Warning. Today's episode contains spoilers for the twenty five year old movie Gladiator of I Ridly Scott. Well Gladier two in theater soon. Be warned if you have out watched Gladiator, then watch it before listening to this before seeing Gladiator too and aply connected guys. Hello, my name is Jason Casepsiote co host to a pod and I will have my revenge in this life of the next.
I weesday night. Are you not entertained?
And welcome back to x me vision of the podcast where we dive deep. It's your favorite shows, movies, comics and pop culture coming from My Heart podcast where we bring you between two and three and sometimes war episodes every week Tuesday Thursday, with extra episodes on Wednesday.
In today's episode, in the air Lock, we are revisiting the five time Oscar winning film Gladiator by Ridley Scott starring Russell Crowe, and in the omnibus, we are going to dig into some of the history, both real life and production wise, that gave us Gladiator and we'll lead us in to the eagerly awaited Gladiator two.
Dun dundun all right. Gladiator the year two thousand, directed by Ridley Scott, Gosh, what a film. I saw it in the theaters. This is when I was working in movie theaters, saw every movie and my reaction was, Wow, what an insanely violent and good movie that.
Was so violent, like when I rewatched it for the pod. So let me set this up. When I was a kid, I saw this movie on VHS at my dad's house and I was so upset when one of the guys walks out to fight in the gladiatorial ring and just before he goes out, he pisses himself, and I I was so upset for how scared that guy was. I think I just disassociated for the rest of the movie.
I've watched it since, but on this watch, I was just blown away by the violence and also like, as a horror fan, how inventive it is, Like Ridley Scott's like, really, what are the craziest ways that people could die in the Roman Empire? We're gonna do tiger fight shooting like huge steaks into people's chests from shields. Yeah, Like I'm gonna catapult a glass ball full of fire like a hyper Molotov cocktail. Like there's so much invention in this movie.
When it comes to that and it is my little crew. We always talk about like a dude's rock movie, and this is definitely in that vein. Oh, this is a dude's a rockin.
This is a dude's being dudes hanging out with dudes type movie where their dudes come together as a team to accomplish the goal of reforming.
Their rob That shit hit me really really hard when I was rewatching it this morning. One because I love Gime Hansu, who's so fantastic love. But also I have to say, for such a violent movie that seems to have a pretty simple premise, it actually does a really interesting job of crafting those male friendships, those male connections, the way that these men come together against the face of this evil, maniacal sociopath leader of Rome. This movie
hit a lot harder for me this time. I'm really glad that we're talking about it.
It has a what I consider to be an iconic soundtrack by Hans zimmer Yes that I still listen to, particularly when I'm on a walk or running or trying.
Is really good walking music, main character musicastic.
This is the breakout role for Russell Crowe, who got the role off The Power of his performance in La Confidential, where he plays a extremely angry cop, and looking back at this movie after my now billion three watch, the thing I like about Russell Crowe in this movie is he looks like obviously he looks quite fit and big, but he's also it's not the eighties and nineties where guys were like no Sylvester Stallone Schwartz in it.
And it's not like the MCU where you've got do the diet.
Like yeah, he looks like just a guy.
He looks like a guy who could probably win in a fight.
And I love that about this people. So Russell Crowe plays Maximus Decimus Meridius, a general the Roman Army currently on campaign in Germania. It is one eighty a d in the Emperor Marcus Aurelius's reign is coming to an end. He's quite old, and his campaign against the Germans is also coming to an end. With this victory at Vinda Bona, it appears that the Roman Empire's northern border will be solidified.
Marcus Aurelius is so taken by maximus goodness, his loyalty, his dedication, his low family, his love of family, his rejection of power. He really just wants to like get this war done with and go home. He doesn't want a politic in Rome. He doesn't want to do any of that kind of stuff. And Mark this is so impressed by this that he decides to overstep his own son, the extremely immoral Commonists, and raise up Maximists in his stead. But unfortunately he makes the grave mistake.
Rosie, why does he do that?
Grave?
Why does he do that?
Grave?
Your son is evil, bro Like, don't do that.
Of telling his son alone. Don't, of course tell him, but you gotta tell him in this take your door, yeah, in the presence of your daughter and your guards and probably Maximus, and just say, hey, Commonist, here's what's up. You're not gonna be emperor. It's gonna be Maximus. Does everybody see this?
And guess what though, You're still gonna be living the life of luxury. Yes, nothing bad's gonna happen to you. You just don't have to be in control.
Commonists played with wonderful beta energy from Jaque Phoenix break.
Out role really here for Joaquin in this terrifying, terrify, terrifying. It's kind of like, well, if Caligula was an Inceel it's this really specific enjoyment of violence and cruelty. Yeah, but he's got this sniveling there's a weakness, hatred and resentment and weakness. Yea. The ironically is just of his own making.
