nothing to do with it) in front of their mother Julia Domna, who never appears nor is mentioned in the film. The aftermath of Caracalla murdering Geta didn’t end up with Macrinus backstabbing him the next day. In real-life, Caracalla went on to rule for six years after Geta’s death and was assassinated under Macrinus’ orders by Justin Martialis, a soldier Caracalla had declined to appoint as centurion. Gladiator director Ridley Scott has called Caracalla as well as his brother Geta "definitely damaged goods from birth", deeming their leadership as the harbinger of the end of the centuries of Roman dominance over the ancient Earth while they ignore Rome's problems and a kind of reversal to Romulus and Remus, the legendary brothers who were raised by a wolf mother and founded Rome(precisely, they appear in a statue during the film and Caracalla ends up murdering Geta just like Romulus did with Remus). Barry Keoghan was originally cast to play Caracalla in Gladiator II in January 2023, but dropped out in May 2023 just before filming due to scheduling conflicts, leading to his recasting with Fred Hechinger. Should Keoghan had taken the role, Caracalla would’ve been the older brother instead of Greta. Upon seeing Lucius Verus fight for the first time, Caracalla is seen surrounded by many men just like Geta is surrounded by many women, all those people serving as their lovers. This is most likely a reference to the real Caracalla’s bisexuality, who was known for getting in many affairs with both men and women. Although the filmmakers claim that Caracalla suffers from cognitive erosion on his brain, the film never explains what kind of disease Caracalla may be suffering. Some reviews interpret the character as having syphilis, but it’s unconfirmed at the current moment. Although, the syphilis theory was supported by Geta complaining about how his brother was diseased from frequent attendance of brothels. One of the visual inspirations for Caracalla’s look in the film according to Hechinger and Scott, who had discussions about it, was the late English musician Sid Vicious. For Caracalla’s “crazed behaviour”, it was decided to give him Dundus as a pet to symbolize his personality through his pet while Hechinger made sure to not “soil” Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as Commodus from the previous film when playing Caracalla, instead finding inspiration along with Quinn from the titular characters of MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head to portray a more humous and chaotic dynamic between the brothers. It’s unknown what happened to Dundus after the events of the film, as Caracalla seemed to be the only character who cared for him and Dundus is never seen after Macrinus betrays them. Caracella appointing his per monkey as the First Consul of Rome may be an indirect reference to how Emperor Nero had planned to appoint his favourite horse as a Consul. Fred Hechinger starred in Gladiator II and Kraven the Hunter, both of which came out in 2024.

3. #3Geta

   Keys: Geta, Emporer Geta, Younger brother, Younger twin, Co-Emporer of Rome

   Geta Gladiator II Character Posters 03 Relatives Caracalla (twin brother) Occupation Emperor Status Deceased Place of death Roman palace Cause of death Slaughtered by his brother Caracalla and Macrinus Gender Male Portrayed by Joseph Quinn Appears in Gladiator II Geta served as co-emperor of Rome alongside his twin brother, Caracalla. In the film Gladiator II he is portrayed by Joseph Quinn.

   Contents 1 Profile 2 History 3 Personality 4 Historical accuracy 5 Behind the scenes 6 References Profile He and his brother Caracalla are both damaged goods from birth. The two of them threaten Lucilla's well-being as a means of controlling General Marcus Acacius. Their leadership is a harbinger of the end of Roman dominance.[1]

   Gladiator II - Emperors (2024 Movie) - Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington History Some 16 years following the deaths of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, Geta is one of the twin Emperors of Rome, having seized power along with his brother Caracalla. The two are bloodthirsty and vicious, ruthlessly orchestrating campaigns to expand Rome's territory, and Marcus Aurelius and Maximus Decimus Meridius's vision of a Rome for the people has not been realized.

   In honor of Marcus Acacius's latest conquest, the African coastal village of Numidia, Caracalla and Geta host games in the Colosseum. They release savage monkeys to savage the conquered people who have been brought over from Numidia, but their attention is attracted by one "Hanno," who manages to not only survive the monkeys, but fight back against them. With their permission, the warlord and Gladiator-master Macrinus claims Hanno as a Gladiator, none of them knowing that Hanno is actually Lucius Verus, secretly the Prince of Rome, sent away for his own safety by the Empress Lucilla.

   In the aftermath of this first match, Caracalla and Geta hold a party to celebrate the fall of Numidia. There, they attempt to speak with Lucius, only for him to remain entirely silent. Macrinus claims that he knows nothing of their native tongue, only for Lucius to then unexpectedly speak up and recite poetry by Virgil at him. Later, when witnessing him fighting again, they recite the poem, causing Lucilla to recognize Lucius as her son, as he saw the poem in question engraved on the wall of their home.

   Lucilla and Acacius hatch a plot to depose the two Emperors, as Acacius, once a subject of Maximus, has grown wary of war and wishes to fulfill the vision of Lucilla's father. The two, however, are betrayed by Senator Thraex and brought before Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla, suffering from a disease of the brain, wishes to kill them both in his rage, but Geta counsels caution, as they are both loved by the people. They, therefore, arrange for Lucilla to watch as Acacius is brought to the Colosseum instead, where he is to be slain by Lucius.

   Acacius, knowing who Lucius truly is, pleads for Lucius to spare him, revealing his respect for Maximus and that he truly loves Lucilla. His words sway Lucius, who puts down his sword, but Caracalla and Geta nevertheless call for Acacius's death. When Lucius still refuses, they call forth the Praetorian Guard, who fire multiple arrows and kill Acacius. Lucius then stokes the crowd, asking if this is how Rome treats its heroes. Caracalla and Geta are forced to make a hasty retreat, as a bloodthirsty mob calls for their death outside the palace.

   Inside, Macrinus set Caracalla against Geta. He fed his own belief that Geta had been plotting against him, with Caracalla claiming that Geta tried to kill him even in the womb. Blinded by his rage, Caracalla approached Geta with his accusations holding a sword. He sliced his brother's hand while shouting that he's a liar and then rushed to stab him. Geta tried to restrain and reason with him, pleaded to him to stop and confessed that he always protected him because he loved him. Desperate, Geta asked Macrinus to help him. But the latter guided Caracalla's hand instead, cutting Geta's throat and eventually decapitated him.

   In the aftermath of his death, Caracalla named his pet monkey, Dondus, as a consul alongside Macrinus. Meanwhile, Macrinus presented the Senate with Geta's head as warning.

   Personality Geta was a sadistic, egotistical ruler who ruled Rome and all of the Colosseum's entertainment. Just like Caracalla, he got amused easily by people fighting each other, as he enjoyed watching discord unfold among combatants in the Colosseum. His corrupt rule impacted the amount of bloodshed on the floors of the arena, showing his intense liking for war. Geta, however, was the somewhat saner of the two, recognizing the need for caution. Ultimately, however, it was his failure to recognize his own brother's failings and the corrupt nature of Macrinus that resulted in his undoing.

   Historical accuracy In real-life, Geta was proclaimed joint emperor of Rome alongside Caracalla upon the death of their father, Septimius Severus. The two proved incapable of sharing power and Caracalla arranged the murder of his brother later that same year.

   Gladiator II creator/director Ridley Scott describes the characters in the film as being the equivalent of the legend of Romulus and Remus, "the two lunatics who formed Rome but were bred from the milk of a wolf? [Caracalla and Geta] came up a different way, but were probably brain damaged."[2]

   Behind the scenes In an interview with Empire magazine, Caracalla actor Fred Hechinger stated that Ridley Scott's influences for Caracalla and Geta were pretty varied and ranged from the real Caracalla and Geta (being very loosely based on the historical figures), to Beavis and Butt-Head, Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten, with Geta being the Butt-Head and Johnny Rotten of the duo, being the saner brother.[3]

   Geta (Gladiator) Sign in to edit A / 文 Warning Scarfaceinthefall This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. Note: Content classification services hold no influence over the template's criteria and usage. Only the content itself matters.

