Posted on 10/17/2008 4:12:50 AM PDT by NCDragon
Italian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of the ancient Roman hero said to have inspired the character played by Russell Crowe in the film "Gladiator."
Daniela Rossi, an archaeologist based in Rome, said the discovery of the monumental marble tomb of Marcus Nonius Macrinus, including a large inscription bearing his name, was "an exceptional find."
She said it was "the most important ancient Roman monument to come to light for twenty or thirty years."
The tomb is on the banks of the Tiber near the via Flaminia, north of Rome. Cristiano Ranieri, who led the archeological team at the site, said the tomb had long ago collapsed into the mud but its columns, roof and decorations were intact. Some parts of the tomb had slipped into the river, but had been recovered.
Marcus Nonius Macrinus, born in Brescia in northern Italy, was a general and consul who led military campaigns for Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 AD.
He became part of the Emperor's inner circle and one of his favorites, serving as proconsul in Asia.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Nice story except that Marcus Nonius Macrinus was never a gladiator.
Yet, the reported decided devote the majority of the article to a movie which had absolutely nothing to do with the real man.
Are you suggesting that historic facts are in some way relevant?
GGG ping
Maybe he was a gladiator organizer. That’s almost as good, right?
Gladiator was a remake of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in which the character who was the equivalent of Russell Crowe's character never became a gladiator, but was instead sent far away to Asia as commander. I was not that familiar with the story, so did not know that the original was more historically accurate. The original movie starred Stephen Boyd, Sophia Loren, Alec Guiness, and Christopher Plummer.
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Geez...I thought you were up in the night because that’s when the silly things came out to play...
Lord All Mighty, that calls into question my Modern American History For Illiterates, where my students learn American History watching Oliver Stone's Textbooks On Film history series!
If I have to start giving refunds....
I was shocked to find out that the real Emperor Commodus did indeed fight in the arena as a gladiator.
Your larger point it correct: Hollywood and history have had a tenuous relationship at best—one whose foundations is selling tickets and enlarging the vanities of their producers while in true leftist fashion practicing distortion and deception.
one exception is this new indie coming out next year:
But his opponents only had wooden swords. Also, Commodus liked to portray himself as Hercules, dressing in lion skins and taking bow in hand, shooting arrows at the real gladiators from his emperor’s perch in the Colleseum. He “ruled” for 13 years before his sex-slave (no joke) Narcissus either drowned or strangled him in his imperial bathroom.
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