And it makes him so effective as a villain. This is a conversation I was having with my Coast of Six Trophies, Chase Rano. I think that there are basically three ways to do a great villain. I say two ways on that pod, but having thought about it, I think there's three ways.
Tell me what you think exclusive third way?
Right? I think that the first way is even match Batman and the Joker. They're evenly matched in different ways, and it's a twelve round about the whole way through who's gonna win? Second way is overpowering villain Darth Vader. Right, he's so powerful and so scary Michael Myers, Sadie always come back. You just don't understand how the hero could possibly beat this person. How could they do it? This villain is so scary. And then the third way, which they do here is weak villain who has all the
cards in his favor. He's the leader of Rome, he's got the army in his disposal. He's got any number of minions that will do his will. But at the same time, if you go one on one versus the hero, there's no way this guy wins. Yeah, because he's such a coward. He's weak. And I think that is so effective in this movie, because you just are like, God, let Maximus get this guy one on one.
Yeah, I know, right, And every time something I think Ridley Scott does incredibly well narratively. Here he sets up multiple moments where you think he will be able to do it, but then something happens. A child attends, there's gods, there's he misses the moment, commodist stands up, and they really have you like chomping at the bit, like just
fucking get this guy. But I think you're right. I think that's a really great read on those three and I bet you and Shae could do a great little mini book about that, like how to make a great villain. But also as well, I think for me, this is the scariest type of villain, and I think because it
is relatable, I agree to real life. It's also a nightmare scenario where like the guy who bullied you at school is the guy in charge gets all the power in the world and is in charge, but never changes, never grows, never learns anything, and instead is just so furious and resentful that all they can do is just create more cruelty.
Maximus refuses to serve Commonists, who he suspects of killing Marcus, and so Commonists basically says, well, this guy's gonna die. He orders Maximus's execution, and he orders the execution of his entire family. But Maximus escapes. Oh and he rides his horse from Germania to Spain, which I will talk about later. How long that probably took.
Yes, let's put like an asterisk like that, because we are definitely going to be doing some extra vision of footnotes, because that's a really good point. Is he Also something that I've found really profound about this segment of the movie, especially as it moves on, is you see Marcus's second in command, Brutus, who's been there, who's been his ally, who's been on the war with him, he just turns on him and he's like, chopped this motherfucker's head off.
Immediately is like I can see which way the wind is blowing, I'm going that way.
And that lack of loyalty is becomes so profound when he then finds this community in the gladiatorial realms of fighting, and I just thought that hits so hard. And also this is one of my favorite parts where they're walking him and he's gonna escape and it's cold, it's really cold, and the guy tries to pull out the sword to kill him and it gets stuck in Maximus goues sometimes they get stuck in the cold and then just kills
them all because he has the moment. And that's when you realize that this has almost like a proto John Wick element to it, where it's like Maximus is like a very good fighter, he's a killing machine and also crazy in of deaths. In this moment as well, like you already see what this man can do, just and throwing swords.
On the like on the movie.
He throws the sword at him and hits him in the chest. I was like screaming. I was like, put this back in the fit as guys the modern cinema audience would be like yelling and yelling.
After his epic ride, he is exhausted and he finds that his wife and child have been executed and his farm is burned and now exhausted by his journey, he collapses where he's found by slave traders who take him to North Africa. He wakes up there. He's also was
injured when he escaped the Praetorian guards. He's got this nasty injury, and when he comes to he realizes that he is at a gladiatorial school, basically where they take these enslaved folks and then make them fight for the entrainment of people out here in the provinces of North Africa. Guess what Maximus is good at. That he's really good.
At and also because he has history as a soldier and as a lieutenant and stuff. Sorry if I got the wrong name wrong, but basically as a leader, right, he trains his fellow gladiators in how to protect themselves and how to fight together and win against these ever growing threats that they throw into the ring. I have to say, I just thought this was like an exceptionally
cool and interesting take. You know, we're recording this on Wednesday, November six, so I think I was moved by some of the moments of solidarity and community that they find. And also I just thought it's unexpected when you think about movies about men and the idea of lone wolf heroes. But Maximus actually saves himself by helping other people and teaching them how to save themselves, and I thought that
was It's really interesting and cool. And in one of the earliest fights, we get what is maybe my favorite fight in the movie, which is when Maximus and the character played by jam and Hansuba Juba they're chained together and they have to fight, and it's so amazing to see the way that they learn each other's moves on the go. It's you and you are just rooting for
them instantly. It's really really cool. And also I have to I almost texted you this days, but I was like, this is going to be so out of context if I just randomly text you this. I was watching this movie and I was like, man, I love Oliver Reed in this. I fucking love Oliver Reed. Oliver Reed Proximo the leader of the kind of gladiator.
Guys during the movie, and they have to do some CG stuff yea allow him to finish out his scenes.
And that was one of the first times I think they really did.
One of the first times that was done, and it was done quite seamlessly for the day. Even now watching that scene, it works, It doesn't bump at all, and he is just chewing the scenery.
