As the Romans moved through a Republic to an Empire, the Romans absorbed the Greek pantheon of pagan gods and goddesses, adopted foreign cults, practiced Emperor worship before finally embracing Christianity.
Though by some standards deeply religious, Ancient Romans approached spirituality and faith in a different manner to most modern believers.
Throughout its history, the concept of numen, an all pervasive divinity or spirituality, pervades Roman religious philosophy.
However, like many pagan faiths, success in Roman life was equated with having a good relationship with the Roman gods and goddesses. Maintaining this incorporated both mystical prayer and business-like sacrifices in exchange for material benefit.
The deities of Rome
Roman gods and goddesses fulfilled different functions corresponding to various aspects of life. There were many gods in Latium, the region in Italy where Rome was founded, some of which were Italic, Etruscan and Sabine.
In Roman belief, immortal gods ruled the heaven, Earth and the underworld.
As Roman territory grew, its pantheon expanded to include the pagan gods, goddesses and cults of newly conquered and contacted peoples, so long as they fit in with Roman culture.
Pompeian fresco; Iapyx removing an arrowhead from Aeneas’ thigh, watched by Venus Velificans (veiled)
Image Credit: Naples National Archaeological Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
For instance, Roman exposure to Hellenic culture via Greek presence in Italy and the later Roman conquest of the city-states of Macedonia and Greece caused the Romans to adopt many Greek myths.
The Romans also combined Greek deities with its own corresponding gods.
The major gods of Ancient Roman religion
The Roman pagan gods and goddesses were grouped in various ways. The Di Selecti were considered the 20 main gods, while the Di Consentes comprised the 12 major Roman gods and goddesses at the heart of the Roman Pantheon.
Though taken from the Greeks, this grouping of 12 Roman gods and goddesses has pre Hellenic origins, probably in the religions of peoples from the Lycian and Hittite regions of Anatolia.
The three main Roman gods and goddess, known as the Capitoline Triad, are Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The Capitoline Triad replaced the Archaic Triad of Jupiter, Mars and earlier Roman god Quirinus, who originated in Sabine mythology.
The gilt statues of the Di Consentes 12 adorned Rome’s central forum.
The six gods and six goddesses were sometimes arranged in male-female couples: Jupiter-Juno, Neptune-Minerva, Mars-Venus, Apollo-Diana, Vulcan-Vesta and Mercury-Ceres.
Below is a list Each of the following Di Consentes had a Greek counterpart, noted in parenthesis.
1. Jupiter (Zeus)
Supreme King of the gods. Roman god of the sky and thunder, and patron god of Rome.
Jupiter was a son of Saturn; brother to Neptune, Pluto and Juno, to whom he was also husband.
Wedding of Zeus and Hera on an antique fresco from Pompeii
Image Credit: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0
Saturn had been warned that one of his children would overthrow him and began swallowing his children.
On their release after a trick by Jupiter’s mother Opis; Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto and Juno overthrew their father. The three brothers divided control of the world, and Jupiter took control of the sky.
2. Juno (Hera)
Queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. Saturn’s daughter Juno was the wife and sister of Jupiter, and sister of Neptune and Pluto. She was the mother of Juventas, Mars and Vulcan.
Juno was patron goddess of Rome, but was also attributed with several epithets; amongst them Juno Sospita, protector of those awaiting childbirth; Juno Lucina, goddess of childbirth; and Juno Moneta, protecting the funds of Rome.
The first Roman coins were said to be minted in the Temple of Juno Moneta.
3. Minerva (Athena)
Roman goddess of wisdom, arts, trade and strategy.
Minerva was born of the head of Jupiter after he swallowed her mother Metis, having been told that the child he had impregnated her with could be more powerful than he.
Metis created commotion by making armour and weapons for her daughter inside of Jupiter, and the god demanded that his head be split open to end the noise.
4. Neptune (Poseidon)
Brother of Jupiter, Pluto and Juno, Neptune was the Roman god of freshwater and the sea, along with earthquakes, hurricanes and horses.
Neptune is often depicted as an older man with a trident, sometimes being pulled across the sea in a horsedrawn chariot.
Mosaic of Neptune (Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas, Palermo)
Image Credit: G.dallorto, CC BY-SA 2.5
5. Venus (Aphrodite)
Mother of the Roman people, Venus was the Roman goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, desire and prosperity, equal to her Greek counterpart Aphrodite.
She was also, however, goddess of victory and even prostitution, and patron of wine.
Venus was born from the foam of the sea after Saturn castrated his father Uranus into it.
Venus is said to have had two main lovers; Vulcan, her husband and the god of fire, and Mars.