   Evil-doer Geta Golden Full Name Plubius Septimius Geta Alias Geta Emperor Geta

   Origin Gladiator II Occupation Co-Emperor of the Roman Empire with his brother Caracalla Powers / Skills High intelligence Charisma Complete control over the Imperial military forces Leadership

   Goals Keep ruling and expanding the Roman Empire by controlling Lucilla for her influence (succeeded for a while). Have Persia and India conquered just like Numidia. Kill Lucius "Hanno" Verus for nearly murdering him in the Colisseum (both failed). Execute Justus Acasius and Lucilla for conspiring with Senator Gracchus and other disgruntled politicians to overthrow him (succeeded with Acasius and Lucilla, but failed the other traitors)

   Crimes Attempted fratricide (implied) War crimes Slavery Abuse of power Extortion Torture Cruel and unusual punishments Animal cruelty Abuse (physical and psychological)

   Type of Villain Sadistic Tyrant “ YOUR NAME WILL BE FORGOTTEN! „ ~ Geta to Acacius. “ The gods... have... spoken! „ ~ Geta after executing Acacius, also his most famous quote. Plubius Septimius Geta, also known as Emperor Geta, is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Emperor Caracalla) of the 2024 epic historical drama film Gladiator II, the sequel of the 2000 film Gladiator.

   He is a sadistic Roman emperor who ascends to the throne of the Roman Empire sixteen years after the brief one of Commodus. Upon coming across with Commodus' nephew Lucius Verus, Geta and his brother Caracalla use him to gain their people’s approval but soon get concerned over a conspiracy to their joint rule, unaware they are being manipulated by the the real threat.

   He was portrayed by Joseph Quinn in his first villainous role.

   Contents 1 History 1.1 Past 1.2 Gladiator II 2 Personality 3 Trivia 4 Navigation History Past Geta and Caracalla were born sometime prior to the events of the original Gladiator film. Allegedly, when they were in their mother’s womb, Geta tried to cut off Caracalla’s umbilical cord so he would suffocate and be born dead, but failed. They grew up together well into adulthood, but Geta was privately feared by Caracalla.

   Following Emperor Commodus’ death and his nephew Lucius Verus’ disappearance, Geta and Caracalla eventually rose up to become the Roman Emperors, exploiting Lucius’ mother Lucilla to do so, but Rome’s people feared them rather than liking them. Additionally, their reign saw widespread corruption and poverty. As a result, Lucilla and other politicians sympathetic to her, like Senator Gracchus, conspired to overthrow them.

   Gladiator II Sixteen years after Maximus Decimus Meridius’ last stand, Geta and Caracalla dispatched General Justus Acasius, Lucilla’s lover, to Numidia in order to fully conquer Africa Nova, leading to an attack that claims the lives of many, including Lucius’ wife Arishat and captures the survivors like Lucius (now known as “Hanno”) to sell them as slaves back in Rome. Once the Roman Army returns triumphantly, Geta and Caracalla receive Acasius as a hero and announce that they will celebrate gladiatorial games in the Colisseum in his honor. Howeverm Geta and Caracalla tell Acasius that, no matter his feelings and with Geta lightly pressing a sword on his neck, he must keep leading their armies to conquer more territories like Persia and India, then allowing him to leave to meet with Lucilla at their house.

   Sometime afterwards, after Lucius gets sold to Macrinus for killing savage monkeys and showing his potential as a gladiator, Geta and Caracalla come to see Lucius accompanied by their entourage. There, Lucius manages to kill a rival gladiator, which impresses both brothers, convinced that Lucius will entertain the audience in the gladiatorial games after he recites a poem of Virgil that they don’t get to understand. Later on, Geta and Caracalla attend Lucius’ debut in the Colisseum’s arena, where he fights a gladiator mounting a rhinoceros. While he initially loses, Geta and Caracalla recite his poem and ask Lucilla if they should give him mercy. Realizing “Hanno” is her son, Lucilla quickly agrees, but Lucius refuses to accept mercy and defeats the gladiator, after which Geta gives him the order to behead the loser, which Lucius does.

   Some days afterwards, the Colisseum hosts a naval battle, where Lucius comes close to shoot an arrow to Acasius to avenge his wife, but fails and nearly hits Geta and Caracalla, prompting them to leave their podium and demand the culprit to be found, with no success. Confirming that “Hanno” is her son, Lucilla confides in Acasius about her discovery after talking to Macrinus and Lucius, asking him to protect her son. Unfortunately, Lucilla’s maid betrays her employers by telling Macrinus and his associates about the truth of Lucilla’s plans, after which Macrinus alerts Geta and Caracalla in his plot to gain their trust.

   Alarmed, Geta and Caracalla have Lucilla, Acasius and their collaborators captured after killing their guards, and Geta is forced to stop Caracalla when he tries to slash Acasius to death for mocking them, resulting in their prisoners be taken away. While intending to crucify Acasius for his betrayal, Macrinus insists that due to his popularity, he should instead be sent to the gladiatorial games. Both emperors agree and Acasius is forced to kill four of his former troopers before facing Lucius, which Geta and Caracalla force a shackled Lucilla to watch, ignoring her pleas. However, Acasius manages to make Lucius hear him, so Lucius declines to kill him in spite of Geta’s orders, resulting in Geta having his archers shoot arrows on Acasius until he dies.

   Acasius’ death causes an uproar upon Rome’s population, challenging the brothers’ rule, much to their dismay. While discussing what to do with Macrinus, who has become close to them by this point, Geta lashes out at Caracalla by throwing him his drink on his face and his pet monkey Dundus, prompting Caracalla to leave the room. Taking the chance, Macrinus approaches Caracalla and manipulates him with his insecurities about Geta, such as how Geta may hate him if he tried to kill him while they were on the womb, making Caracalla think Geta is too dangerous to stay in power. Hours later, Geta comes across Caracalla, who lunges at him with a knife. Geta wrestles with his brother in self-defense, but in their struggling, Macrinus comes to help Caracalla decapitate Geta.

   Geta’s death ends up leaving an immediate power vacuum that Caracalla tries to fill by stupidly appointing Dundus (to the shock and dismay of the court) and Macrinus as his consuls, leading the court to agree with Macrinus plan to depose Caracalla as he is clearly unfit to rule after Macrinus shows them Geta’s decapitated head. However, neither Caracalla nor Macrinus end up going far with their plans, as later that day, Lucius and his fellow gladiators break into the Colisseum as Caracalla and Macrinus hold an execution event for Lucilla and her fellow conspirators, which ends up with Macrinus disposing of Caracalla and then Macrinus falling to Lucius’ blade, allowing the two to join Geta in death.

   Personality Geta was a sadistic, egotistical ruler who ruled Rome and all of the Colosseum's entertainment. Just like Caracalla, he got amused easily by people fighting each other, as he enjoyed watching discord unfold among combatants in the Colosseum. His corrupt rule impacted the amount of bloodshed on the floors of the arena, showing his intense liking for war. Geta, however, was the somewhat saner of the two, recognizing the need for caution. Ultimately, however, it was his failure to recognize his own brother's failings and the corrupt nature of Macrinus that resulted in his undoing.

   Trivia Despite being an epic historical drama, much like its predecessor, Gladiator II takes many historical liberties with the real Geta. In 200 AD, the real-life Roman Emperor was Septimius Severus, the father of Geta and Caracalla, not them, as he succeeded Commodus in reality after Commodus’ twelve years as emperor, instead of the mere months he reigned in the universe of the two films. Despite Caracalla’s claims that he and Geta shared a womb in the film, which implies they were fraternal twins born concurrently, Geta was born less than a year after Caracalla. While Geta was murdered by Caracalla as in the film, the act happened in front of their mother Julia Domna, who never appears nor is mentioned in the film. Likewise, Macrinus had nothing to do with this. Director Ridley Scott has called Geta as well as his brother Caracalla "definitely damaged goods from birth", deeming their leadership as the harbinger of the end of the centuries of Roman dominance over the ancient Earth while they ignore Rome's problems and a kind of reversal to Romulus and Remus, the legendary brothers who were raised by a wolf mother and founded Rome (precisely, they appear in a statue during the film and Gets ends up being murdered by Caracalla just like Remus was killed by Romulus). One of the visual inspirations for Geta’s look in the film was the British musician John Lydon. To play Geta, as he made sure to not “soil” Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as Commodus from the previous film, Quinn based himself on Gary Oldman’s Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg from The Fifth Elementh and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Owen Davian from Mission: Impossible III, while he along with Hechinger found inspiration from the titular characters of MTV’s Beavius and Butt-Head to portray a more humous and chaotic dynamic between the brothers. Ironically, Joseph Quinn and Pedro Pascal are set to work together once again but playing the heroic Fantastic Four members the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Gladiator II came out on the same year as A Quiet Place: Day One where Joseph Quinn played the deuteragonist. Ironically, both films were made by Paramount Pictures.