I love his energy. I feel like you need something like that in one of these movies because if you think back to the movies that this hearkens back to, right, like Spartacus, those Sword and Sandals esque era movies, even like Lawrence of Arabier Eve, like just movies that old
Hollywood epic scale. You're going to have at least one scene Chua and I feel like Oliver Reed is delivering in this role and it's kind of amazing to see that against Jaimon and Russell, who are just doing these really like straight down the line serious performances where you really believe they have to survive.
Maximus and the team, because of their success out here in North Africa get taken by Proximo to Rome. They called up to the big leagues, and there takes place my favorite fight, Rosie, which is the fight in which they are cast as the barbarian, these Hannibal's barbarians that are supposed to lose the climactic battle between Rome and Carthage, I think the Third Punic War or whatever, and instead they turn the table. I love this because it gets them all to work as a team. He's like, has
anybody been here in the army? One guy's like, I fought with you, and he says, Okay, here's how we're going to do it.
And he understands the Battle of Carthage and what happens, so he can basically use his knowledge to defeat. Yeah, that is one of the coolest moments. I also love how this is one of the moments I think Ridley Scott does so well in this movie that often we don't get nowadays in like a historical epic, the moment when everyone in the audience is like cheering for them and the gladiators start to realize that they won, and you get these looks on the face of like pure joy.
And actually when they first go to Rome, there's this really great, slightly dated but in a way that I really love bit that Ridley Scott does where he overlays all different people like cheering and talking and it feels very very nineties, but it just fits so well. Like it's ironic because there is a lot of violence in this movie, but it's classical Hollywood energy. Does give me like a kind of nostalgic feel. If this comes on TV, I will always just put it on.
There's a great moment in this fight where Hagen, who is the big german guy, yeah, who doesn't immediately warm to Maximus. Certainly during the time that they were at the gladiator school, he's always been like, Hagen's a huge, muscly guy, and I think he in some way looks at Maximus and is like I could do what you're doing, Like whatever.
What can you do?
And so he goes off on his own to try and fight, separate from the group, and Maximus risks his life to save him after he's injured, brings him back.
Yeah.
And it's that moment that seals Hagen's loyalty to Maximus and shows the value of everybody working to so they win this exactly. They win this massive fight. Commonists comes down, everybody's cheering, and Communist loves to be popular, so he comes down to meet the gladiators.
He's like, these guys seem cool. I should get them on my side. That definitely couldn't be any weird connection between us.
Yeah, And it's there that Maximus reveals his identity, which how many people could you think could actually hear it in the arena, Like, definitely the people right on the ground, but I don't think that.
But otherwise, no one else, no one else, You're just hearing cheering, scream people taking bets. I also love this because this is another great moment in the woaquin Phoenix kind of weak villain. He gets himself into this problem because Maximus is happy to not reveal his identity, right, He's got his little MF Doom mask on, he's hiding, and.
He makes him do it. He's like, hey, he makes him.
Do it, and then it's like, okay, bro, okay, you're setting yourself up for a very big issue here, especially because obviously your sister Lucilla played by Connie Nielsen the Legend, she is a fan of Maximus and she thinks he's dead, and nobody else is gonna be on your side if you want to get rid of this man who knows what you did, and obviously he does.
Yeah.
Commonist then really really wants to order the execution of all of these gladiators, including uh Maximus who spurred him.
He's trying to do the thumbs down kill us.
But again, he loves being popular and everybody, and he can tell the crowd would immediately be really upset if they did that, so he very begrudgingly goes thumbs up.
Yeah, that must have been the hardest thumbs up that man had ever done in his life. He was resembling.
He was very resentabul This leads to one of the funniest scenes I think in the entire movie, where they immediately smashed cut commonist. It is palous and he's just like, oh, oh my goodness, him, what are we gonna do? This is so sad about crying.
And you know what's really interesting is, like I think it's a very interesting performance by Waki and who really goes very hard on the villainy of it all. Because actually this scene which is hilarious and I was cracking up, But like, if you read this scene a different way, or you had a different act to portray it, this could be a scene that would give you empathy towards this Carria who, no matter what he does, he's never good enough for his dad, he's never good enough for
his people. Everyone else always comes above him. There's a version of this character who that at least a certain part of the audience would find relatability in but Joaquin allows none of that. He is like, I'm going to make this the most vile, hateful, loser character. And he does a great job, honestly, and you just won't hand. You're like, everybody conspire to get this motherfucker out because he is not the one so communist.
Then sets up a rigged fight that Maximus has to take part in against the retired greatest gladiator ever and there's tigers that are waiting to attack him in the moment he steps outside of the squared circle, but hears anyway.
