Yes, many of the characters in ‘Gladiator’ and its new sequel are based on actual figures from ancient Rome Just as Joaquin Phoenix played Commodus, an actual Roman emperor, in the 2000 hit starring ...

Fearsome Roman gladiators dueling for the entertainment of a roaring amphitheater looms large in the cultural imagination, perhaps now more than ever with Ridley Scott’s blockbuster Gladiator sequel, ...

For those who are about to dive into Gladiator II feeling foggy about where the first film left off, director Ridley Scott salutes you with a pithy animated opening-credit sequence recapping the saga ...

(CN) — A skeleton found in a Roman cemetery in York offers the first physical evidence of a gladiator fighting — and dying — in combat with a lion, or large cat. The research, published Wednesday in ...

The Colchester vase, crafted around A.D. 175, on display at Colchester Castle Museum in the U.K. Vivid depictions of battling gladiators on a clay vase are the first concrete evidence that these ...

Gladiator II might seem too wild to be believed — Colosseum rhinos and baboons and sharks, oh my! — but it’s based on real-life Roman history and people. Just as Joaquin Phoenix played Commodus, an ...