6. Mars (Ares)
According to Ovid, Mars was son of Juno alone, as his mother sought to restore balance after Jupiter usurped her role as mother by giving birth to Minerva from his head.
Famously the Roman god of war, Mars was also guardian of agriculture and the embodiment of virility and aggression.
He was the Venus’ lover in adultery and the father of Romulus — founder of Rome and Remus.
7. Apollo (Apollo)
The Archer. Son of Jupiter and Latona, twin of Diana. Apollo was the Roman god of music, healing, light and truth.
Apollo is one of only a few Roman gods who kept the same name as his Greek counterpart.
Apollo, fresco from Pompeii, 1st century AD
Image Credit: Sailko, CC BY-SA 4.0
Emperor Constantine was said to have had a vision of Apollo. The Emperor used the god as one of his key symbols until his Christian conversion.
8. Diana (Artemis)
Daughter of Jupiter and Latona and twin of Apollo.
Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon and birth.
To some Diana was also considered to be goddess of lower classes, especially slaves, for whom her festival on the Ides of August in Rome and Aricia was also a holiday.
9. Vulcan (Hephaestus)
The Roman god of fire, volcanoes, metal work and the forge; maker of the weapons of the gods.
In some mythology Vulcan is said to have been banished from the heavens as a child because of a physical defect. Hidden in the base of a volcano he learnt his trade.
When Vulcan built Juno, his mother, a trap as revenge for his banishment his father, Jupiter, offered him Venus as a wife, in exchange for Juno’s freedom.
It was said that Vulcan had a forge under Mount Etna, and that whenever his wife was unfaithful, the volcano became volatile.
Because of his position as deity of destructive fire, Vulcan’s temples were regularly located outside cities.
10. Vesta (Hestia)
Roman goddess of hearth, home and domestic life.
Vesta was a daughter of Saturn and Ops and sister to Jupiter, Juno, Neptune and Pluto.
She was enshrined in the sacred and perpetually burning fire of the Vestal Virgins (all female and Rome’s only full-time priesthood).
11. Mercury (Hermes)
Son of Maia and Jupiter; Roman god of profit, trade, eloquence, communication, travel, trickery and thieves.
He is often depicted carrying a purse, a nod to his association with trade. He also often had wings, just as Hermes does in Greek mythology.
Mercury was a roman psychopomp, tasked with guiding the souls of the dead to the underworld.
When the nymph Larunda betrayed Jupiter’s trust by revealing one of his affairs to his wife, Mercury was to take her to the underworld. However, he fell in love with the nymph on route and she had two children by him.
12. Ceres (Demeter)
The Eternal Mother. Ceres is the daughter of Saturn and Ops.
She was the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain, women, motherhood and marriage; and the lawgiver.
It was suggested that the cycle of seasons coincided with Ceres’ mood. The months of winter were the period in which her daughter, Proserpina, was obligated to live in the underworld with Pluto, having eaten pomegranate, the fruit of the underworld.
Ceres’ happiness at her daughters return allowed plants to grow through spring and summer, but in autumn she began to dread her daughter’s absence, and plants shed their crop.
]]>However, facts about the much-maligned regent don’t always match up to his fictional portrayals.
Here are 5 myths about Richard III that are either inaccurate, unknowable or just plain untrue.
An engraving of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
1. He was an unpopular king
The impression we have of Richard as an evil and treacherous man with a murderous ambition mostly comes from Shakespeare. Yet he was probably more or less well liked.
While Richard was certainly no angel, he enacted reforms that improved the lives of his subjects, including the translation of laws into English and making the legal system more fair.
His defence of the North during the rule of his brother also improved his standing among the people. Furthermore, his assumption of the throne was approved by Parliament and the rebellion he faced was a typical occurrence for a monarch at the time.
2. He was a hunchback with a shrivelled arm
There are some Tudor references to Richard’s shoulders being somewhat uneven and the examination of his spine shows evidence of scoliosis – yet none of the accounts from his coronation mention any such physical characteristics.
More proof of posthumous character assassination are X-rays of portraits of Richard that show they were altered to have him appear hunchbacked. At least one contemporary portrait shows no deformities.
3. He killed the two princes in the Tower
Princes Edward and Richard.
After the death of their father, Edward IV, Richard lodged his two nephews — Edward the V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury — in the Tower of London. This was supposedly in preparation for Edward’s coronation. But instead, Richard became king and the two princes were never seen again.
Though Richard certainly had a motive to kill them, there has never been any evidence discovered that he did, nor that the princes were even murdered. There are also other suspects, such as Richard III’s ally Henry Stafford and Henry Tudor, who executed other claimants to the throne.
In the following years, at least two people claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, leading some to believe that the princes were never murdered.