This is that stuff where I think when you think about Gladiator, where when they're having this kind of climactic fight and the rose petals are falling. Yeah, that's the kind of stuff that Ridley Scott does well. I mean, I'm very excited for Gladiator too, because I've seen some hilarious Ridley Scott quotes. Because in the trailer they teased that they flood the Colosseum and then the historians, since historians were like, this wouldn't happen, and then this is
what Ridley Scott said. He said, if they can build the Colosseum, they can flood it, and find a couple of sharks. That's what he said, and I was like, yes, Ridley Scott, I want to see Prescal punching a shark. I really do that cinema to me.
As Maximus's popularity grows, a cadre of disgruntled senators who want to return Rome back to the Republic that it once was, basically conspire with Maximus to try and elevate him and bring back the Republic. Before any of that can happen, Communist sets up the big fight between him personally and Maximus.
Absolutely unbelievable gumption.
What told you?
How did you ever think this was gonna work? Bro? Of all the terrible plans in Hollywood movies, this is probably the worst plan. I get it, you want to look like you're stronger than him, But to me, I'm like, my guy, just get some more gladia as somebody can kill him, like someone can do it.
Yes, somebody will eventually, and then.
You can go down and chop off his head or whatever you want to do. But this was a terrible plan, Commodist. It was always going to end badly for you.
Before the fight, you know, he's got Maximus chained up and he's telling him we're gonna fight, but then he like stabs him in the armpit a wound, like a steadily bleeding wound from which and obviously disabled slowly die. Yeah. They go into the ring and there's Maximus. He's wounded, but he manages to fucking beat commedists. Yeah, and he dies on the floor of the arena with his old lieutenant and Connie Nielsen and the body of the Emperor next to him and all these other people watching, and.
He can see the afterlife and he's thinking about his family. He's walking back in to.
The afterlife and that actually you mentioned it, the fwalling petals. There's all these moments. This is why Ridley Scott is Realley Scott. There's all these poetic moments that enhance the vibe, oh yeah, the charm and the themes of the movie. And one of those is this scene that was actually filmed by Russell Crows stunt double, the scene of like touching the wee.
Yeah yeah, yeah.
He saw at one point Ridley saw this guy doing this and was like, get the steady cam and follow this guy. That's a cool oh.
Wow, And that became such a huge image.
To touch back on and It's this moment of a wonderful spirituality that is threaded throughout the film, and it gives the film the weight. It's the beyond, just like a John Wick this guy Kills Everybody type of movie.
Also as well, I think that it is a rare kind of hopefulness for a movie like this, because you're going for the tragic ending. Maximus dies, but the end of.
The movie they do not overthrow the rumin Emperor.
Shocks. But the most important thing is not the fact that Lucilla recognizes him as a hero in Rome and they try and regain their freedom. The most important thing is you get to see him walking back to his family. Another one of the scenes that just devastated me when I saw this as a kid was when he goes back to his family, he sees their like burnt feet
where they've been hanged. And but yes, I really love that if you watch the movie and you watch the brutality and you follow this story, you actually get to see him reunite with them in that same space, in this kind of almost like black and white limon or space that Ridley created. And I think that's very rare for a movie like this to have that poetic nature, that spirituality, that moment of hope, of like, actually he does get to do the thing that he wanted the most,
we don't snatch it away from him. His death is not the end, it's actually the beginning. I think that's very beautiful. I will also say as well, I like your use of the term poetic because in that moment when he's Maximus is on the floor and he is struggling to breathe and Lucilla's looking down on him, the color of the sky behind her is just the brightest blue, the brightest blue you've ever seen. Like, the way that
he uses color and con trass is so interesting. And also, you know what, Jaimenhns, who's there at the end, Jubi is there. You know I would have watched Gladiator two with him. We're gonna talk about the many Gladiator two options, actually because I'm obsessed with one of them. But yeah, what a movie. I'm actually so so glad that we got to revisit this because I don't know in twenty twenty four, Man, this just hit so hard for me and just spoke to me as a fun like dude's
rock bros hanging out almost slice of life. Like a lot of times they're just like, this is what it's hanging out the life of a gladiator. It's like a lot of this movie is actually like very character based, very slow, lots of waiting, lots of talking, lots of not even much scheming or plotting. More just like we might die what is important to you? And I think that's really really cool and actually unusual and makes the
film age well. Also visually it looks so good. I feel like if the kids on TikTok and it's watch this movie, I feel like they're gonna do like comparisons between how washed out modern cinema looks and the like absolute saturated, beautiful color, big colors. Yes, is so appealing to watch. Ridley Scott, you did it man, this is a.
Well this is two thousand and it's on film correct.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's And that's why it looks so good. Yeah, I mean it's beautiful.
That'll lead us to Gladier two, which is set fifteen years after the events of the original film and is focused on the adventure of the son of Lucilla played by Connie Nilsen, the nephew of Commedis.
