Aalmost nearly 400 million dollars in revenue, Gladiator II will be available to the public to stream on Christmas Eve. This sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic replaces the original’s Commodus with brother emperors Caracalla and Geta, modeling them not only on him but on a host of other famously bloodthirsty despots of Rome like Caligula, Nero and Domitian.
The greatness of these emperors and their disregard for social norms may resonate with the public in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, but so do their appeals to the people and hostility which they aroused within the educated elite of Rome. Although both films capture the image of tyranny portrayed by hostile intellectuals, only the new one contains another clue to the important social changes that have driven politics then and now: the film includes characters of different races.
Whatever the reasons for the casting decisions, the Roman Empire was truly home to people of countless ethnicities. in provinces from Scotland to Arabia. Indeed, Gladiator II accurately shows that by the time of the film (211 AD), the Roman ruling class had become multi-ethnic, a transformation that, perhaps surprisingly to today’s audiences, would usher in more conservative politics . Thus, the film takes place in a world that resembles the modern United States, as a multiracial, populist, conservative coalition begins to marginalize the ruling elite. The Roman Empire in the Century After Caracalla also offers valuable insights—and warnings—about what Americans can expect from the start of a new political era.
When the first Emperor Augustus ended the Roman Republic at the turn of the first century AD, almost all of the senators, governors, and others were from Italy. In 97 AD, about a century before Gladiator the films take place, Trajan of Spain became the first non-Italian emperor. A series of Spanish, Gallic (French), North African and Syrian compatriots soon followed. This was not the result of bottom-up social change, but rather reflected the manner in which provincial elites had assimilated into the ruling class. For example, in 48 AD, when Emperor Claudius sought to justify the inclusion of a small number of prominent Gallic Romans in the Senate, he emphasized the Gauls’ long-standing support for the empire and how much they had already integrated into its elite.
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Even wealthy provincials who did not reach the Senate could enter the small bureaucracy created by the early emperors, but had to find established mentors who often (but not always) came from the same city or region. Thus, Trajan’s father enjoyed the patronage of Emperor Vespasian, an Italian, but also followed in the footsteps of prominent Spaniards like the philosopher and courtier Seneca. His ease of adaptation to elite values meant that posh Roman authors would not call Trajan a tyrant but would later proclaim him “the best emperor.”
Although initially smooth, by the third century AD, when the Gladiator When films take place, this assimilation has resulted in a breakdown of social class barriers. Convenient, villain of the first Gladiatorwas replaced as emperor by Pertinax, the son of a former slave. When Pertinax abandoned a teaching career and joined the army, the border wars had emptied the ranks, allowing his exceptional talent to attract the attention of his superiors. Although widely accepted at the time, the rise of Pertinax was a harbinger of greater tensions that accompanied the breakdown of social barriers, which would burst under Gladiator IICaracalla’s co-villain.
Although a product of the empire’s integrated elite (his parents, the Emperor and Empress, came from prominent families in North Africa and Syria, respectively), Caracalla loathed the old aristocracy and favored the working classes like the army, even granting Roman citizenship to all citizens. the free inhabitants of the empire. This removed one of the last obstacles preventing poor provincials from governing the empire. By the end of the 3rd century, most emperors and many of their senior officials moved from the rural peasantry to the ranks of the army.
They soon faced growing crises. Constant civil wars and reigns that sometimes lasted only a few months made it difficult to defeat foreign invaders. In the middle of the century, the Goths killed the emperor Decius, the Persians captured his near-successor Valerian, and the empire divided into three parts.
The new elite rose to the occasion. By the beginning of the 4th century, they had reunified the empire, restored the borders, and slowed the rapid change of emperors. The government achieved this through a massive increase in military personnel and a program of fortifications, financed by increased taxes and the expansion of the bureaucracy to support the state apparatus as a whole. The number of salaried imperial civil servants increased from a few hundred at the start of the Empire to more than 30,000.
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During this time, the Romans came to favor socially conservative values that emphasized personal austerity, perhaps in part because of the democratization of political culture. Many experimented with fasting, sleep deprivation, and vegetarian diets while frequently taking a vow of celibacy. In 450 AD, an emperor and empress even entered into a chaste marriage. Showing little patience with rumors of their predecessors’ sexual depravity, most of Caracalla’s successors had to prioritize fighting the constant invasions. Their efforts delayed the fall of the Western Empire by centuries.
Although the values that overtook ancient Rome brought much-needed seriousness, the Romans still paid a heavy price.
While early imperial aristocrats viewed the provincials as submissive nations with their own culture, their working-class replacements viewed the Romans as one people and expected all to share the same values. These demands hit minorities hard, particularly Christians. While the pagan Romans still technically banned Christianity, Trajan makes it clear in a famous exchange of letters that the Roman elite of his day were content to leave Christians mostly indifferent. The ruling class of the empire in the third century felt otherwise and three times authorized pogroms of the empire’s largest religious minority. Fragments of the debates over the authorization of persecutions show courtiers much more concerned with controlling ordinary life than their predecessors. Emperor Decius even required all Romans to present a certificate proving they had sacrificed to the pagan gods.
And although the Romans might have needed to expand their military, the expansion of state intervention in the economy had serious consequences. A law intended to stop inflation by fixing the prices of everything sold in the empire failed spectacularly. The expansion of bureaucracy drove small towns into bankruptcy as the descendants of elite families left to seek valuable government jobs in imperial capitals.
In a moment that resembles the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, the end of Gladiator II captures the beginning of this process, when jubilant soldiers outside Rome celebrate the overthrow of the old ruling class. This would mark the beginning of a more conservative political consensus, one that would help the empire face its challenges, but which would ultimately come at the expense of freedom.
Jeffrey E. Schulman holds a Ph.D. student at the University of Groningen, working on the political history of the Roman Empire.
Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the TIME editors.