The box office hit Gladiator is driven by a Hollywood plot but retains a large amount of factual information. A lot of the characters names they used did exist but were not historically correct. The story-line of the movie was one created for the movie however it is quite realistically portrayed.

The basic plot starts with the Spaniard general of the Roman army, Maximus, leading his loyal troops to a heroic victory. The emperor Marcus Aurelius, who is approaching his death, asks Maximus to be his successor instead of his son Commodus. Commodus kills his father in reaction to the news and asks Maximus to serve him. When Maximus declines his offer and plots his death Commodus commands the death of Maximus and his family. He fights through his execution in attempt of saving his family but he arrives too late. Badly wounded he passes out is taken by slave traders. He is sold along with other slaves to Proximo to fight in the gladiator games.

Eventually they make it to the coliseum and Maximus becomes more popular with each victory he has. Commodus can't kill Maximus because Rome loves him so much, even though he knows that Maximus will kill him in revenge of his family and

Gladiators did exist and were as well known as celebrities. They would often endorse products as athletes do today on television. The gladiators themselves were slaves trained in gladiatorial "schools." In the movie, Proximo, bought and trained his slaves as gladiators but in real life owners of gladiators usually did not train them, They were more like business men or politicians and employed a trainer to prepare the slaves as fighters.

This story, of course has a love story, intense action, and a secret plot considering it's a Hollywood film. But many parts of it are realistic historical facts. In is not impractical for this to have actually happened. The character are a little off base to reality but how each of them acted is fairly close to the truth. Overall, I would say that the facts are remotely accurate.

In reality Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 AD. He is best know not for his military career but for his book Meditations, which reveals his thoughtful mind and Stoic philosophy. He had two sons and five daughters. One son died four years after death and the other was Commodus. Annia Lucilla was also his daughter but was married to Lucius Verus who was actually Marcus Aurelius' adopted into the imperial family as Marcus Aurelius' brother and Commodus' cousin. There was a Roman general named Maxim

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