Who is the main part of this movie, he is essentially commedist almost uses him as like a human shield. Most times we see him brought out as if he's worried, he wants to look good, but he doesn't really care about him. But Lucias did grow up in this very royal regal household, so I'm very interested to see how they set it up where he ends up in a similar situation. Because also something I want to say about
this movie that I do also love. I love Alexander Dumas, and I love the Count of Montey Cristo, and this is essentially a Count of Monty Cristo's story, revenge story. It's like and also the idea that you can rise up the ranks and hide your identity until you need to reveal it and get your revenge, just very Count of Monty Cristo.
Early superhero archetype.
But yeah, so he's gonna be basically he loved Maximus and now that's gonna be the person who's fighting his way up through the trials. Jason, I got to ask you an important question. Yes, does Paul Mescal have the juice?
We were gonna fuck, We're gonna find out, We're gonna apparently they're saying that he has the juice. He's the juice. Here's your top ten movies of the year two thousand. Number one Mission Impossible Too, John wu.
Probably lots of slow mo.
Lots of SlowMo. Sadly one of the weakest. I think, Oh it is.
It's a Vibes movie, and you can enjoy a Vibes movie, but it's definitely not the high point of a very very high point filled franchise.
That made half a billion dollar. Number two Gladiator. There we are just under half a billion dollars. Number three Castaway, Oh incredible Tour de fource by Tom Hanks, who's basically in that movie alone.
That is another movie. I will say, even though it's just him and his beach ball, his football, I should say that is a dude's rock movie. Dudes love Costaway and they love to see this dude just chill him on his own on the Costaway Beach.
Number three What Women Want starring the terrible Awful Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The Wonderful Helen Hunt, The Wonderful Mersey Tome, in which mel Gibson can hear women's thoughts.
Creepy.
Next up, Dinosaur, Oh, Dinosaur DNA. We've never spoken about Dinosaur the movie ever.
Ever. The only reason that it's still relevant to people is it has a very terrifying ride in Animal Kingdom that has traumatized many people, which I believe they're about to take away. So good on Dinosaur. Who knew that that was one of the top five biggest movies. I would never have seen it coming.
Next Jim Carrey, Oh, how the Grinch Stole Christmas? Number six, the.
Loved Christmas movie. Still people love it to this day.
Number seven, and you forget what a huge smash this was and the sequels that came from it. Meet the Parents, Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller.
Dude, that was a time when a mid range comedy could become a full quadrant success.
Yes, could be the number seven movie for the year. Wow. Number eight The Perfect Storm, Oh my Gosh, starring a Wahlberg and Clooney and about the fishing boat that goes up the wave CG Wave, The CG Wave. I saw it in the theater and I thought, what was what's the fuss about?
What's the fuss about? It's just okay?
Number nine, Get this X Men. Number nine what imagine that?
What turn around for the books, especially because X Men was still seen as a massive success.
That's right, and number ten rounding out the top ten, Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, What Lies Beneath?
Okay, I love that movie. I love a good weird eroic thrill.
I do like that movie as well.
Wow, what crazy year, and honestly Gladiates to be up there. I'm glad that people went to see it.
Other notable films of that period Crashing Tiger, Oh Hidden, Dragon Love.
It should have been on that Love that traffic, Oh.
Love It almost famous, bombed at the theater, but cleaned up critically.
Became a full cult classic.
Aaron Brockovich, Julia Roberts has come Back.
That's a truly groundbreaking movie for ha and also just for like the waste in a mock perceived like a true story movie. So that's huge.
And file this one under another movie that they don't make any more, wonder Boys. Oh wow, the Curtis Hansen Steve Cloves production. That's I think one. An Oscar for Best Original Song, starring Michael Douglas and a young Tobey Maguire has his kind of acolyte, who loves Michael Douglas, who plays an author his writing. Next up, Rome Facts.
Welcome back, and it's time for Rome Facts Room facts in the omnip Facts about Rome.
This is what men love. They love a fact about Jack And how often do you think about the Vermin Empire a little bit.
I'm looking back at my I'm looking back at my bookshelf right now. There's a recent book on the history of Ravenna, which became the second capital of the Western Roman Empire. There's a bunch of other stuff, the history of Byzantine emperors. I think about it a bit as a person who loves history.
You are history love.
I'm a history lover. So let's start at the very beginning for Rome. You know what I love. I love foundational myths.
Oh yeah, and love a good man.
And Rome has a really cool foundational myth. They thought of their history as like part legend and part history,
which is really cool. According to Roman foundational myth, one day during the reign of the seventh and last King of Rome, Tarquinis, tarquin Is the star Wars fans now came before the king, and she had nine big books of Greek oracular poetry, which she offered to the king at like an insane price, like whatever, like the GDP of Rome for a year like this was when Rome was just like a middling kingdom, not a big deal. But she offered it to them at like a price
that would bankrupt the kingdom. The King's like, no, are you kidding? It's too much.
Get away, I don't need these books.
She goes off, burns three of the books, comes back with six, and says, here's the six remaining books for the original price. The king refused again, but this time he was a little concerned.
He was stress.