4. He was a bad ruler
Like the claims of unpopularity, evidence does not support this assertion, which is mostly founded upon the opinions and contentions of the Tudors.
In fact, evidence suggests that Richard was an open-minded regent and talented administrator. During his brief reign he encouraged foreign trade and the growth of the printing industry as well as establishing — under his brother’s rule —the Council of the North, which lasted until 1641.
5. He poisoned his wife
Anne Neville was Queen of England for most of her husband’s reign, but died in March 1485, five months before Richard III’s death on the battlefield. By contemporary accounts, the cause of Anne’s death was tuberculosis, which was common at the time.
Though Richard grieved publicly for his deceased wife, there were rumours that he poisoned her in order to marry Elizabeth of York, but what evidence we have generally refutes this, as Richard sent Elizabeth away and even later negotiated for her marriage with the future King of Portugal, Manuel I.
]]>The Allied armies in western Europe lost momentum during Autumn 1944. Meanwhile, the German defence was being strengthened with reserves including the Volkssturm (home guard) and by troops who had managed to withdraw from France.
Delayed by two weeks as the Germans waited for their Panzer divisions and infantry formations to prepare, the operation began to the sound of 1,900 artillery guns at 05:30 on 16 December 1944 and ended on 25 January 1945.
Referred to by the Allies as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, the Battle of the Bulge was characterised by three main phases.
U.S. infantrymen (9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division) taking shelter from a German artillery barrage during the Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads in the Krinkelter woods on 14 December 1944 – shortly before the start of the Battle of the Bulge. (Image Credit: Pfc. James F. Clancy, US Army Signal Corps / Public Domain).
Rapid gains
The Ardennes forest was generally regarded as difficult country, so a large-scale offensive there was thought unlikely. It was considered a ‘quiet sector’, suitable for introducing new and inexperienced troops to the front line, and for resting units that had been involved in heavy fighting.
However, the thick woods were also able to provide concealment for the massing of forces. Allied overconfidence and their preoccupation with offensive plans, combined with poor aerial reconnaissance due to bad weather meant the initial German attack came as a complete surprise.
Three Panzer armies attacked the north, centre and south of the front. Over the first 9 days of the battle the Fifth Panzer Army punched through the startled American line and gains were rapidly made through the centre, creating the ‘bulge’ the battle was named after. The spearhead of this force was just outside of Dinant by Christmas Eve.
However, this success was short-lived. Limited resources meant that Hitler’s ill-conceived plan relied upon the River Meuse being reached within 24 hours, but the combat strength at his disposal made this unrealistic.
Resolute defence
The Sixth Panzer Army also made some progress on the northern shoulder of the front but was held up by dogged American resistance at Elsenborn Ridge during a decisive 10 day struggle. Meanwhile, the 7th Panzer Army made little impact in northern Luxembourg, but it was able to make gains just over the French border and had surrounded Bastogne by 21 December.
On 17 December Eisenhower had already decided to reinforce the American defence at Bastogne, a key town giving access to the limited road infrastructure of the Ardennes. The 101st Airborne Division arrived 2 days later. The Americans tenaciously held out at the town over the following days, in spite of limited ammunition, food and medical supplies, and the siege was lifted on 26 December by the arrival of the 37th Tank Battalion of Patton’s Third Army.
Bad weather at the time also worsened German fuel shortages and subsequently disrupted their supply lines.
American infantrymen of the 290th Regiment fight in fresh snowfall near Amonines, Belgium, 4 January 1945. (Image Credit: Braun, USA Army / Public Domain).
Counteroffensive
Having limited the German gains, improved weather allowed the Allies to unleash their formidable air attack from 23 December, meaning the German advance ground to a halt.
Despite the German air force damaging Allied air bases in north-west Europe on 1 January 1945, the Allied counteroffensive began in earnest from 3 January and gradually eroded the bulge that had been created in the front. Although Hitler approved German withdrawal on 7 January, combat continued over the following weeks. The last major re-capture was the town of St Vith, achieved on 23 December, and 2 days later the front was restored.
By the end of the month the Allies had regained the positions they held 6 weeks earlier.
The 289th Infantry Regiment marching to seal the St Vith-Houffalize road, 24 January 1945.
Significance
American forces had borne the brunt of the German attack, incurring their highest casualties of any operation during the war. The battle had also been one of the bloodiest, yet whilst the Allies were able to offset these losses, the Germans had drained their manpower and resources, forfeiting their chance of maintaining any more prolonged resistance. This also ruined their morale as it dawned on the German Command that their chances of ultimate victory in the war were gone.
