Why do movies always make Marcus Aurelius look so old?

I mean Marcus Aurelius was only 58 when he died but movies & TV shows portray him as if he is in his mid-70s.

For example:

Gladiator (the movie):


Roman Empire (Netflix series):



What gives? Don’t they have historians advising them on this stuff?

Oh and just to keep it coin related..please share your favorite coinage of the BEST emperor Rome ever had: Marcus Aurelius.
(In your face Augustus!!)

 

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58 was old back in them thar days.......

 

I know but I don’t think people actually looked older at that age than today.

I don’t think back then a 30 year old would look like a 50 year old today.

What I think is that people died younger but they looked just like someone of that age today.

So when Marcus Aurelius died he should’ve looked like a 58 year old does today.

Most 58 year olds don’t walk hunched over like old men with all white hair and wrinkles everywhere.

However in my opinion Netflix did a better job portraying him. He looks about 62 years old but he walks like a warrior full of confidence and has a strong commanding voice.

In Gladiator he is portrayed as a weak, senile, old man.

 

I wouldn't exactly mind being 58 at this point!

Marcus' Meditations is one of my favorite books.
Here are several of his sestertii....

 

Wow those look fantastic!! ^_^

I really like the first two because they have a lot of details and a nice color. To be honest I have never been a big fan of the green patina copper coins.

I didn’t mean to imply that there was anything wrong with being 58 (or 70 for that matter) it just bugs me when I watch movies about Rome and then when they show Marcus Aurelius he looks like he is about to die from old age with white hair, a slow mind, weak and senile.

I don’t understand why they don’t just portray him as a man nearing the age of 60 but healthy, strong and with a commanding presence.

It’s just disappointing.

I do love the movie Gladiator and it will always have a special place in my heart for igniting my passion for Ancient Rome as a child.

Same with 300: Rise of an Empire inspiring my love of Ancient Greece. Not the original 300 about the Spartans and Thermopylae but the sequel about the Athenians, Themistocles and the Battles of Marathon and later the Battle of Salamis.

Both movies are highly unrealistic but they inspired me to learn about what really happened.

Every time I hold my Athenian tetradrachm I think to myself:

“Wow! This coin was minted in Athens not long after their finest hour (Persian Wars).”

 

In the same vein, why is it that most Roman emperors portrayed in the movies speak with a British accent?

 

I know right??

I mean obviously they can’t have them speaking Vulgar Latin or the only actors they’d have to choose from would be Professors of Latin but they could at least tone down the accent since actors have coaches who can teach them certain accents or how to not have an accent at all.

What on Earth are these “historical advisors” doing??

Another thing that bothered me about Gladiator is that in the beginning when the Romans are fighting the Germanic tribes the Germans are wearing outfits from the Stone Age.

 

Not just emperors, but all members of the upper classes. Peasants, slaves, and the urban poor, on the other hand, all seem to have Cockney accents. Because the Suburra = East London in the 19th century.

 

Wait till you see how medieval drawings portrayed Augustus, although he was in his 75 when he died, he was really conscious of being portrayed as the youthful saviour. So, he would roll in his urn if he ever saw this image and would order the monk who made this to be flayed or crucified.

The Emperor Augustus, portrayed as a Medieval monarch. Bedford Hours, 1410-30, British Library.

 

I don’t think the Romans practiced flaying did they?

I think that is a House Bolton thing. Afterall a naked man has few secrets. A flayed man? None.

Bonus points if you get that reference xD

 

Blame it on the BBC.........

 

I'd call that a win!

 

Absolutely!

Sometimes movies can inspire and motivate people in a way that a history book can’t.

Movies never pretend to be 100% accurate. Otherwise they would be documentaries. But they can do an amazing job showing things visually and inspiring people to learn more about what actually happened.

 

That's something that has long bothered me about Hollywood and ancient Rome.

My favorite Marcus:

Marcus Aurelius, Augustus AD 161-180.
Roman AR denarius, 3.15 g, 18.1 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 36th emission, AD 178.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG, laureate head, right.
Rev: COS III P P, Annona standing left, holding corn-ears in right hand over modius and cornucopia in left hand; to right, prow.
Refs: RIC 424; BMCRE 691; Cohen 151; RCV 4893; MIR 436-4/30.

 

Yeah. I understand why they dramatize some things to keep the audience interested, but its not like increasing the age of Marcus Aurelius is more interesting or appealing to the audience. I don't think anyone would care if he was 58 or 68 or 78 so I don't get why they changed his age at all.