He's like, hold on a second, Okay, I'm still gonna decline it.
It seems like maybe something is important in these maybe she goes off.
She burns three more books, comes back with the remaining three, again offering at the original break the bank price. Now the king, probably very anxiously, goes to the priests and says, hey, what do we do about this? These books? Do we need these books? The priests are absolutely alarmed that six of the books have already been burned and says buy them. Let over the price, buy them. So Tarkanis buys the books, and they contained We actually don't know what the prophecies.
Were, how they the text didn't like survive, that's.
Right, But it's generally thought that the poems were in hexamin or Greek verse, and then written in an acrostic form where the first letter of each line read down vertically down spelled the first line of the prophecy. And these prophecies dealt with things like twins are born, or a calf with two heads are born, or there's wildfires a comet, and when Rome would face an emergency, they would go down. These were kept in the temple of Jupiter.
We know they really existed because they were kept in secrecy for hundreds of years, and only they were a state secret, and they were referenced like when Rome really needed them, so they would go down. The priests would go down there and look up the thing in the book and see what the prescription would be, and it would be some sort of ritual that would offset disaster. Now we again we know that they really existed. They were kept under the temporal of Jupiter until they were
destroyed by a fire in a three BC. And this tells you how valuable the Romans considered these books. They then sent emissaries out all across the known world looking for copies of the books, and one of the ways they were able to kind of in their minds authenticate like the real pages was if they were also acrostic. Yeah, so they were prioritizing other acrostic poetry from books that were similar, and they kind of reassembled the tone, but that they were lost for good, like in the fifth
century sometime they were burned again. Wild, Let's talk about emperors. There's a lot of emperor talk. Let's go down the line with the emperors.
If you've ever read like a history book or even just Greek and Rahman myth. So you've watched the movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Darren come up in Gladiate Away, You're like, oh, I understand as a real history. That's the hang out passed. So Jason tell us some emperor fact Emperor facts.
We start with the first emperor ever, Augustus, the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He ascended in twenty seven BC and basically Rome was still used to the Senate playing an important role in political life, and so Augustus slow played it. He accrued power very gradually, and he didn't put himself forward as an emperor. He basically said, no, I'm just a senator, but I'm like kind of the best one. But I'm still part of the Senate.
I mean, it's the chill guy, but I am in control.
That's right. He died of old age, and then his adopted son Tiberius came in. This is fourteen eighty to thirty seven eighty that he reigned. He was a general, he was an abled diplomat. The Senate really didn't like him for various reasons, and he spent his last years basically in seclusion on his estate on the island of Capri. If you read people who really hated him from that period, he was doing all kinds of perverted in evil things
on the island of Capri. We don't know if that was true, but he left romean control of his top assistant during this time, and then he died.
I just want to say, as well, Augustus, shout out to you, because it's very rare that you get to live and die of old age in ancient Rome.
In this format. That's true.
Julius Caesa stabbed obviously. I just want to say, I think you did a good job of Augustus Tiberius, I probably should have done a little bit more leading, a little bit less chilling on your weird island.
And by the way, there's a lot of Roman emperors, some of which have been forgotten and some of which are like recently discovered, like oh, here's a guy that reigned for a little while. Anyway. Next up Caligula, son of the famed Roman general Germanicus, who that was the honorific name given to him. His name was like Gaius, something like they all are, but he went to Germany and had many great victories, and so they named in Germanicus.
His wife was Agrippina, Augustus's granddaughter as z Agrippina the elder, So Coligilia is their son. And his name is actually a nickname because his name also is like Gaya Caesar or whatever, and it meant little boots, and it's a reference to the little soldiers boots kids size soldier's boots that he would wear when he was on campaign with Dad. The soldiers gave him this nickname and it stuck. He went insane with power and was assassinated by an alliance.
Did the craziest, wildest stuff.
He just went mad, If.
You've never seen the movie Caligula, there was a recent four K re released very good.
Caligula tried to, according to a probably a Procerpal story, tried to elevate his horse in status to senatorial ring.
I gotta say that's hilarious, though, thanks for the jokes on that one. I mean, not sensible, but.
Hilarious praturing guards and other power players assassinated him and proclaimed Claudius, yes, the next emperor. Claudius was sidelined. Watch I Claudius for another great movie about this. Was sidelined and underestimated for most of his life because he had a lisp and a limp, and these physical disabilities basically made him look weak in everybody's mind. This is probably
why he survived as long as he did. The Praetorian Guard, according to legend, found him hiding behind a drape after they killed Caligula, and as the last surviving member of the Julia Claudian family, they immediately were like, okay him, Harry is the emperor and they proclaimed emperor, probably thinking this guy's going to be very controllable. Claudius, it turned out, was good at the job, but he had a lot
of enemies. The Senate was always on his ass, and his wife Agrippina the Younger uh uh also somehow a granddaughter of Augustus, who is one of the most influential women of the age. Apparently, according to legend Lanny contemporarious sources, allegedly poisoned him so that her son stepson Nero could take over Nero. You probably know that, Pela.