4. #4Lucilla

   Keys: Lucilla, Dowger Queen, Empress, Empress of Rome

   Lucilla 5 Sign in to edit

   Lucilla Gladiator II Character Posters 06 Relatives Marcus Aurelius (father, deceased) Commodus (brother, deceased) Lucius Verus (son) Marcus Acacius (husband, deceased)

   Occupation Empress of Rome Status Deceased Date of birth Rome Place of death Colosseum Cause of death Shot by an arrow fired by Macrinus Gender Female Portrayed by Connie Nielsen Appears in Gladiator Gladiator II Take your father's strength. His name was Maximus and I see him in you. —Lucilla, to Lucius Verus, Gladiator II

   Lucilla was the beautiful second daughter of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was an elder sister to later Emperor Commodus. Lucilla did have a past romance with Maximus, when they were both young and had not yet married. The relationship ended, however, and Maximus married and had a son, while Lucilla married, had a son and later was widowed. There is still some tension between Lucilla and Maximus, more so on her part since she is now unattached.

   Contents 1 History 1.1 A conspiracy 1.2 Survival and a son's exile 1.3 A bitter reunion 1.4 A son's love History A conspiracy Lucilla also allows her brother Commodus to take liberties with her in a more amorous way than between most brothers and sisters. She later explains that she allows him to do so because she is trying to protect her son, Lucius, from Commodus' anger, although she seems to care for him in some small way. She tells no one that he killed their father and voluntarily comforts him when he is upset.

   Lucilla, Empress of Rome Lucilla, Empress of Rome

   Lucilla later conspires with Senator Gracchus to remove Commodus from power after he grew more unbalanced and dictatorial. She personally goes to Maximus and convinced him to lead his army into Rome and overthrow Commodus. Commodus learns of the plot and has Lucius in his lap when Lucilla returns home. He threatens harm to Lucius and Lucilla backs out of the plot and when Maximus goes to escape, he sees Cicero hung to death.

   After Commodus receives the news that Maximus was successfully captured, Commodus threatens Lucilla and tells her that if she doesn't comply and obey his order, he will kill her son Lucius. Commodus also informs Lucilla that she will sleep with him and provide him an heir of royal blood. Commodus then says, "Am I not merciful?" to which Lucilla doesn't give a reply. This enrages Commodus who grabs her chin and yells "Am I not merciful?!"

   Survival and a son's exile Commodus, angered at Maximus's continued survival despite having previously had his family killed and attempting to kill him, chooses to face Maximus personally in the Colosseum, but weakens him by stabbing him beforehand. He nevertheless losses the battle, but Maximus dies as well. Following the battle, Lucilla orders the people to honor Maximus as a soldier of Rome and not Commodus following their deaths. Maximus's final words to her are that "Lucius is safe."

   In the immediate aftermath, Maximus's words are proven true, as Lucius runs over to Lucilla and the two are reunited. Lucilla, however, knows that with Lucius being the only surviving heir, he is in danger from those who would seek to assassinate him. She therefore makes the painful decision to send him away to the coastal town of Numidia in Africa. He pleads with her, asking why she cannot come too, but she tells him that she must remain behind for the future of Rome.

   A bitter reunion 16 years later, Lucilla is married to Marcus Acacius, a general of Rome. Acacius leads the conquest of Numidia, resulting in Lucius being captured and brought back to Rome to fight as a Gladiator, as well as the death of his wife, Arishat. Lucilla is present in the royal box during one of Lucius's bouts and he is shocked to see her in the royal box beside the general who conquered his home. Meanwhile, Lucilla at first does not even recognize him. She comes to a realization when she overhears one of the Rome's new emperors quoting poetry by Virgil that he heard from Lucius and realizing that it is poetry that Lucius saw engraved on the wall of his former home.

   Acacius, who once served under Maximus, reveals to Lucilla that he has tired of war and that he feels his conquests are not fulfilling the vision that her father had for Rome. Despite his desire to rest, Rome's twin emperors Caracalla and Geta, have aspirations for him to conquer even more territory, such as Persia. Together, the two of them hatch a plan to overthrow the two, using the forces that Acacius has gathered.

   Meanwhile, Lucilla manages to arrange a visit with her son. He, however, refuses to even acknowledge her as his mother, sticking to the alias "Hanno" that he was known by during his time in Numidia. She pleads with him that she did what he must, but he shouts at her to get out. She tells him that if she will not acknowledge her as his mother, to at least remember his father: that he was Maximus Decimus Meridius and she sees him in him. He, however, again shouts at her to get out.

   A son's love Lucilla and Acacius's plot is discovered and the two of them are brought before Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla, in his brain-damaged rage, wishes to kill the both of them there and then, but Geta counsels caution, given that they are both loved by the people. It is thus decided to have Lucilla watch as Acacius is taken the Colosseum, where he is to face off against Lucius, who desires his death in retribution for the loss of his wife and Numidia. At first, Lucius is filled with rage and does indeed attempt to slay Acacius, but is swayed when Acacius tells him of his respect for Maximus and that he truly loves his mother.

   To Lucilla's relief, Maximus lays down his sword. The emperors, still desiring his death, however, demand that Lucius again take up his sword. When he does not, enraged, they order Acacius's death at the hands of the Praetorian Guard and he is shot dead by numerous arrows. Lucius then stokes the crowd, asking if this is how Rome treats its heroes, and the Emperors are forced to retreat to the palace against an angry mob, Lucilla locked away in a cell. Geta is then slain by his own brother, stoked on by warlord and Gladiator-master Macrinus.

   Caracalla decides on Lucilla's method of execution - she is to be brought into the Colosseum to face off against the Praetorian Guard with only a single Gladiator to protect her, her own son, Lucius. When, however, Lucius arrives in the Colosseum, he is soon followed by his fellow Gladiators, having arranged to free them. Rather than being annoyed, the deranged Caracalla is amused, declaring "War! Real war!" Macrinus, however, kills Caracalla by stabbing him through the ear, then fires an arrow, shooting and killing Lucilla. He escapes, but is followed and avenged by Lucius, who claims his place as the true ruler of Rome.

5. #5Marcus Acacius

   Keys: Marcus Acacius, The General, Acacius

   Marcus Acacius 1 Sign in to edit

   Marcus Acacius Gladiator II Character Posters 01 Aliases Justus Acacius Relatives Lucilla † (wife) Lucius Verus (step-son)

   Occupation General Status Deceased Place of death Colosseum Cause of death Slain by multiple arrows shot by the Praetorian Guard Gender Male Portrayed by Pedro Pascal Appears in Gladiator II Marcus Acacius, also known as simply Acacius, is a general. His invasion of Numidia forces Lucius Verus into slavery. He trained as a junior officer under Maximus Decimus Meridius. He is the husband of Empress Lucilla.

   Contents 1 Profile 2 History 3 Trivia 4 References Profile General Acacius is a man with deep regret in his life who doesn't know where to go with it. Having learned from the best, a code of honor is ingrained into his training and his existence, but he is ultimately a different person, making him capable of different things from Meridius. He is a symbol of everything that Lucius Verus detests.[1]

   History General Acacius once served under Maximus Decimus Meridius, the Roman hero general who was later forced into slavery as a Gladiator under Emperor Commodus. Following Commodus's death, Acacius became a general himself under the new emperors Caracalla and Geta and married Lucilla, Commodus's brother and daughter of former emperor Marcus Aurelius, who was slain by Commodus.

   General Acacius leads a number of raids under Caracalla and Geta, further expanding Rome's territories. His latest conquest is Numidia, a small town on the coast of Africa. Upon his return, the emperors declare that there shall be games in the Colosseum in honor of his conquest. He states that he requires no games, that the respect of the people of Rome is enough for him, but they call him modest. They tell him that there are still many conquests awaiting, such as Persia and India. When he protests that Rome has too many mouths to feed, they tell him that they can eat war.

   Acacius returns to his wife Lucilla, telling her of his dissatisfaction with the way things are going. He then explains that he has a plan: that he has 5,000 soldiers loyal to him who he has in waiting at Ulster. On the final day of the Games, they will storm the Colosseum and arrest the emperors for their crimes against the Senate.