One thing that I am sure ALL of us (who have seen Gladiator) noticed was that at the beginning of the movie Marcus Aurelius is killed...by Commodus. Seriously. I think THAT is a case of trying to keep the audience interested and making them have a dislike of Commodus right from the start. But for those of us who love history it was so bizarre seeing Commodus there suffocating Marcus Aurelius with a pillow. Or that scene where Marcus Aurelius is talking to Crowe's character Maximus Decimus Meridius and he tells him he wants to "return Rome back to a Republic" when Marcus Aurelius had no intentions to do so and wanted Commodus to succeed him.

So there was no reason for Commodus to kill Aurelius and he definitely didn't intend on returning Rome to a Republic.

I'm pretty sure Commodus was strangled by Narcissus in the bath tub but the movie has Russell Crowe's character slaying him in the arena.

Like I said I loved the movie as a kid and as a movie that inspired me to learn more about Ancient Rome it will always have a special place in my heart. But knowing what I know about Ancient Rome now it's so bizarre to watch all that weird stuff happen.

 

This isn't as egregious as portraying Marcus as a very old man or Commodus killing his father, but it makes me cringe when I see characters that look absolutely nothing like the historical figures.

Here's Ella Becroft playing Crispina in "Roman Empire: Reign of Blood." I wish the producers of the series would have paid closer attention to reproducing Crispina's actual hairstyle, though. They could have at least styled this actress' hair in a bun.



Here's the real Crispina coiffure:

 

I actually really enjoyed the Netflix series Roman Empire. I thought all 3 seasons were pretty good if not perfectly accurate.

Most of my praise goes to the actor who played Caligula. He did such a great job transforming from a decent mild mannered guy into a paranoid, cruel, despot.

The Julius Caesar one shocked me because I didn’t know Caesar had red hair. But I thought the actor who played him was a little bit softer and more mild than the actual Caesar was.

My guess on the hairstyles is that they saw a statue or painting or something and based it on that. Or they just thought she looked prettier with the hairstyle they used.

They made Lucilla gorgeous!

 

Actually, I'm perfectly fine with this. Most American viewers have at least a vague understanding of upper-class versus lower-class British accents, so hearing an Emperor or Senator speak as though they went to Eaton, or hearing a common soldier who sounds like he's from Liverpool, feels intuitively right and adds to the characterization, even if only at a subconscious level.

And, if we don't use British accents, what then should we use? Maybe members of the old Senatorial families could speak in Back Bay Boston accents, common citizens in flat Midwestern tones, rural provincials in Appalachian dialect? That might be thematically appropriate, but would also be very distracting for most of the audience. I also heard a suggestion somewhere (not on CoinTalk) that actors portraying Romans should use Italian accents, as the closest descendants of Latin. Okay, but how many audience members could tell the difference between different Italian accents, and how many Anglophone actors could actually manage such subtleties, in addition to, you know, all the other parts of acting?

 

I've never liked the movie "Gladiator", although that is primarily due to my dislike of Russell Crowe as an actor stemming all the way from the days of "Romper Stomper".

Netflix's "Roman Empire" was fairly "meh". FWIW, "300" was a cartoonish joke.

I did however enjoy HBO's "Rome" and was disappointed that it was ended/discontinued prematurely due to budget constraints.

The recent series on Netflix "Barbarians" was also decent.

As for Hollywood taking liberties with nixing historical accuracy for the sake of entertainment...

Nothing new.

 

Well it’s true everyone likes different things.

It’s also true Hollywood takes liberties with history but some of it just doesn’t make sense.

It makes sense in Gladiator to take liberties and have Commodus kill Marcus Aurelius because the directors want the audience to hate Commodus from the start.

But the age thing doesn’t change anything in terms of the story.

Maybe if they made him 58 it wouldn’t be realistic for Commodus to be able to smother him with a pillow?

300: Rise of an Empire about Athens was much better than the original 300 about Sparta. It’s definitely not anywhere close to accurate or realistic but I like that it shows the different cultures and how they viewed themselves.

Like how the Spartans are all tough and well trained and have a love of battle. That part is true. Every male Spartan child was required to undergo the rigorous Agoge training (except male members of the ruling family who sometimes chose to go through it anyway for added respect).

Whereas in 300: Rise of an Empire it portrays the Athenians differently. They don’t love battle, most of them want to return to their farms and normal life, but they fight for freedom and democracy because both are threatened by the Persians. That is something Athenians did really cherish.


As for the Netflix series Roman Empire..I think it’s important to remember it was more of a documentary. There were real historians interrupting the story and giving facts and explanations and stuff like that. I think it should be judged differently than the others for that reason.