That's why I was gonna say, you're getting into some famous empress head. I feel like people will recognize you.
Probably know Nero. Nero gradually turned the empire against him because he became insane and created an extreme personality cult around himself.
Well, he is the one who was very famous that when the Great Fire Room happened, they say he was like playing a fiddle.
That's right. The Great Fire Rome happened on his watch, burned a huge portion of the city. The fiddle, by the way, was not invented during this time. Yeah, so it was apar Yeah, but it gives you an idea of how people viewed him, which is like this tyrant who didn't care.
He was like a pan style like chaos mango.
Yeah. Eventually he turned everyone against him to such a degree that the senate sentenced him to death, and everybody abandoned him, and he realized the end was near, but he didn't have the courage to take his own life, so he ordered like his servant to kill him, and they stabbed him, and then he bled out and died. That led to the chaos known as the Year of the Four Emperors from sixty eight to sixty nine, when four different emperors reigned for a few months each. First
there was Galba, who's too old, too passive. He was murdered by Atho. Then there was Atho, who committed suicide after losing to Vitellius in battle. Then there was Vitellius, whoigs executed by a Vespasian after getting into a war with Vespasian. And then there was vespace And who ran things for a while. Vespatian was a soldier. He was one of these rags richest stories that kind of became more common. He was a late comer to public life. We don't have a lot of records of his time
as emperor. Reigned for ten years, but he's best known for beginning the construction of the famed Colisseum of Room. Then came his son Titus, He was ruler during the eruption of Mauna Vesuvius, which you've probably seen on the television series Loki.
Yeah, that's definitely where I not from.
Yeah, he is best known for finishing the Coliseum. You're not only ruled for two years before dying at forty one. I think a stroke or something I forget. Then came to a mission, also Vespatian's son. He was like a hardcore dictator and artocrat. He effectively sidelined the Senate, took all of its traditional and at that point the accouterments of their position that didn't really have any real power
but still were like culturally important. He stripped those things away as well, and that led to his assassination by a conspiracy of senators and other artificials.
So many assassinations, many many manuyes. This was a society that loved an assassination, loved it.
There's no other way to get the person out. Then came Nerva. This is the revenge of the Senate. So after the Senate had its power stripped away, the Senate went, oh, yeah, watch this, we proclaim this guy Emperor Nerva. Nerva then dutifully promised to return to the Senate all of its
traditional stuff, its power, and its influence. He was forced by the military, who did not trust him at all, to adopt an air from the military who adopted Trajan young general, who turned out to be his probably his best decision, because when Nerva died of a stroke less than two years later, Trajan ascended, and along with Nerva, Trajan became part of this era known as the Five Good Emperors, when they got five solid emperors in a row, who all except for Nerva, ruled for a long time.
So Trajan was considered by his contemporary and by historians of the age to be the goat. Like this guy's the greatest, Like oh, my god, Trajan. This is how he used to say of emperors that followed Trajan. May he be as lucky as Augustus and as good as Trajan. Because Trajan was so good. W Trajan grew the empire to its greatest geographical limit, and the Pax Romana, the fame Pox Romana, which is probably something you learned in school, begins, which is this piece of Rome that lasted like a
century plus. Then came Hadrian, Trajan's cousin basically said, okay, enough with the expanding. We're huge, We're a huge empire. Let's just defend these borders and solidify them. This gives us Hadrian's wall in northern England famous wall.
I've been the legendary.
He was a very active ruler. He visited almost every Roman province except we think the ones in Spain and then Dacia, which they had to give up and they died after twenty years in office. Wow, He's got that famous column which you can go see in Rome, which has a bunch of his feats and famously shows the sack of the Temple of Jerusalem. That gives Us Antoninus Pious, Adrian's adopted son, husband to his niece Faustina. He was an efficient ruler. He left the emperor rich. He died
after twenty two years in office. Everybody was happy. He was succeeded by his adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as co emperors. Oh interesting, Lucius Verus dies after nine years of co empering, and this allows Marcus Riis to become the sole emperor. As we see in this film, Marcus Aurelius the last of the five good emperors. We kind of forget about Lucius Verus as one of the
five good Emperors, and it's really about Marcus Aurelius. Of course, we see him in Gladiator, the wonderful Richard Harris in one of his final roles. He's just fantastic as Marcus. And Marcus Relius was a student of philosophy of the Greek school of Stoicism. He kept a journal of notes to himself, kind of like advice about how to rule and live wisely and honorably and with restraint, and these became collective in a book called the Meditations Marcus Relis's Meditations,
and there's still people that follow his philosophy today. It remains in circulation. He died after a very long ill illness, probably of natural causes, but there was some speculation at the time that he might have been killed by his son Communists, and it was cyinar a pax romana after that, because he was the last of.