These huge losses enabled the Allies to resume their advance, and in early spring they crossed into the heart of Germany. Indeed the Battle of the Bulge turned out to be the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the Second World War. After this, their held-territory shrank rapidly. Less than four months after the battle’s end, Germany surrendered to the Allies.
If D-Day had been the key offensive battle of the war in Europe, the Battle of the Bulge was the key defensive battle, and a vital part of the Allied victory.
]]>The heavily outnumbered 1,400 anti-Castro Cuban soldiers must have been extremely deluded, as they were defeated in under 24 hours. The invading force suffered 114 casualties with over 1,100 taken prisoner.
Why did the invasion take place?
Though following the revolution Castro declared that he was not a communist, Revolutionary Cuba was not nearly as accommodating to US business interests as it was under Batista. Castro nationalised US-dominated businesses which operated on Cuban soil, such as the sugar industry and US-owned oil refineries. This led to the start of a US embargo against Cuba.
Cuba suffered economically due to the embargo and Castro turned to the Soviet Union, with which he had established diplomatic relations just over a year after the revolution. All these reasons, plus Castro’s influence on other Latin American countries, did not suit American political and economic interests.
While US President John F. Kennedy was reluctant to enact his predecessor Eisenhower’s plan to arm and train an invading force of Cuban exiles, he nonetheless acquiesced to political pressure and gave the go-ahead.
Its failure was an embarrassment and naturally weakened US relations with both Cuba and the Soviets. However, though Kennedy was a staunch anti-communist, he did not want a war, and focused further efforts on espionage, sabotage and possible assassination attempts.
]]>Just before the start of the Second World War, the Germans and the Soviets (Russia) signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, ensuring non-aggression between the two powers and enabling both to pursue military goals without each other’s interference. On 22 June 1941, Hitler broke the pact by invading the Soviet Union.
Both the events surrounding the treaty and its violation would influence several countries’ decisions about entering the war, just as the war’s developments in later years would influence those countries’ decisions to switch their allegiance to the Allies.
Here we examine 4 countries who fought on the side of the Axis Powers and then later for the Allies.
1. Romania
At the start of the war Romania was allied and Poland and pro-British. However, as the war progressed, in order to avoid being overrun by the Soviet Union combined with Fascist elements within the country, Romania adopted a pro-German dictatorship and became an ‘affiliate state’ of the Axis Powers. It signed the Tripartite Pact in November 1940.
Romanian forces fought alongside Germany in the Soviet Union from June 1941, but then switched sides after a coup in August 1944. They subsequently fought on the side of the Soviets for the remainder of the war, supporting the Allies.
2. Bulgaria
Another affiliate state, for most of the war Bulgaria was allied with the Axis Powers. The rise of the Bulgarian right wing in the 1930s saw a growth in ties with Germany, aided by German promises of the return of traditionally Bulgarian territories in Thrace and Macedonia. Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact in March 1941.
Adolf Hitler receives King Boris III of Bulgaria at his headquarters following the collapse of Yugoslavia, 25 April 1941
Image Credit: Heinrich Hoffmann, CC BY-SA 4.0
Though Bulgaria participated in the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, albeit only by letting Germany attack via Bulgarian territory, it did not declare war on the Allies until after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour. Bulgarian forces did participate actively in the occupation of Greece and carried out an estimated 40,000 executions there.
After taking a harsh beating from Allied bombing raids, in September of 1944 a new Bulgarian government came to power. Bulgaria declared itself neutral, expelled German forces and sought peace with the Allies.
It offered no resistance to a Soviet invasion and subsequently joined forces with the Allies, declaring war on Germany.
3. Finland
Never a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, Finland was nonetheless a co-belligerent on the side of the Axis Powers. This was a result of the Soviet invasion of Finland, as sanctioned by the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
With little or no support from other powers, Finland signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist agreement of mainly fascist powers, in November 1941. The main reason for Finland’s siding with Germany was to regain territory lost to the Soviets in the Winter War of 1939 – 1940.
As opposed to Axis Power states and affiliates, Finland granted asylum to Jews and had Jewish soldiers serving in its military. It also refused to participate in the Siege of Leningrad.
By August 1944 Finland had a new president who began to hold secret talks with the Soviet Union, negotiating a peace by September, which also required the expulsion of German troops. This resulted in the Lapland War between Finland and Germany (September 1944 – April 1945).
Finnish soldiers raise the flag at the three-country cairn between Norway, Sweden and Finland on 27 April 1945, which marked the end of World War II in Finland
Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
4. Italy
Mussolini and Italian Fascism provided inspiration to Hitler and the Nazis long before the start of World War Two. Italy had its own imperial ambitions — partly based on the Roman Empire and similar to the German policy of lebensraum — which clashed with those of Britain and France.
