How accurate is Gladiator 2? True history explained

He famously clapped back at critics who pointed out incorrect details in his 2023 film Napoleon – even telling those who were stewing over the inaccuracies to "get a life" – and the same has already been true of his latest film Gladiator 2, which is now showing in UK cinemas.

Like the original film, which claimed several Oscars including Best Picture upon its release in 2000, the sequel tells a fictional story set against the backdrop of the Roman Empire and incorporating a number of real historical figures into the narrative.

But just how accurately does the film depict the Roman Empire, and how many liberties does it take with the truth?

Read on for everything you need to know.

How accurate is Gladiator 2? True history explained

The first thing to bear in mind is that, although certain things and characters depicted in Gladiator 2 are based in historical fact, the story itself is intended as a fictional tale.

It would therefore be a rather futile task to nitpick every single detail and plot point, but it's still an interesting exercise to consider what things the film gets right about the historical period and which aspects are merely using artistic license.

In terms of the major characters who appear in the film, it's something of a mixed bag as to which are based on real figures. For example, the two brothers Geta and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger), who appear as tyrannical co-emperors in the film, are based on real people who did rule at the time the film is set.

In real life, the pair initially ruled alongside their father, Emperor Septimius Severus, before taking over as dual leaders – but they would constantly feud following their father's death, and Caracalla eventually had his brother killed.

This version of events does play out to some extent in the film, but the manner of the killing and the aftermath depicted in the movie are pure invention. Indeed, in real life Caracalla continued to rule for six years after Geta's death, and there is no evidence that he made his beloved pet monkey his second-in-command.

He was succeeded by someone named Macrinus who became the first Black Roman emperor, albeit the real man had rather a different profile than the character Denzel Washington plays in the film.

Many of the other characters, including Lucilla and even Lucius himself, are also loosely based on real figures – but the emphasis should certainly be placed on the word loosely. For example, although Lucilla did have a son called Lucius, he actually sadly died at the age of 12 – so he definitely didn't become a gladiator like Paul Mescal's character in the film.

Meanwhile, other characters, including Pedro Pascal's Marcus Acacius, are completely fictional.

There are several other ways in which you could pick holes in the film if you were that way inclined: for example, the kingdom of Numidia – where the film's opening onslaught takes place – had already been part of the Roman empire for some time by the period in which the film is set, and so no battle would have taken place.

And the film's depiction of gladiator dress is also different from the historical record: in real life, they did not wear body armour, but instead carried shields to use as protection.

Were there really sharks in the Colosseum?

One of the aspects of the film that drew particular attention – and seemingly particular ire – from historical pedants when the film's trailer was first released is the fact that one scene depicts gladiators fighting sharks in the Colosseum.

Although this is a fabrication, it's not quite as far-fetched as you might imagine. The Romans really did flood the Colosseum with water on occasion – indeed, some sources say that the opening of the iconic arena actually saw the recreation of a naval battle.

It's even possible that some animals were brought in for these water-based spectacles, but despite Scott's own protestations, it appears unlikely that sharks were among them.

"You're dead wrong," Scott told Collider when asked about the accuracy of these scenes. "The Colosseum did flood with water, and there were sea battles... Dude, if you can build a Colosseum, you can flood it with f***ing water. Are you joking? And to get a couple of sharks in a net from the sea, are you kidding? Of course they can."

Sadly, that doesn't appear to actually measure up to the historical record – but it creates an undoubtedly fun spectacle nonetheless.

As for some of the other creatures we see the gladiators do battle with, it's also a little dubious that there were men riding atop rhinos during gladiatorial fights, but it was not unusual for all sorts of wild animals to be brought into the arena – with lions, bears and even giraffes used.

"Obviously, there were no sharks," historian Estelle Paranque told Northeastern Global News in a recent interview about the film's accuracy.

"There was no way they could have brought sharks… You don’t need sharks to make a story about gladiators interesting. You don’t need rhino warriors. Gladiators had to fight wild animals. Why don’t you keep it at that? Why don’t you keep it to lions and tigers?"

Gladiator 2 is now showing in UK cinemas.

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