   Unfortunately, however, Acacius's plan is heard by Senator Thraex, who is in debt to Macrinus, a warlord who both supplies arms as well as Gladiators for the games. He reports the plan to Macrinus, who takes the details directly to the two emperors. In response, Caracalla and Geta arrest both Acacius and Lucilla. Caracalla, enraged, and being the less sane brother, wishes to kill Acacius personally for his treachery, but Geta stops this, stating that their deaths must be public. It is therefore decided that Lucilla will watch while General Acacius is brought inside the Colosseum to be slaughtered.

   The manner of Acacius's death is arranged: he is to battle one Hanno, a newly minted Gladiator who was one of the slaves captured in Acacius's sacking of Numidia. However, unknown to the emperors, but known to Lucilla and Acacius, "Hanno" is actually Lucius Verus, Lucilla's daughter, grandson of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and secretly the son of Maximus Decimus Meridius. Upon entry into the Colosseum, Lucius is at first full of rage for the man who took him away from his life in Numidia and killed his wife, Arishat. However, as Lucius is about to go in for the kill, Acacius tells Lucius that he truly loves his mother and that he loved his father as well.

   Lucius stays his sword, unable to kill this man, his rage draining away. Enraged, the emperors shout for Acacius's death. When Lucius is still unwilling to pick up his sword, they instead have the Praetorian Guard shoot Acacius to death with arrows from the stands. In response, Lucius stokes the anger of the crowd, asking if this is how Rome treats its heroes. The emperors, as well as Macrinus, are forced to flee as the crowd turns violent. Macrinus later confronts Lucius, telling him that they had a deal, asking why he let Acacius live. Lucius reminds him that he bought a Gladiator and not a mere slave, telling him that his will is his own.

   Gladiator II - Acacius (2024 Movie) - Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington Trivia The character's name as given as "Marcus Acacius" in promotional material published prior to the release of Gladiator II. In the film itself, the name "Marcus" is never used, but the character is twice referred to as "Justus" by the announcer at the Colosseum.

   References

6. #6Lucius Verus

   Keys: Lucius Verus, Hanno, The Gladiator, Lucius Verus Aurelius

   Lucius Verus 3 Sign in to edit

   Lucius Verus Gladiator II Character Posters 05 Aliases Hanno Lucius Verus Aurelius

   Relatives Marcus Aurelius † (maternal grandfather) Empress Lucilla † (mother) Maximus Decimus Meridius † (father, purported) Marcus Acacius † (step-father) Emperor Commodus † (uncle) Maximus' Son † (half-brother) Arishat † (wife)

   Occupation Co-ruler of Rome Gladiator

   Status Alive Gender Male Portrayed by Spencer Treat Clark (Gladiator and Gladiator II [archive footage]) Paul Mescal (Gladiator II) Alfie Tempest (Gladiator II, young)

   Appears in Gladiator Gladiator II Know this: where death is, we are not. Where were are, death is not! By my sword, strength and honor! —Lucius Verus, to his fellow Gladiators, Gladiator II

   Lucius Verus II, also known as Hanno, and Lucius Verus Aurelius, was purported to be the son of Roman Empress Lucilla and Lucius Verus who is deceased. He was the co-ruler during the reign of his uncle, Roman Emperor Commodus. It is later revealed that he is in fact, the son, of Maximus Decimus Meridius.[1]

   He was portrayed by Spencer Treat Clark in the 2000 film Gladiator, and is portrayed by Paul Mescal in its sequel Gladiator II and by Alfie Tempest as a young Lucius in flashbacks.

   Archive footage of Spencer Treat Clark is also used.

   Contents 1 Life 1.1 Meeting a Gladiator 1.2 Into exile and battle 1.3 Gladiator 1.4 A Legacy 1.5 Becoming an emperor 2 Historical Accuracy 3 Behind the scenes 4 Gallery 4.1 Video 4.2 Images 4.3 Posters 5 References Life Meeting a Gladiator A young Lucius at the Gladiatorial Games A young Lucius at the Gladiatorial Games

   Lucius was nearly eight in the year 180 AD, and he had only one living parent, the Princess of Rome, Lucilla. He became friends with Commodus' enemy, the gladiator and General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who had a conversation with the young Prince of Rome.

   He enjoyed to watch the Gladitorial Games, and enjoyed learning about Roman history from his uncle, Commodus, the then-emperor of Rome. When Commodus learns that Maximus is plotting against him and that Lucius's mother, Lucilla (his sister), has aided him, he uses Lucius against her, threatening his life if she does not become loyal to him.

   Commodus ultimately challenges Maximus directly in the Colosseum and Lucius watches the death of his uncle at the hands of Maximus, who also was killed by mortal wounds. Maximus's dying words to Lucilla is that "Lucius is safe."

   Into exile and battle Lucilla reunites with Lucius almost immediately following Maximus's death, his words to her proving true. Lucius is now the surviving heir, the Prince of Rome, but Lucilla knows that he is not safe, that there are those who would seek to kill him due to his status. Thus, she decides to send him far away where he will hopefully be safe. He tearfully pleads for her to come with him, but she tells him that she must remain for Rome.

   Lucius thus travels by horseback from Rome, eventually settling far away in Numidia on the northern coast of Africa. Here, he adopts the name "Hanno" and is raised by Jubartha, who treats him like a son and tutors him in the art of combat. Despite being trained for war. He eventually falls in love with a woman named Arishat and takes her as his wife. The two live together peacefully on a farm, but has not neglected his training, lest one day Rome invades. This day eventually comes, with a fleet of Roman ships lead by General Marcus Acacius fast approaching the Numidian harbor. Lucius takes up arms, leading his forces in a pitched battle involving bows-and-arrows and flaming rocks. Arishat fights as well and Lucius watches in horror as she is struck in the heart and falls into the ocean below. In his distraction, he too is hit in his armor and falls. Underwater, he has a vision of Arishat being led away by death. He, however, survives, and is captured by the Romans.

   Gladiator Lucius is placed on a ship heading to Rome. There, he has a chat with Jubartha, who was captured as well. The two celebrate their bond with each other, but Jubartha warns Lucius that they are being taken to a place that he will not survive. Upon arrival in Rome, they are taken to the Colosseum. There, for the amusement of the people, they and the other captured Numidians are set upon by vicious monkeys. While most die, including Jubartha, Lucius is able to put a strong fight and survive the attack. His combat in prowess impresses those in the audience, including the Roman emperors Caracalla and Geta, as well as the warlord and Gladiator-master Macrinus, who decides to take Lucius for his own as a Gladiator.

   Macrinus speaks with Lucius, telling him that he possesses great rage and that the can use that. He asks him whose head he could give him that would satisfy his fury, to which he replies that of the entire Roman army. When, however, Macrinus protests that this is too much, Lucius replies the head of General Marcus Acacius will do. Macrinus later brings Lucius to a party being hosted by the emperors Caraclla and Geta. There, one of them addresses Lucius only for him not to reply and Macrinus excuses him by claiming that he does not speak their language.

   Lucius, however, surprises them all by quoting poetry by Virgil: "The gates of hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way. But to return and view the cheerful skies, in this the task and mighty labor lies." Later, when Lucius is battling in the Colosseum, the emperors recall him as the man who quoted poetry at them. Meanwhile, however, Lucilla, hearing them quote the poem, is shocked to recognize him as being her son, for the words of the poem were etched on wall of the palace where they lived. For his part, Lucius is stunned to see her together with Marcus Acacius, the man who killed his wife, as her husband.

   A Legacy Rome has taken everything from me, but I will have my vengeance. —Lucius Verus, Gladiator II

   Lucius continues to battle in the Colosseum, building up his reputation as a warrior. One day, he is visited by Lucilla, who asks him if he knows her. He, however, tells her that his wife was killed under her husband's command. He refuses to answer to the name "Lucius," telling her that his name is Hanno. He says that the boy that she sent away is dead and that she should not grieve him. She replies that he may think that she betrayed him, but that he did not. She tells him to at least take his father's strength, that his name was Maximus Decimus Meridius and that he lives in him. He, however, shouts at her to get out.

