LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Gladiator: Marcus Aurelius
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The opening music is the first clue that Gladiator isn't what it seems. Instead of a stirring symphonic score or ear-splitting rock/electronica soundtrack, Hans Zimmer's music is foreboding and meditative. The intertitle that announces the Roman empire (under philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius) is on the verge of conquering the last of the Germanic tribes feels like a disappointing coda rather than a supreme achievement.
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Many aspects of the movie, Gladiator, were both factual and fictual. In the beginning of the movie when the narrative was given as to what was going on the first scene, it stated that the time was 180 AD and the current emperor was Marcus Aurelius. This is quite true. A Caesar, Marcus Aurelius was emperor from 161 AD 180 AD in Rome, and he did have a campaign waged against/in Germania—the barbarians as they called them. However, the death of Marcus Aurelius was not by assassination as the movie depicted, but instead he died of natural causes. His heir to throne was in fact his son, Commodus, as the movie showed and there was no indication that Marcus Aurelius intended to hand over his throne to any other.
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The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) tells the story of Livius, who, like Maximus in Gladiator, is Marcus Aurelius's heir. Livius is in love with Lucilla (Maximus was formerly in love with her). Both films tell the story of the murder of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus's seizure of power when he learns that the old emperor is planning to appoint Livius/Maximus as his successor. In Fall of the Roman Empire it is a group of conspirators who hope to profit from Commodus's accession who arrange for Marcus Aurelius to be poisoned; in Gladiator Commodus strangles his father himself. In FORE Commodus contrives to keep Livius unwillingly loyal for part of his reign; in Gladiator Commodus tries to have Maximus murdered but is unsuccessful. Livius and Maximus both seek to avenge Marcus Aurelius by killing Commodus; both films climax in their single combat.
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Marcus Aurelius