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→The Gladiator Contests
In the film, after Maximus was taken as a slave, but not before he discovered that his wife and son were killed by Commodus, he was shown as being transported and eventually enslaved as a gladiator in a far away eastern province in the Roman Empire (somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa). While the circumstances of how Commodus became emperor in the film are probably not true, there is some greater truth in some of the gladiator fights. For instance, gladiator contests did often reconstruct famous battles or scenes using characters from history or legends. Gladiator contests did take place in many places around the empire. Animals, such as tigers, were often used in arenas, where gladiators might fight each other as well as animals. In fact, excavations at the Colosseum showed a variety of exotic animals were present there. This included: bears, lions, hyena, elephant, wild boar, buffalo, tigers, bulls, wolves, and leopards. The clothing of the gladiators depicted, particularly the helmets, were likely not true and were stereotypes taken from later periods.<ref>For more on the gladiator games in the Roman Empire, see: Dunkle, R. (2008). <i>Gladiators: violence and spectacle in ancient Rome (1st ed).</i> Harlow, England ; New York: Pearson/Longman.</ref>
Gladiators, as suggested in the film, were treated like rock starts. Those who were successful could gain favors, such as having access to women and even earn their freedom. However, unlike the film, often contests did not result in the death of contestants. Animals, in fact, were more often killed in contests. This may have been de-emphasized in the film.The emperors did use their thumbs at times to depict if the gladiator should die or live, although we do not know if this was thumbs up for living and thumbs down for getting killed.<ref>For more on gladiator traditions, see: Winkler, M. M. (Ed.). (2004). <i>Gladiator: film and history.</i> Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.</ref>
The Colosseum (Figure 1) was the premier event for gladiator contests after its construction in 70-80 CE. Ambitious trainers, similar to how the film depicts it, would try to situate themselves so they could compete in main events that promised large financial rewards. Similar to sport today, the gladiator games had a lot of money that would exchange hands around the event. This revolved around gambling on the events but also rewards earned by the owners of the gladiator slaves.<ref>For more on the Colosseum and venues for gladiator contests, see: Aldrete, G. S. (2008). <i>Daily life in the Roman city: Rome, Pompeii and Ostia (Oklahoma paperback ed).</i> Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press.</ref>
Something not shown in the film is that gladiator contests may have looked familiar to us. Gladiators often were used to sponsor products and billboards often hung in stadium where contests would have been held. This was not shown in the film, mostly because the producers thought audience would not believe it since it is so similar to our modern sports.