   Lucius meets a man named Ravi, a doctor who treats him for his wounds suffered in the Colosseum. Ravi reveals to Maximus that he was once a Gladiator, but later retired from the sport and took up medicine. He also tells him that he witnessed the deeds of Maximus and shows him a secret shrine containing Maximus's sword and armor.

   Lucilla and General Acacius are caught in a plot to kill the two emperors, Caracalla and Geta. In response, Lucius is presented with his wish: Acacius brought before him in the Colosseum in gladiatorial combat. At first, Lucius is filled with rage for the man who killed his wife and took his home from him. He strikes out in anger, ready to kill Acacius in a vicious attack. However, Acacius reveals to Lucius that he knows the truth of his parentage. Having once fought under Maximus, he tells him that he would have died for his father. Lucius decides to show him mercy, laying down his sword. Enraged, the emperors call for Acacius's death and when Lucius will not execute, they instead have the Praetorian Guard shoot Acacius to death with arrows. Lucius then stokes the crowd into a rage, asking if this is how Rome treats its heroes, and the emperors are forced to flee the Colosseum for their lives.

   Becoming an emperor Macrinus visits Lucius in his cell, demanding to know why he did not kill General Acacius, that he had given him exactly what he had asked for. He asks him why he let him live, but Lucius refuses to answer the question, telling him only that he bought a Gladiator and not a slave, that his will is his own. In the aftermath of Lucius's actions, Macrinus conspires with Caracalla and together the two of them kill Geta. Caracalla then declares his monkey Dundus his first consort and Macrinus his second. They then decide that Lucilla is to be killed by the Praetorian Guard in the Colosseum, defended only by a lone warrior: her own son, Lucius.

   Meanwhile, in his cell, Lucius gets the attention of Ravi. He manages to convince him to travel to meet with the commander of the army that Acacius had raised, giving him a ring as a token of proof that he is the progeny of Maximus Decimus Meridius and Lucilla. He also convinces him to part with his key to the cell. When the guard comes to take him, he is given a rude awakening, as Maximus manages to kill him with the wooden sword he provides him. He then frees all the Gladiators in the other cells.

   Lucius pretends to play is part, being brought out before the chariot containing Lucilla in order to defend her against the Praetorian Guard. He then reveals the truth, calling forth the warriors he has freed. Caracalla is beside himself with amusement declaring it to be "War! Real war!" Macrinus, much less amused, stabs him through the ear. Then, observing that Lucius and his team are succeeding in freeing Lucilla, he grabs a bow, shooting and killing Lucilla.

   Lucius pursues Macrinus to the edge of Rome, where Acacius's forces are gathering against the Praetorian Guard. However, seeing the two men, both sides disengage, leaving the two to fight. Macrinus challenges Lucius, telling him that one does not become an emperor by bloodline alone: that it must be taken by force and kept by force. He asks him if he is really such a man as this. The two of them have a fierce battle, but Lucius is ultimately victorious. He declares that no more blood shall be smelt in the name of tyranny and thinks of his father, Maximus, asking him to speak to him.

   Historical Accuracy Lucius Verus II was the son of Lucilla and Lucius Verus (Marcus Aurelius' co-ruler). He had two sisters: Aurelia Lucilla and Lucilla Plautia. By his mother's second marriage to Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, he had a half-brother named Lucius Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus.

   All of Lucilla's children but Pompeianus died very young, Lucius had died even before his uncle Commodus became the Emperor.

   It would seem that film-Lucius is a conflation of both of Lucilla's sons.

   Behind the scenes Other actors who were considered for the role of Lucius Verus in Gladiator II include Chris Hemsworth, Austin Butler, Richard Madden and Miles Teller.[2] There were also those who questioned why Spencer Treat Clark was not considered for the role, given his appearing as the young version of the character in the original film and still being an active actor. Director Ridley Scott, however, stated that he wanted a younger actor in the role. Clark himself addressed the issue, stating that he was excited to see the film and what Paul Mescal brought to the role.[3]

   Ridley Scott has floated a potential idea for a third Gladiator film which would explore the idea of Lucius Verus as the ruler of Rome and compared his potential idea to The Godfather, of Lucius ending up with "a job he didn't want."[4]

   Gallery

7. #7Macrinus

   Keys: Macrinus, Marcus Opellius, Macrinus Marcus Opellius Macrinus of Tisdra, Macrinus Macrinus of Tisdra · Secondary: Weapons trader

   Macrinus Gladiator II Character Posters 04 Occupation Businessman Arms dealer

   Status Deceased Place of death Edge of Rome, some distance from the Colosseum Cause of death Defeated in battle by Lucius Verus Gender Male Portrayed by Denzel Washington Appears in Gladiator II A man does not become emperor by bloodline alone. It must be taken by force and kept by force! Are you such a man as this? —Macrinus, to Lucius Verus, Gladiator II

   Macrinus is a businessman and arms-dealer. Described as a powerbroker, he supplies food, wine and oil for the armies of Rome, manufacturers various weapons and has a stable of gladiators. He was once a gladiator himself, who won his freedom.

   Contents 1 History 2 Historical accuracy 3 Behind the scenes 4 References History Macrinus is present when prisoners of war captured in General Acacius's raid of Numidia are exhibited at the Colosseum. He watches as savage monkeys are set upon them and is impressed particularly by the performance of one "Hanno," declaring to the Emperors Caracalla and Geta his intention to purchase him as a Gladiator.

   In the aftermath, a party is held to celebrate Acacius's victory. During the affair, Geta asks Hanno about his origins, only for him to remain entirely silent. Macrinus apologizes for him, claiming that he does not speak their native tongue, only for Hanno to then surprise them all by reciting poetry from Virgil.

   Macrinus tells Hanno that he senses rage and fury within him. He asks him whose head he could give him that would satisfy this fury. To this Hanno replies "the entire Roman army." Macrinus answers that this is too much and Hanno replies that "the general will do," referring to General Acacius. Later, when Lucilla and General Acacius, her husband, hatch a plot to overthrow Caracalla and Geta, Senator Thraex, who is in on the plan, informs Macrinus, as he owes money to him. Macrinus in turn informs Caracalla and Geta, putting a stop to the plan before it can even get off the ground.

   The two emperors are beside themselves with rage, particularly Caracalla, the less-sane brother who is suffering from a disease of the brain and wants the immediate death of them both. Macrinus, however, arranges things so that instead Lucilla is to watch as Acacius is executed in the Colosseum by Hanno. As a delicious twist, Hanno is actually her own son, secretly Lucius Verus, the Prince of Rome. At first, Lucius is all to happy to have the chance to kill Acacius. Acacius, however, convinces Lucius to spare him, talking of his respect for Lucius's father, the Gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius, and telling him that he truly loves his mother. The emperors shout for Lucius to kill him, but when he will not, they instead have the Prateorian Guard shoot him to death with arrows. Lucius then stokes the anger of the crowd, asking if this is how Rome treats its heroes.

   In the aftermath, Macrinus chastises Lucius for having let Acacius live. In response, Lucius points out that he had bought a Gladiator and not a slave. "My will is my own," he tells him. "Perhaps the heart of a Roman beats in that chest," comments Macrinus. He says that Romans built the Colosseum because they like power, watching the strong take down the weak. Lucius says that there must be another way and Macrinus tells him that there is no other way, that the dream of Rome is an old man's fantasy. Lucius asks what his real name is, who he was before he became the man he is now, but he tells him he will never know. He tells Lucius that he will be his instrument, but Lucius shoots back "I will never be your instrument in this life or the next," echoing the words of his father, Maximus.

   Macrinus goes to the two emperors, who are taking refuge in the palace against the angry mob that has formed against him. He stokes the anger of Caracalla, who believes that his brother, Geta, has been plotting against him. Together, the two of them confront Geta and then kill him, slicing off his head. The two then go before the Senate, Carcalla declaring his pet monkey, Dundus, to be his first consort and Macrinus his second. Macrinus then presents the Senate with Geta's head as a warning.

   The two of them take Lucilla in chains to the Colosseum, declaring that she is to be executed by the Praetorian Guard, but shall be granted a lone defender - her own son, the Gladiator Lucius Verus. Macrinus is shocked when Lucius turns out not to be alone, having freed his fellow captive Gladiators, who all come together with him to fight the Prateorian Guard. Caracalla is beside himself with delight at the unexpected turn of events, declaring "War! Real war!" but Macrinus stabs him in the ear, killing him. He then takes up a bow, shooting and killing Lucilla, then flees the scene.