The fires, was crazy.
He was crazy, and everybody after that was bad. So then comes Communists. He was co emperor for three years under his father, but then as his father died, he became the sole ruler and immediately became paranoid, dictatorial, increasingly megamoniacal, drunk on power of fame, he created a personality cult around himself which basically said that he was like the source of everything Roman. He was the epitome of pure Rome, and.
Everything that happened from Rome was from him.
All good things in Rome spraying from him. And this culminated in a slate of games for the public, the plebeing games during which in the mornings commonists would slay animals with arrows, and in the afternoon he would fight rigged gladiator man, which he always won.
Like we start in the movie.
That's all right, His mistress Marcia probably killed him with poison, we think, after she discovered the communists had like a death list at his desk, and.
Her name was on it, making like a death though, and he was like putting my wife on the end.
Put her on it. When the poison didn't take, Marsha's co conspirators sent Narcissus, the Emperor's wrestling coach, in to kill him.
Oh, incredibly, he died that.
Way, General Maximus, he's not a real guy, not a real guy. But let's talk about how long it would have taken him to ride that horse from Germaania. Okay, so according to what we know about Marcus Relius, historically he died in Vindebona, Germania, which they mentioned in the film several times. And you hear in that fight in the arena one of the soldier who says, I fought with you at Vinda Bona. That's that battle we see. Vinda Bona is basically around modern day Vienna. And Maximus
says at one point, I am Maximus Meridith. And he also tells Marcus that his home is in the hills above Truchillo, and that early scene, which is about fifty five kilometers about an hour driving distance from Mereda in Spain. So assuming that the farm homestead is like somewhere in that area Truhuilo Mereda, that's about a twenty six hour drive by car or a six day bike ride according
to Google a map. So if we say that a bike is about the same as riding a horse, which gets tired, and we can say that Maximus was going with great haste. So let's say I don't know four or five days, I'm sure the horse died right after this, I.
Would say that the horse is definitely dying. I would say maybe closer to a week because I don't know if the horse could keep it going at high speed the whole.
I agree with you. The course, I guess we could assume like he stole horses. Whatever the case.
Multiple it was dated several days time.
Yeah, Vienna to Spain. That's a long time last Gladator fact. Wow, as we get ready for Gladiator two, thank you famously, Now you're talking about stuff I know about. Yes famously
made script famously. Australian rock musician Nick Cave, best known for his group Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, mentioned on the Mark Marin podcast back in twenty thirteen that, apparently, at the personal request of his countryman Russell Crowe, he wrote a spec script for Gladiator two titled Gladiator two Gladiator two.
Christ Killer Yes, and it would have focused on I'm obsessed with this script. I've actually read some versions that are online of this script. It is based on the idea that Maximus would have to like fight his way out of hell, yes, to find a space where he could then kill like a god. And it's because he has to get his family out of hell or something I think was the general like.
Well, what happens is apparently what he says in this interview, is that the old gods are impressed with Maximus's death and the way he took on power, and so they go, Okay, you're the guy that we have hand picked for a
mission that we have specifically for you. You will return to life, you will fight your way out of hell, take over the body of apparently an old man, and then go and kill this guy named Hephestos, who is apparently like a messiah like christ like figure who the old guys were very threatened by, and they wanted Maximus to go kill that guy.
And so that's so good.
What a crazy story.
I have to tell you something, guys, that's even crazier, right. I actually thought that was the version of Gladiata two we were getting until the trailer came out. It has been such a big part of my life, this insane, unmade gladiat sequel. I thought, well, why would they make any other version? Now I will say something that makes it a little bit less crazy, And if you haven't seen this movie, go watch it. Nick Cave is actually
a fantastic film writer. In two thousand and five, he wrote this movie called The Proposition with Guy Piss and Ray Winston and Danny Houston, and it's about a guy who is a notorious outlaw and he gets caught by a law man and they say, okay, we'll let you go if you go and find your brother and kill him because he is a really bad guy. And if you don't do it, we'll execute your younger brother. And it is so interesting. It's such a weird Western. I
used to watch it all the time. But yeah, Nick Cave, He's written interesting, weird, dark films, so I definitely thought there was a world where somebody would want to make Gladiator to Christ Killer. Alas that is not the movie. We're getting there. I have to say, at this point in Russell Crowe's career, I believe he would be in
that movie. Have you seen The Pope's Exorcist? I believe Russell Crowe would fight his way out of hell in the gladiat But yeah, Jason, thank you for this incredible ride through Roman history.
Well thank you, And on the next couple of episodes of Export Vision, we're diving into our Kane season two, Act two and doing prophecy on HBO Max. That's it through this episode. Thanks for listening, folks. Bite x Ray Vision is hosted by Jason Kencepcion and Rosie Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive producers are Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer is a Boo Zafar. Our producers are Carmen Laurent and Mia Taylor. Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Laude, Kenny Goodman and Heidi A disco moderata