Why do movies always make Marcus Aurelius look so old?

Have you watched HBO's "Rome" or "Barbarians" on Netflix?

 

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Nope! If “Rome” is about the two ordinary Roman guys I remember I tried watching it but I got bored and ended up watching Game of Thrones instead.

I have watched “Vikings” but not “Barbarians”.

 

Netflix's "Barbarians" is nice, as the Romans speak with an Italian accent (anyway in the German version)

 

You just answered your own question. Even if a historian is hired to input suggestions, the bottom line is the bottom line. Some egomaniac producers care nothing about any truth other than there is no job for them tomorrow if they don't sell tickets today. If Commodus is not weird enough, mix in a little Caligula or a dash of Nero. Be careful not to make the hero seem unheroic. That is why I liked Game of Thrones. When you start on a planetary system that has two suns and a map unlike anything ever seen, dragons are not a big step and get a pass from people who would have been offended had they been written into historical fiction about Britain.

For the umpteenth time here I'll ask: Why have they not made a mini series based on the life of Julia Maesa? (Look up what that name means before you cast her.) In the first season she sees her baby sister marry Septimius and have sons while she only has daughters. In the second she sees Caracalla kill Geta and spots an opening for advancement of her family. Season three could not be made for Netflix (too wild for them) and would end with Maesa changing grandsons without batting an eye. The opportunity for bastardizing history of this period would make 'Caligula' look PG. Ask who you would cast based on what is known about the characters and what would allow the result to get an R rating. What parts of the story would you have to change to avoid offending any large segment of the ticket buying public? Elagabalus would be an obvious Oscar for costume design. Come to think of it, that part of the story would not be possible so we would probably get a watered down version spiced up with some Commodus and Caligula antics for good measure. When I was a kid, I had a Davy Crockett hat. What headgear could they sell to promote this period?
https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/saga-davy-crocketts-coonskin-cap

Coins to assist in casting:
Septimius:


Domna:


Caracalla and Plautilla:


Geta:

Maesa:


Elagabalus:


Macrinus:


Severus Alexander:


Coin dealer Bruce McNall dabbled in movie production but never did one on ancient history. I wonder if he ever considered such a project.

 

What do you mean I answered my own question?

I said I watched a show about 2 ordinary Roman guys but I wasn’t sure if that is the show called “Rome” or not. He asked me if I had seen that specific show.

 

Exactly, and should they need Louis XIV to be the hidden son of Commodus, what the heck as long as it sells more tickets.
The whole story in Gladiator has not a lot to do with historical accuracy I bet

Q

 

I guess it's kind of like the movie "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson.

There is a character named Tavington played by Jason Isaacs and they have him burn a church full of Americans.

That was stuff the SS did in WW2 but there is no record of anything like that happening during the American Revolution.

 

I can't remember that far back.

 

I don't know who made the decisions on Mel Gibson's movie about the last days of Jesus of Nazareth with the the Roman soldiers speaking Latin, but they did a pretty good job. It's interesting to hear Latin spoken by people who speak it as though it's the language they learned at their mother's knees, or in this case, in the barracks.

 

Marcus as Caesar from Alexandria...



Gladiator is a loose adaptation of "The Fall of the Roman Empire" where Marcus is poisoned by eating a bad apple offered to him by a physician. The hero of the movie (Stephen Boyd) fights Commodus in the arena at the end of the movie (Christopher Plummer played Commodus). At least Commodus was depicted with a beard, unlike Gladiator where Joaquin Phoenix was clean shaven.

It's pretty clear too that Marcus had no intention of making Rome a Republic again. One of Commodus' last lines in the film is "If you listen very carefully you can hear the gods laughing." In reality Commodus was strangled by a wrestler (and his personal trainer) Narcissus in his bedchamber, reputedly in a drunken stupor.

 

Interesting post @Gam3rBlake Marcus Aurelius was a fascinating figure in human history, to be sure. The words attributed to him are very inspiring.

 

Very true. There have been instances when I’ve had little interest in a particular topic but after seeing it come to life in a well made film, I will often want to read more about it and research it.

 

I think one would also need to cast the roles of the other two Julias, namely Soaemias and Mamaea -- the two sisters, and the mothers of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, who met similar fates:





I very much doubt, though, that one could ever successfully make a mainstream motion picture with four important characters all named Julia. Either they'd have to be referred to exclusively as Domna, Maesa, Soaemias, and Mamaea, or one would have to exercise artistic license by changing the names of a few of them to something like Jennifer, Jasmine, and Jade.

 

Modern people have trouble with the concept that Roman names were not ordered as our are today. Julius/Julia was a family name and not a first name.

 

Yeah for sure!

I remember another movie that inspired me was “The Mummy”.

Now obviously that movie isn’t even pretending to be remotely accurate. It has mummies coming to life and conjuring sand storms and unleashing plagues and all kinds of crazy stuff.

But it did pique my curiousity about Ancient Egypt.

 

In the Mummy the mummy actually speaks ancient Egyptian, they consulted with scholars to make the script accurate. For example to animate the zombie followers of the mummy, he says "Weben!" meaning rise.

 

He was like: “Ankh-su-namun!”

 

Marcus Aurelius was the best Emperor EVER!

I know some people give that credit to Augustus but well….they’re wrong. xD

I think the only person who could’ve matched Marcus Aurelius would have been Germanicus if he hadn’t gone and died/was murdered.

 

I would suggest to give "Rome"(HBO) a try again. Not at the level of the first handful of seasons of GoT, but I personally found it to be entertaining enough. The created sets are good. They spent a fair amount of money in production.

"Vikings" is great, though I sort of lost a little interest after Ragnar went to Valhalla.

Not sure how "Vikings" relates to "Barbarians" -- Also may pique one's interest for a snapshot portrayal of the early part of the expanding Roman Empire. I'm hoping for a second season that will continue with the story of Arminius, and perhaps introduce Germanicus into the story.

 

Oh yeah that's what it was. I do remember trying to watch it when I had a free 1 month HBO subscription when I first signed up for Hulu.

I had trouble making it through the first episode though. Does it get better?

As for GoT one of the things I really enjoyed was the coinage & economy of Westeros. Alot of it made absolutely no sense at all.

There is one scene where Tywin Lannister asks "How much would the bounty have to be to make an ordinary soldier stupid enough to attack The Hound?"

Varys replies "10 silver stags seems more than adequate" and Tywin responds: "Make it 100."

It made no sense to me because Silver Stags looked like they were about the size of a half dollar so if we are generous and assume they were 1/2 troy oz of silver then that means the entire bounty on The Hound was 50 troy oz of silver which to me seems ridiculously low for someone to risk their lives in fighting one of the most skilled (and large) fighters in Westeros. The survival rate for someone trying to claim the bounty would be very low and the reward just seems too low for someone to be enticed by the 100 silver stag bounty.

But some of it did make sense like where Ros tells a new prostitute: "This isn't some 5 copper bawdy house" and I think 5 coppers sounds pretty accurate for a session with a cheap prostitute in a run down brothel during the Middle Ages that GoT is supposed to be based on. Afterall a baker tells Arya that a loaf of bread is 3 coppers.

Idk I just found it interesting the way the GoT economy worked with Gold Dragons, Silver Stags and Copper Stars. It reminded me alot of pre-decimal British coinage and how they used pounds, shillings and pence.