   Lucius takes off after Macrinus. As Macrinus flees, he finds himself up against the forces of General Acacius, whom Lucius managed to summon with the help of the friendly doctor, Ravi. These forces and the forces of the Praetorian Guard seem destined for a clash, but hold their swords when it becomes clear that Lucius and Macrinus are to battle. Macrinus questions Lucius's right to rule, if he is a man of power, but Lucius declares that he fights not for power, but to free Rome from men like him. Macrinus declares his rule ordained by the gods, but Lucius asks what if the gods in fight sent him to kill him. The two fight fiercely, Lucius ultimately winning the day and freeing Rome from the tyranny of Macrinus and those like him.

   Historical accuracy The real-life Macrinus served as a bureaucrat under Septimius Severus before assassinating Caracalla while he was on campaign, and briefly becoming emperor himself (being the first Emperor to not hail from a senatorial background, but an equestrian one - even Septimius Severus, the first emperor who was not completely Roman- having Libyan noble ancestry on his mother's side, had patrician senators among his forebears - thus, it was his status, rather than his Mauritanian ancestry- that caused reticence in the Roman senate).

   He had a young son, Diadumenian, who he elevated to co-rule - however, though he'd used the army to strongarm himself onto the imperial throne- he soon faced numerous challenges; the former emperor, Caracalla had been belligerent- rather than diplomatic, and at the time of his death- there were several conflicts left for Macrinus to resolve. He aimed to peaceably settle what he could, and only move to militancy where it was unavoidable. Caracalla had also been a profligate spender, whose main focus was the army (and their very generous pay); he could not risk alienating them, but he also could not retain their outrageous pay- so, as a balancing measure- veterans would be let keep their current payrate, but new recruits would have theirs reduced to the level which had been set by Severus. He also revalued the Roman currency; while it might have been a good means to return Rome to the relative economic stability that had been enjoyed under Severus' reign- it came with a cost. The fiscal changes that he enacted might have been tenable had it not been for the military. By this time, the strength of the military was too great- and by enacting his reforms he angered the veteran soldiers, who viewed his actions in reducing the pay of new recruits as a foreshadowing of eventual reductions in their own privileges and pay. This significantly reduced Macrinus' popularity with the legions that had declared him emperor.

   Something that the Severan women (the in-laws of the late Septimius Severus) would not hesitate to make use of; returning to their powerbase in Syria- their hometown of Emesa was fortuitously nearby the Roman camp of Raphanea- and soldiers from Legio III Gallica (the Gallic Third Legion), often visited Emesa - Julia Maesa (Domna's sister) took advantage of this, lavishly giving gifts to officers and men, suggesting to the soldiers that Elagabalus was the illegitimate son of Caracalla- the man who'd always paid them so well. The family were taken into the protection of the camp, and the 14-year old Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor by the legion.

   Macrinus sent a force of cavalry to regain control of the rebels, but it failed, as several defected and the commander died. This failure further strengthened Elagabalus' army. Macrinus eventually fought a losing battle, and was soon forced to flee the field; he intended to return to Rome (he'd made Antioch his residence after Caracalla's death, and didn't return to Rome during his brief rule), but was recognised and captured. His son and co-emperor Diadumenianus, sent to the care of Roman enemy, Artabanus IV of Parthia (possibly as part of a means of securing a military alliance), was captured in transit- and executed on the new young emperor's order, being about 10 when he died. Macrinus, upon learning of his son's death, tried to escape captivity, but he injured himself in the unsuccessful attempt, and was afterward executed; his head was sent to Elagabalus- who kept the preserved heads of father and son, as a trophy.

   His rule had barely been a year, from April of 217-June 218. Elagabalus ordered the Senate to declare the usurpers hostes, enemies of the state and pass a damnatio memoriae over the pair. These actions against Macrinus are evidence of his unpopularity in Rome.

   Behind the scenes An article for Empire magazine describes Macrinus as being the greatest threat in Gladiator II, noting that the most dangerous people can also be the most charming. Actor Denzel Washington described Macrinus as being "a man who takes advantage of people," continuing that he wasn't being coy but that was the most honest he could keep it. He continued that he is willing to do whatever it takes to be Emperor.[1]

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   Evil-doer W1500 53466431 Full Name Unknown Alias Marcus Opellius Macrinus Marcus Opellius Macrinus of Tisdra Macrinus Macrinus of Tisdra

   Origin Gladiator II Occupation Prisoner of war Slave Gladiator Soldier (all formerly) Arms dealer Power broker Viggo’s master Caracalla’s consul (briefly)

   Powers / Skills Keen Intelligence Wealth Influence Charisma Manipulation skills Swordsmanship

   Goals Obtain his freedom and get influential and powerful. Gain the trust of Emperors Geta and Caracalla then betray them. Get rid of all of his opponents (all succeeded). Kill Lucius Verus. Destroy all of Rome as revenge for enslaving him (both failed).

   Crimes Mass murder War crimes Hate crimes Slavery Physical abuse Conspiracy High treason Regicide Hostile takeover Riot incitement Public disturbance Attempted war instigation False imprisonment (indirectly)

   Type of Villain Manipulative Mastermind “ Violence is the universal language. „ ~ Macrinus to Lucius “Hanno” Verus and one of his most famous quotes. “ I happen to have with good fortune and not a little skill, the remaining emperor's ear. I can speak logic to it and tame the madness in the street. But, to restore order, I must have power. And command over the Praetorian army. Ballot? Or hand? „ ~ Macrinus to the Senate after presenting Geta's head to them and convicing them to follow him. Marcus Opellius Macrinus of Tisdra, also known simply as Macrinus, is the main antagonist of the 2024 historical epic film Gladiator II, the sequel to the 2000 film Gladiator.

   Originally a slave from Tunisia who became a gladiator during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, he became a ruthless and manipulative wealthy arms dealer and power broker who would later become an influential figure within the Roman Empire’s aristocracy sixteen years after Emperor Commodus' short-lived reign.

   Seeing the potential of a Numidian warrior known as "Hanno", who is actually the disappeared Roman throne heir Lucius Verus himself, Macrinus sees a chance to exploit him and many others in his plot to take over Rome from the twin Emperors Geta and Caracalla. Because of his actions, he is the sworn archenemy of Lucius Verus.

   He was portrayed by Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, who also played a possessing Azazel in Fallen, Alonzo Harris in Training Day, John Quincy Archibald in John Q., Frank Lucas in American Gangster, Joe Deacon in The Little Things and Macbeth in The Tragedy of Macbeth.

   Contents 1 Personality 2 History 2.1 Past 2.2 Gladiator II 3 Quotes 4 Trivia 5 External Links 6 Navigation Personality At first glance, Macrinus appears to be a jovial and affable man, who can easily charm others and befriend those in high power, such as in the case of the twin emperors. However, undernath that jovial facade lies an ambitinous and ruthless mastermind, who carefully sets out his scheme to remove the emperors from the throne of Rome and become the nation's new emperor.

   History Past Native from Thysdrus, Tunisia, Macrinus was taken by the Roman Empire years ago and became a slave after being a prisoner of war. However, Macrinus prevailed and became a gladiator, eventually earning his freedom with his will. This led him to become a soldier within the Roman Army, serving under Emperor Marcus Aurelius and possibly General Maximus Decimus Meridius during the former’s last days.

   In the sixteen years following Emperor Commodus’ death and Lucius Verus’ disappearance, Macrinus went on to rise to power by becoming a power broker and arms dealer, acquiring soldiers as gladiators for fights and selling food and oil to Roman forces in Europe. However, Macrinus had greater ambitions than that, wishing to take over the empire for himself from the incumbent ruling brothers Geta and Caracalla, who lacked the appreciation of their citizens.

   To achieve his plans for Rome, Macrinus became associated with corrupt Roman senator Thraex, whom he manipulated. Eventually, among the gladiators he acquired, Macrinus got Viggo, whom he assigned as his right-hand to keep all of his men in line.