Mussolini and Hitler both pursued an alliance between Germany and Italy, but Germany’s Anschluss with Austria was a sticking point.
On 27 September 1940 Japan, Germany and Italy signed the Tripartite Pact, officially forming the Axis Powers. Though Germany began the war by invading Poland, Italy did not enter the war until June 1940, and then with the principal aim of taking over British and French colonies in North Africa.
However, 3 years later Italy’s allegiances switched. After a series of military failures, in July of 1943 Mussolini gave control of the Italian forces to the King, Victor Emmanuel III, who dismissed and imprisoned him. The new government began negotiations with the Allies. The subsequent British invasion of Italy was unopposed.
By October Italy was on the side of the Allies. Fighting against German forces in Italy continued until May 1945.
]]>In Mein Kampf, Hitler described how “Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people… Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea”.
Anti-Jewish Nazi propaganda came in the shape of speeches, actions, music, theatre, radio, publications, education and art. One of the chief jobs of Hitler’s propaganda machine was to convince those Germans who were not antisemitic to attack Jews.
Some propaganda was even so brazen as to proclaim that the Jewish people were not being persecuted by the Nazis, all the while referring to Jews in de-humanising terms and displaying drawings with grotesquely racist caricatures.
1. Posters
The most striking and memorable examples of the Nazi antisemitic propaganda campaign are seen in the form of posters. Making use of stark imagery and explicit racial messages, this media penetrated all sections of German society, literally painting Jews as outsiders and sinister enemies of ‘ordinary’ Germans.
The Nazi propaganda machine also used posters — as well as other materials that made similar use of graphic art — in occupied territories, such as Poland and France. Propaganda that de-humanised Jews ultimately served to gradually prepare the German population for harsher war measures, such as mass deportations and, eventually, genocide.
2. Comics
Nazi propagandists exploited pre-existing stereotypes to falsely portray Jews. This hateful view painted Jews as an ‘alien race’ that fed off the host nation, poisoned its culture, destroyed its economy and enslaved its workers.
Pro-Nazi newspapers, especially Der Stürmer (‘The Attacker’), frequently ran comics or cartoons depicting Jews as dangerous and subhuman. The use of these kinds of hate-stirring comics even extended to their inclusion in children’s books.
3. Articles and essays
Written materials in periodicals and pamphlets took on a more argumentative form, which lent ‘weight’ to the simplistic slogans and caricatures of posters and cartoons.
Essays like Kurt Hilmar Eitzen’s 1936 piece ‘Ten Responses to Jewish Lackeys’ were hardly subtle or philosophical, but they provided all manner of reasons to mistrust and hate the Jew, from economic and religious arguments to appeals for national pride.
Through their control of cultural institutions such as museums and schools under the Reich Chamber of Culture, the Nazis had new opportunities to disseminate anti-Jewish propaganda. University professors and religious leaders gave these antisemitic themes further weight by using them into their lectures and sermons.
4. Film
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels’ projects included antisemitic films such as Jud Süss. The film was based on a popular 1925 historical novel written by Lion Feuchtwanger, a successful author who was in fact Jewish.
Director Veit Harlan turned Feuchtwanger’s philosophical story, as well as previous interpretations for film and theatre, on its head. Victim becomes villain and an oppressive justice system is instead portrayed as righteous.
Harlan’s Jud Süss is an inflammatory piece of film propaganda. It was successful at the box office, and later shown at indoctrination events by the SS and Hitler Youth. As a German woman active in Nazi youth programs wrote in her postwar memoirs:
“I became a National Socialist because the idea of the National Community inspired me… What I had never realised was the number of Germans who were not considered worthy to belong to this community.”
5. Art exhibitions
‘The Eternal Jew’ exhibition took place in Munich’s German Museum in 1937-38, attracting some 412,300 visitors (more than 5,000 per day) during its first run. These were followed by tours in Vienna and Berlin in 1938-39.
Though the Nazi Party line was anti-modern art, the pieces shown at ‘The Eternal Jew’ were distinctly avant-garde in nature, enticing the public to visit. Termed by the Nazis as ‘degenerate’, modern art was shown at other free exhibitions in a number of cities.
Though the purpose of these propaganda exhibits was to discredit the art displayed, the long running ‘The Eternal Jew’ and other shows proved to be very popular, despite the Nazis associating the art with Jews and Communists.
]]>Unfortunately, the purpose of Hollywood’s historical epics is not to educate, but to entertain and make money. Therefore artistic license is not simply a caveat for inauthenticity, but an excuse to distort in any way that might sell more tickets at the box office or fill Netflix orders.
