This was the picture I had been going to put up before, to go with the post just below this one--itself reconstructed from one accidentally destroyed earlier. (Are you following this?) Actually, at one time, there was a real purpose for my including the picture from Gladiator--i.e., other than pleasing those readers who might want to look at the volatile Mr. Crowe--and that was to say that as someone who had just finished writing a three-volume ancient history not long before seeing the movie, I was impressed by its historical accuracy.

Yes, the filmmakers seemed to imply that printing existed in Roman times when they showed what looks like a printed flyer promoting gladiatorial games, and worse, the movie is built around the idea that Roman civilization was somehow restored in c. A.D. 200, when in fact that's when it began its terminal decline. But there were no stirrups on the horses (these did not appear until c. 450), and the story fit plausibly with real events (e.g., that Commodus really did want to be a gladiator.) Furthermore, when you compare it to a piece of pure cheese like ABC's Empire is likely to be, then you can really appreciate how great Gladiator was.