   Gladiator II Sixteen years after Maximus Decimus Meridius’ last stand, Macrinus attends a fighting rally hold for the captured Numidian warriors after the Roman conquest of Numidia, among them Lucius Verus, now known as “Hanno”. Macrinus sits with his fellows to watch how the Numidian warriors fight against savage monkeys and feels attracted to Lucius’ potential when he sees him killing some of the monkeys. Afterwards, Macrinus meets with Lucius and his fellows, testing Lucius’ strength by having him fight Viggo. He then tells him about the potential he has for the gladiatorial games Geta and Caracalla are organizing to celebrate their conquest of Numidia, asking him what he can offer to him. Lucius replies that with General Justus Acasius’ head for getting his wife Arishat killed, so Macrinus agrees as long Lucius doesn’t betray him.

   Returning to Rome, Macrinus makes bets with Senator Thraex, whose addiction to gambling gets the best of him. When Geta and Caracalla visit them with their entourage, Macrinus has Lucius fight a rival gladiator, whom Lucius manages to kill, impressing the emperors as Macrinus expected. The emperors try to talk to Lucius, but as he refuses, Macrinus plays it off as Lucius not being able to talk their language, after which Lucius recites a poem of Virgil that impresses both emperors, assuring them that Lucius will entertain the audiences at the gladiatorial games. After claiming some daeneriis, Macrinus shows them to Lucius, but he affirms that the only thing that matters to him is avenging his wife. Later on, Macrinus attends the Colisseum for Lucius’ debut on the arena and sees how Lucius defeats and kills a gladiator mounting a rhinoceros.

   After Lucius’ debut in the Colisseum, Macrinus is approached by Lucilla, who suspects “Hanno” is her son due to the poem he recited, but he denies to know anything about “Hanno”’s past. That night, Macrinus talks to Thraex what he spoke with Lucilla and they both drink wine and joke about the rumors of what happened to Lucius and even if Commodus was maybe his father, unaware that he was fathered by Maximus just like Lucilla tells him. Sometime afterwards, the Colisseum hosts a naval battle, during which Lucius comes close to murder Acasius by shooting him an arrow, but this fails and nearly hits the emperors, prompting them to leave their podium with Macrinus and Lucilla and demand Macrinus to punish the culprit, so Macrinus sends Vigo to find who, to no avail. Confirming Lucius is her son, Lucilla confides Acasius about her discovery and asks him to protect her son. Unfortunately, Lucilla’s maid betrays her employers and the following day informs Macrinus and his associates about the truth of Lucilla’s plans, to which Macrinus alerts Geta and Caracalla in order to further win their trust.

   Alarmed, Geta and Caracalla have Lucilla, Acasius and their collaborators captured after killing their guards. Though they initially intend to crucify Acasius for his high treason, Macrinus suggests that because of his popularity as a war hero within Rome’s people, they should better send Acasius to his death in the gladiatorial games, an idea the emperors accept. Thanks to Macrinus, Lucilla is shackled to the podim and Acasius is forced to kill four of his former men before fighting Lucius, but Acasius manages to make Lucius listen to him as he has him at his mercy. Ignoring his deal with Macrinus and Geta’s orders to execute Acasius, Lucius declines, so Geta has his archers shoot their arrows to Acasius until he dies. Afterwards, Macrinus questions Lucius why didn’t he kill Acasius if that’s what he wanted and tells him that he no longer owes him anything.

   As Macrinus had warned, Acasius’ death causes an uproar upon Rome’s population, challenging the Imperial rule. Macrinus goes to the palace to see the brothers discuss what to do, witnessing how Geta loses his nerves on Caracalla and his pet monkey Dundus. Following Caracalla out of the room, Macrinus skillfully manipulates Caracalla into believing that Geta could be a threat to him, which Caracalla agrees due to Geta allegedly trying to kill him in the womb. Convinced that his brother is too dangerous to stay in power, Caracalla comes across Geta hours later with a knife at hand. Caracalla attempts to kill Geta with it, but struggles as Geta wrestles with him in self-defense, so Macrinus comes to the scene and helps Caracalla stab Geta to death.

   The following day, Caracalla announces his brother’s death and appoints both Macrinus and Dundus (to the shock and dismay of the court) as his new consuls to assist him ruling Rome as a sole emperor, so once Caracalla leaves the room, Macrinus assures the court that he will depose Caracalla as he is unfit to rule, which the court agrees after Macrinus shows them Geta’s beheaded head. Later that day, Macrinus sits with Caracalla as he holds an execution event for Lucilla and her fellow conspirators by the Praetorian Guard at the Colisseum, but Lucius and his fellow gladiators break into the Colisseum after killing Viggo to free Rome. In the ensuing chaos, Macrinus takes the chance the audience is too busy fighting with the archers to insert a nail through Caracalla’s ear and perforate his brain. However, out of spite towards Lucius, Macrinus takes a bow and arrow and shoots at Lucilla, hitting her fatally, prompting an angry Lucius to chase him down to the outskirts of Rome, where the country’s militaries have gathered to start a civil war.

   Ready to assure his power by killing the rightful heir to the Roman throne, Macrinus denounces the late Marcus Aurelius’ dream of a unified Rome as a fantasy, assuring Lucius that the only important thing is power and nothing more. They then engage in a swordfight as Macrinus used to do in his prime, managing to throw Lucius into a nearby river, but Lucius is protected from Macrinus’ constant sword strikes due to wearing his father Maximus’ armor. Eager to kill Lucius once and for all, Macrinus tries to give him one last strike, but Lucius overpowers the old gladiator and ends up cutting Macrinus’ swordhand off and then slashes him lethally in the stomach, causing Macrinus to fall on the river, making the water all bloody. Macrinus’ corpse remains floating in his watery grave as Lucius calls off a potential civil war and prepares to unify Rome as his grandfather had desired, leaving Macrinus’ plans for conquest in vain.

   Quotes “ You're right you do not fight for me. I put you in ring, you fight or you die. The choice is yours. But whose head could I give you that would satisfy this fury? „ ~ Macrinus manipulates Lucius into becoming his gladiatorial champion in exchange for the promise to help exact his vengeance. “ A man does not become emperor by bloodline alone. It must be taken by force and kept by force! Are you such a man as this? „ ~ Macrinus attempts to manipulate Lucius into pledging his loyalty to him. “ I own you now. „ ~ Macrinus to Lucius Trivia Despite being an epic historical drama, much like its predecessor, Gladiator II takes many historical liberties with the real Macrinus. The real-life Macrinus wasn’t a power broker nor arms dealer, instead a Praetorian prefect who did succeed Geta and Caracalla as Emperor of Rome but just for one year and a month with a few days before being overthrown and killed. Surviving artwork of the real Macrinus suggests that he may have been olive-skinned instead of black like his actor in the film, as Macrinus was born in Northern Africa, with his origins tracing back to the Amazigh tribes. The film implies Macrinus is from Tunisia given his nickname. Macrinus and Senator Thraex bet in gladiatorial fights with gold denariis, which while Roman currency indeed, is incorrect as the denarii was the Roman silver coin, not the gold one, which was the aureau, which was similar to the coins Macrinus gives to Lucius when he is bathing. The film shows Macrinus as manipulating Caracalla to murder Geta, but in reality, Macrinus had no involvement in this and Caracalla murdered Geta alone in front of their mother Julia Domna. Macrinus did have Caracalla killed, but he didn’t do that personally like in the film. In reality, Macrinus dispatched a soldier named Julius Martialis, who hated Caracalla for not appointing him as a centurion, to kill Caracalla while he declared himself Emperor with the Roman Army’s support three days later. In many ways, Macrinus can be seen as a dark reflection of Proximo, Maximus Decimus Meridius’ master and one of the main characters from Gladiator. Like Proximo, Macrinus serves as a mentor to the titular gladiator, but whereas Proximo was content with his lifestyle and offered Maximus to help him regain his freedom, take Commodus down and avenge his family, Macrinus merely promises Lucius to give Justus Acasius’ head to have him on his side and aims to overthrow the Emperors to rise up to power. Macrinus likely serves as an example to what Proximo could have become if he had let his hatred for the Roman Empire’s cruelty towards him consume him until becoming just a power hungry despot as Commodus, Geta and Caracalla. Macrinus is Denzel Washington’s second role in a Ridley Scott film, having previously played Frank Lucas in American Gangster. Indeed, it was because of his desire to work with Scott again (calling him and his late brother Tony as filmmakers who never miss) that Washington accepted the part of Macrinus. Even before the premiere of Gladiator II, despite the mixed-to-negative impressions from fans and audiences in the lead-up to the film, many agreed that Denzel Washington’s performance as Macrinus looked to be one of the film’s highlights. Now that the film has released, many critics and viewers have deemed Macrinus as one of the best parts of the film, with many industry insiders expecting Washington to be nominated as either Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor at the 97th Academy Awards. He has been nominated for Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture for 82nd Golden Globes. Gladiator II originally had a scene where Macrinus kissed a man on the lips, but it was cut because, according to Denzel Washington, some of the executives “feared” it. Regardless of the scene’s removal, Macrinus was confirmed by Scott to be bisexual prior to the film’s release and his comments that he likes men sometimes as Lucilla’s late husband does imply he likes men.