Here we examine one particularly popular historical film, Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe. The film has received both praise and criticisms for its portrayal of Ancient Rome. While some historians contend that it has represented some aspects of the Empire quite well, it is also rife with inaccuracy.
Here are eight examples of how Gladiator gets it wrong.
1. Catapults and giant dart launchers in the forest battle
Though these weapons existed and help make for an impressive opening battle scene in Germania, they almost certainly weren’t used in this type of conflict. Catapults and ballistae, which were used to spring-launch large projectiles, would be practical in sieges, but unwieldy in open battles, especially when there are so many trees.
Reconstructed Roman field artillery
Image Credit: Michael Geschwinde, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
2. Marcus Aurelius banned gladiator fights
In fact, in classic “bread and circuses” fashion, the Emperor decreed that gladiatorial contests continue in order to distract the masses from a bad economy.
3. Marcus Aurelius wanted to restore the Republic
There is no evidence that the Emperor, nor even the Senate, wished to restore Rome to its previous republican system or get rid of the Imperial office. Those who rose to be emperor were not against the Empire. This is an obvious appeal to 21st century democratic ideals.
4. The character of Maximus
The hero of the film, killer of the evil Commodus and champion of the people never existed. His character is perhaps inspired by several historical figures, including Taruttienus Paternus, the commander of Roman forces at the great battle against the Germanic tribes in 179 AD; Narcissus, the wrestler who actually killed Commodus; and Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, who came from a humble background in Syria and became a favourite general of Marcus Aurelius, marrying his daughter Lucilla.
Perhaps in spirit as well as story, Maximus most resembles Spartacus, the Thracian slave who became a gladiator and later led a rebellion against the Romans, winning nine significant battles before his defeat.
5. Marcus Aurelius was going to name Maximus as Emperor
Obviously the Emperor wouldn’t name a fictional character as his successor, but it was traditional to name “adoptive” emperors who were not biological sons. Yet while it seems Marcus may have thought ill of Commodus, who was pretty horrible, he did break with tradition and name his son as heir.
6. They got Commodus all wrong
Only 18 at the time of the death of his father, Commodus is described as tall, muscular and blonde. He trained in gladiatorial combat and boasted 620 victories, at least according to his own writing, which is probably accurate enough because his opponents always submitted to the Emperor. For this, he would spare their lives. While practicing, however, he liked to kill all his sparring partners.
Though certainly a piece of work in the film, writings about the real Commodus show him to be unbelievably awful. Stupid, sadistic, cowardly and overly impressionable, he was nonetheless reportedly as handsome as he was cruel and spent his time slaughtering exotic animals like lions, ostriches and giraffes in canned hunts inside Rome’s arenas.
He also publicly slaughtered amputees who were veterans of Roman wars.
Bust of Emperor Commodus
Image Credit: J. Paul Getty Museum, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
7. They got the Latin language wrong
Perhaps this one is nit-picky, but why would such a big production make these kinds of simple mistakes? Sometimes they’d use Italian — the character Proximo instead of Proximus — and sometimes they’d mix the two. A sign on a building reads ‘LUDUS MAGNUS GLADIATORES’, when it should say ‘LUDUS MAGNUS GLADIATORUM’.
8. Commodus was killed by a gladiator
The Emperor was a victim of assassination due to a political conspiracy. First he was poisoned by his mistress, but when that proved ineffective, the conspirators sent Commodus’ wrestling partner to strangle him in his bath.
]]>Caesar’s frequent representation in film and television arguably lies as much in the success of Shakespeare’s eponymous play as it does in the Ancient Roman ruler’s historical significance. Regardless, modern entertainment has helped assure that he has remained a household name.
Here are 10 films and television series from the last 70 years that feature the character of Julius Caesar.
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
Directed by Gabriel Pascal and staring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in the title roles, this 1945 British production — in glorious Technicolor — is based on a 1901 play by George Bernard Shaw, who also adapted it into the screenplay.
The film was reportedly beset by tragedy and near-tragedy, with bombs falling nearby the set and Vivien Leigh suffering a miscarriage after slipping on the studio floor during filming.
Despite its lavish production values, Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction, and high US earnings for a British film, Caesar and Cleopatra was considered a stateside box office failure.
Julius Caesar (1950)
The first version of Shakespeare’s play with sound, this stylish, low-budget US production was directed by David Bradley and includes a young Charlton Heston as Mark Antony.
Julius Caesar (1953)
Another Shakespeare adaptation, Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed a star-studded cast featuring Marlon Brando, John Gielgud and James Mason. It was a critical success and received a number of nominations and awards.
Spartacus (1960)
Produced by star Kirk Douglas’ production company and directed by Stanley Kubrick, this historical epic garnered awards and was a commercial success. It is notable for its heavyweight cast and role in ending the Hollywood blacklist.
