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| Question concerning a hole in the story line of Gladiator Posted by tigerfan in bamaland Why did Commodus have Maximus' family executed? What was the point?  on 5/3 at 12:36 amfwiw IRL I doubt he would have wasted time or resources doing this because I dont believe it would have served any purpose. The entire story hinges on this one act and to me, it seems pretty thin. If he doesnt have the family executed, then the rest of the story never happens.  Reply • Back to Top |
| It was customary to seize all property of a family if the person was treasonous to the empire. Antony and Octavian had thousands of people put to death when they were trying to consolidate power post-Caesar. Not sure if that really answers your question. I've never thought of it as anything unusual. Reply • Back to Top |
quote: He was a dick. quote: It's not like it would have taken special forces to kill one woman and a kid. Reply • Back to Top |
quote: true but they had to go to Spain to do it and they slaughtered everyone, servants, and all. It just seemed a little contrived. It was just a woman and a kid and they weren't even Roman. If he wanted to seize the property, why kill the slaves? Joaquin did do a good job with the crazy, incestuous, power-mad, emperor role. Reply • Back to Top |
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| Romans were already in Spain. Likely just sent a messenger and dispatched local forces. Reply • Back to Top |
quote: Came out 12 years ago!  I'm getting old and I hate it.Reply • Back to Top |
| He was labeled a traitor and that would have been common practice for that time Reply • Back to Top |
| You kill the kid so he doesn't grow up and seek revenge. Also killing wife and servants was meant to send a message to other traitors. Fear is a powerful motivator Reply • Back to Top |
| Yeah I was thinking the same. Sending a message to others seems logical. Since Maximus was so revered by the military it may have had the opposite effect as intended. Reply • Back to Top |
quote: You're welcome...   Reply • Back to Top |
quote: The main reason is that he was an a-hole and he was trying to be a dick. But also it was because of his lifelong jealousy of Maximus that his own father loved Maximus more than he loved him. Also, Maximus knew something was up because he knew what Marcus Aurelius wanted and then Commodus comes strolling out talking about how he is the new emperor. So Commodus ordered Maximus and his family to be killed. If I remember right, Maximus only discovers his family being killed because he escaped his own execution in the woods. Had everything gone to to plan, Maximus and his family would've been killed and Commodus would've emperored his arse off with no interruption. Reply • Back to Top |
| the ages in the left-hand column don't correspond correctly. i'll be 28 in a couple of months and i remember the release of every one of the movies. Reply • Back to Top |
| +1 Literally wiping every trace of him off the earth. Would have been common to scratch traitor's names or images off public buildings as well. Reply • Back to Top |
| They did it so Crowe could deliver his climactic speech and win an Oscar Reply • Back to Top |
quote: This was actually a common practice in Roman times. You don't want the kid growing up and seeking revenge, or a group of people who despise you still alive and kicking and possibly conspiring against you. Rome was a hotbed of intrigue. Hell, the Italian mafia continued the Roman traditions for generations. In fact, look at the story line in the Godfather. Vito Corleone escaped the murder attempt from Don Ciccio by going to America, after Ciccio had killed his entire family. So what does Vito do? He bides his time and eventually kills Ciccio in his own villa. Ciccio wanted to kill the Andolini children because he knew they would some day come back on a vendetta. This post was edited on 5/3 at 9:29 am Reply • Back to Top |
Posted by JabarkusRussell on 5/5 at 7:47 pm to DvlsAdvocat Hey, if James Earl Jones would have done this, Hercules wouldn't have beheaded his ass.Reply • Back to Top |
| How did the Praetorian Guard guys and a little later Maximus get there so fast? Wouldn't it have taken months the get there? Reply • Back to Top |
| The soldiers were local but a messenger would still need to travel the same distance. Perhaps there was a network of messengers which means they could travel much faster over shorter distances. Google maps says walking from Vienna Austria, which is the modern location of the battle and Cáceres, Spain which is the modern location of Maximus home, it would take 13 days 7 hours and for some reason includes a ferry ride. The driving route (1,713 mi) avoids the ferry and it would take 1 day 2 hours. The average gait of a horse trotting is 8 mph and at a cantor is 13 mph, so average that at around 10 mph, then the trip by horse would have taken approximately 7 days without stopping. I am not sure a horse could run for 7 days without stopping and live. I am sure I spent too much time on this but its raining and its Sunday. Commodus was an arse and I realize that killing entire families was a practice employed on political enemies. So there it is, thanks. Reply • Back to Top • Refresh |
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