8. #8Gracchus

   Keys: Gracchus, Senator, Senator Gracchus

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   Gracchus Gracchus Infobox Occupation Senator of Rome Status Deceased Cause of death TBA Gender Male Portrayed by Derek Jacobi Appears in Gladiator Gladiator II

   The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum. He'll bring them death and they will love him for it. —Senator Gracchus, regarding Commodus, Gladiator

   Senator Gracchus was a Roman Senator who lived in the times of Marcus Aurelius and his son, Commodus and continued in his role following Commodus's death.

   He was portrayed by Derek Jacobi in the 2000 film Gladiator, who reprises his role in its sequel Gladiator II.

   Contents 1 Senator 2 Defection and Capture 3 A new opposition 4 Trivia Senator Gracchus was a senator of the Roman Empire around 180 AD. He first was a senator under Marcus Aurelius. When Marcus was assassinated by his son, Commodus, Gracchus distrusted Commodus, though grudgingly admired his understanding of the mob mentality. He told Commodus of the troubles breaking out in Rome, including the plague in the Greek Quarter, but Commodus seemed not to care much. His distrust of Commodus led him to defect to the side of Maximus Decimus Meridius, an opponent of the evil Commodus who massacred his family.

   Defection and Capture Lucilla told Commodus of Gracchus' treachery, under threat of her son's death. While he was at his estate, he was arrested by the Praetorian Guard. However, when Maximus was dying of wounds given to him before his final battle with Commodus in the arena, he ordered that prisoner Gladiators would be freed and Gracchus reinstated as senator. Gracchus helped carry Maximus' body away along with several other strong men and Empress Lucilla.

   A new opposition Gracchus survives in the years following the deaths of Commodus and Maximus, seeing the rise of the new co-emperors, Caracalla and Geta. He becomes drawn into the conspriacy of Lucill and her new husband General Marcus Acacius to depose the two, a coup which ultimately fails, and ends up being executed.

   Trivia Gracchus and his fellow senator Gaius are a play on Gaius Gracchus, people from Roman history. The two Gracchi, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, were populist politicians favouring land reform in the early late Republic.

9. #9Thraex

   Keys: Thraex, Senator Thraex

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   Thraex Thraex Occupation Senator Status Alive Gender Male Portrayed by Tim McInnerny Appears in Gladiator II Thraex serves as a senator of Rome. In the film Gladiator II he is portrayed by Tim McInnerny. History Thraex is a Roman senator with gambling issues. He places a large bet with Macrinus against his latest Gladiator acquisition, "Hanno." When Hanno wins his match in the Colosseum, Thraex ends up deeply in debt to Macrinus.

   Thraex later learns of a plan by the General Marcus Acacius and Empress Lucilla to orchestrate a coup against Rome's twin emperors, Caracalla and Geta. Hoping to curry favor with Macrinus, he reports the plot to him. Macrinus in turn reports it to the two emperors, resulting in Acacius and Lucilla both being arrested for treason.

10. #10Gladiators

    Keys: Gladiators

    Gladiators are slaves taught to fight to the death by the Roman Empire in the Colosceum. Antonius Proximo owned many Gladiators during his time, including the German Hagen, Spaniard Maximus Decimus Meridius, and the Nubian Juba.Some twenty years later, new tyrannical emperors, Geta and Caracalla, have conquered Rome, sending generals like Marcus Acacius to extend their reach. In their conquest, they capture individuals such as Lucius Verus, who are forced to fight as gladiators. Macrinus, an arms dealer, maintains an entire stadium full of gladiators. Lucius later stages a coup, freeing his fellow gladiators who assist him in fighting to protect his mother, the Empress Lucilla, though they are ultimately unsuccessful thanks to Macirnus's betrayal.

11. #11Jubartha

    Keys: Jubartha

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    Jubartha Jubartha Status Deceased Place of death Colosseum, Rome Cause of death Gored by monkeys Gender Male Portrayed by Peter Mensah Appears in Gladiator II Jubartha was a chieftain of Numidia. He took up arms when Roman forces invaded the village, but the town fell and he was captured. History When the boy Lucius Verus arrives in Numidia, Jubartha takes him in under the alias Hanno and treats him like a son. He raises him as a warrior and gives him a home. Many years later, he helps to organize the Numidian forces when Rome invades, but the defense is ultimately unsuccessful and he is captured along with the others.

    As the captured Numidians are taken to Rome upon a barge, Jubartha and Lucius talk with each other. They express gratitude to each other, but Jubartha admits that they are being taken somewhere that they will likely not survive. They are placed in the Colosseum, where vicious monkeys are set to attack them. Lucius is able to fight them off, earning himself a role as a Gladiator, but Jubartha succumbs to the attack.

    Trivia His name is similar to that of Juba from the original Gladiator film, but it is unclear if there is any connection between the two characters.

12. #12Ravi

    Keys: Ravi, The Doctor

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    Ravi Ravi Occupation Doctor Gladiator (formerly)

    Status Alive Gender Male Portrayed by Alexander Karim Appears in Gladiator II Ravi is a doctor who was once a Gladiator. He now treats Gladiators injured in the Colosseum. In the film Gladiator II, Ravi is portrayed by Alexander Karim.

    History After being captured when Rome invades Numidia and forced into slavery as a Gladiator, "Hanno" (secretly Lucius Verus, prince of Rome) is victorious in battle, but injured. He is brought to Ravi to be treated and the two of them become fast friends.

    Lucius later learns from Ravi that he was once a Gladiator who has since retired, choosing to turn to the practice of medicine instead. He reveals that he knows of the Gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius (who was actually Lucius's father) and shows him a shrine to Maximus featuring his sword and armor.

    Lucius finds himself involved in a plot to overthrow the Roman emperors Caracalla and Geta. The plan goes awry, resulting in the death of the ringleader, General Marcus Acacius, and Lucius placed in the position of being set to be the lone Gladiator guarding his own mother, Lucilla, as she is to be slain in the Colosseum by the Praetorian Guard.

    Lucius manages to get the attention of Ravi, handing over a ring proving his heritage, and convincing him to bring it to the surviving leader of Acacius's forces, whose troops are amassed outside the city. He also gets Ravi to hand over his keys, allowing him to get the jump on the guards when they come for him and free his fellow Gladiators. Ravi succeeds in his mission, summoning the forces of Rome to meet Lucius.

13. #13Arishat

    Keys: Arishat, Hannos wife

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    Arishat Arishat Relatives Lucius Verus (husband) Status Deceased Place of death Coast of Numidia Cause of death Shot in the heart by an archer of the Roman army Gender Female Portrayed by Yuval Gonen Appears in Gladiator II Arishat was the wife of Lucius Verus, known to her as "Hanno." In the film Gladiator II, Arishat is portrayed by Yuval Gonen.

    History After being sent away from Rome to remote Numidia by his mother, Lucilla, Lucius Verus adapts to the culture there. He falls in love with Arishat and takes her as his wife, the two of them living peacefully on a farm.

    Their peaceful time came to an end when the coastal village was invaded by the Roman army. Lucius, having trained for just this possibility, takes up arms, leading the defensive forces. Arishat does not sit idly by either, taking up a bow in the village's defense. Lucius, however, can do nothing but watch in shock as Arishat is shot in the heart by one of the Roman archers and falls into the waters below.

    Stunned, Lucius is shot as well in his distraction but is not wounded, only knocked into the water. He briefly passes out and has a vision in which Arishat is led away on a boat by Death himself. He awakes, left with the loss of his wife.

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