Poster for the film ‘Spartacus’ (1960)
Image Credit: Reynold Brown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Cleopatra (1963)
Another Mankiewicz direction, this time based on historical literature. At the time, Cleopatra was the most expensive film production to date. This production stars Elizabeth Taylor in the title role, with Rex Harrison as Caesar and Richard Burton as Antony. The film won 4 Academy Awards.
Julius Caesar (1970)
Stuart Burge directed this adaptation of Shakespeare’s play in colour, which returned Charlton Heston to the role of Antony he’d played 20 years before. The cast was rounded out by John Gielgud as Caesar and Jason Robards as Brutus. The film was both a failure with critics and at the box office.
Julius Caesar (1979)
For those who prefer faithful BBC productions to Hollywood glitz, Herbert Wise of I, Claudius fame, directed this instalment of the BBC’s Shakespeare series.
Caesar (2002)
This historical drama television series was directed by Uli Edel for the American TNT network and stars Jeremy Sisto, Richard Harris, Christopher Walken and Chris Noth.
Empire (2005)
America’s ABC network filmed this the miniseries Empire (2005) on location in Rome and southern Italy, though it is not considered to be very historically accurate.
Rome (2005-2007)
A true historical drama of epic proportions, this joint production between the BBC, HBO and Italy’s Rai Fiction spared no expense, including faithful reproductions of Ancient Rome in the Italian countryside. It has been praised for its historical authenticity, high production values and simultaneous grit and splendour. Rome garnered many awards and nominations, including several Emmys.
]]>Here is a list of 10 stars of the silver screen who participated in the Second World War.
1. David Niven
Though living in Hollywood when the war broke out, David Niven travelled home to Britain to re-join the army he had served in during the 1930s. Besides making films for the war effort, Niven took part in the Invasion of Normandy. He eventually advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
2. Mel Brooks
Legendary comedian and actor Mel Brooks joined the US Army towards the end of the war at the tender age of 17. He served as part of an engineer combat battalion, diffusing land mines ahead of troop advances.
3. Jimmy Stewart
Already a movie star, James Stewart joined the US Air Force in 1941, first participating in recruitment drives, including radio appearances and propaganda films. He later flew and commanded many bombing missions over Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. After the war, Stewart remained in the Air Force Reserve, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general.
4. Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch and grew up under the moniker Izzy Demsky, officially changed his name just before joining the US Navy in 1941. He served as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare and received a medical discharge due to war injuries in 1944.
5. Jason Robards
After graduating from high school in 1940, Jason Robards joined the US Navy, serving as a radioman 3rd class aboard the USS Northampton in 1941, which was sunk by Japanese torpedoes while Robards was aboard. He later served aboard the USS Nashville during the invasion of Mindoro in the Philippines.
6. Clark Gable
After the death of his wife Carole Lombard, who became the first American female war-related casualty of the conflict when her plane crashed en route home from a tour promoting the sale of war bonds, Clark Gable enlisted in the US Army Air Forces. Though he enlisted at the advanced age of 43, after working on a recruiting film, Gable was stationed in England and flew 5 combat missions as an observer-gunner.
7. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn’s British father was a Nazi sympathiser who became estranged from her family prior to the outbreak of the war. Contrastingly, Hepburn spent the war years in occupied Holland, during which her uncle was executed for sabotage against the Nazi occupation and her half brother sent to a German labour camp. She helped the Dutch Resistance by giving secret dance performances in order to raise money as well as by delivering messages and packages.
Audrey Hepburn in 1954. Photo by Bud Fraker.
8. Paul Newman
Paul Newman joined the US Navy after completing high school in 1943 and served as a radio operator and turret gunner on aircraft carriers in the Pacific theatre. He also trained replacement combat pilots and air crewmen.
9. Sir Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and commanded a landing craft in the 1943 invasion of Italy. He later supplied arms to Yugoslavian Partisan fighters.
10. Josephine Baker
An American by birth, Josephine Baker was a star in France rather than Hollywood. She was also a naturalised French citizen who was active in the French Resistance. Besides entertaining troops, Baker sheltered refugees and delivered secret messages including military intelligence. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her dangerous work as a spy for the Resistance.
Josephine Baker in 1949. Photo by Carl Van Vechten.
However, it was the SA’s thuggish vigilantism, independence from the regular army (which caused hostility between the two), and anti-capitalist sentiments of its leader, Ernst Röhm, that ultimately caused its undoing.
Kurt Daluege, Heinrich Himmler and SA leader Ernst Röhm in Berlin
Image Credit: German Federal Archives, Bild 102-14886 / CC
Hitler launches the SA
Hitler formed the SA in Munich in 1921, drawing membership from violent anti-leftist and anti-democratic former soldiers (including the Freikorps) in order to lend muscle to the young Nazi Party, using them like a private army to intimidate opponents. According to the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, the SA was ‘a group composed in large part of ruffians and bullies’.
Many of the SA were former soldiers, upset with the way they had been treated after World War One. Germany’s defeat in the war had come as a surprise to the German people, which led to a theory that the brave German army had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the politicians.
Many Germans hated the government for signing the armistice in November 1918 – and saw the government as the ‘November Criminals’. Hitler used these terms in many speeches to further turn people against the Government.
Speaking politics in public was potentially a dangerous matter at the time. Recognisable by their brown uniforms, similar to those of Mussolini’s Blackshirts, the SA functioned as a ‘security’ force at Nazi rallies and meetings, using threats and outright violence to secure votes and overcome Hitler’s political enemies. They also marched in Nazi rallies and intimidated political opponents by breaking up their meetings.
When fights broke out, the Weimar police appeared powerless, with law and order usually restored by the SA. This enabled Hitler to claim that the Weimar regime lacked leadership and power, and that he was the person who could restore Germany to law and order.
The Beer Hall Putsch
Ernst Röhm became the leader of the SA after taking part in the Beer Hall Putsch (also known as the Munich Putsch) in 1923, a failed coup against the Weimar government in which Hitler lead 600 Brownshirts into a meeting between the Bavarian Prime Minister and 3,000 businessmen.
Röhm had fought in the First World War, reaching the rank of captain, and later joined the Bavarian division of the Freikorps, a virulent right wing nationalist group active during the early years of the Weimar Republic.
The Freikorps, which officially came to an end in 1920, were responsible for the murder of prominent leftists like Rosa Luxemburg. Former members made up a large part of the initial ranks of the SA.
The growth of the Brownshirts
After the Beer Hall Putch, the SA was reorganised, and took part in violent street clashes with communists, and began to intimidate voters into voting for the Nazi Party. Its ranks swelled into the thousands during the 1920s and into the 1930s.
Though Röhm left the Nazi Party, and Germany, during the later half of the 1920s, he returned to lead the Brownshirts in 1931 and watched its numbers swell to 2 million within only 2 years – twenty times as large as the number of troops and officers in the regular German Army.
The vast increase in membership was aided by unemployed men joining up due to the effects of the Great Depression. The Depression had caused American banks to call-in all of their foreign loans (which had helped fund German industry) at very short notice, leading to a significant rise in unemployment. This encouraged people to turn to extreme political parties such as the Nazi’s, who appeared to offer simple solutions to their problems.
The architects of the Night of the Long Knives: Hitler, Göring, Goebbels and Hess
Image Credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 196509 / Public Domain
The 1932 Presidential Election
Intimidated by their thuggish behaviour, President Hindenburg refused to allow the SA onto the streets during the election, where he stood against Hitler. Hitler needed the SA on the streets to create chaos (which he could then control, in the eyes of the German public), but equally wanted to portray himself as adhering to the law. He therefore accepted Hindenburg’s requets and kept the SA off the streets for the election.
Despite Hitler losing, Hindenburg’s re-election ultimately would fail to prevent the Nazi’s from assuming power. Two successive federal elections later that year left the Nazi’s as the largest party in the Reichstag and anti-republic parties in the majority. Hindenburg thus appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler became absolute dictator of Germany under the title Führer.
The Night of the Long Knives
Although some of the conflicts between the SS and SA were based on rivalries of leaders, the mass of members had key socio-economic differences too, with SS members generally from the middle class, while the SA had its base among the unemployed and working class.
The SA’s violence against Jews and communists was unbridled, yet some of Ernst Röhm’s interpretations of Nazi ideology were literally socialistic and in opposition to Hitler’s, including supporting striking workers and attacking strike-breakers. Röhm’s ambition was that the SA should achieve parity with the army and the Nazi Party, and serve as the vehicle for a Nazi revolution in state and society, and carry out its socialist agenda.
Hitler’s main consideration was to ensure the loyalty to his regime of the German establishment. He could not afford to annoy businessmen or the army, and in his bid to secure powerful support and rise to power, Hitler sided with big business instead of Röhm and his pro-working class supporters.
On June 30, 1934 the Night of the Long Knives erupted in a bloody purge among the SA ranks, in which Röhm and all senior Brownshirts, either deemed too socialist or not loyal enough for the new Nazi Party, were arrested by the SS and eventually executed.
SA leadership was granted to Viktor Lutze, who had informed Hitler of Röhm’s seditious activities. Lutze headed the SA until his death in 1943.
The Night of the Long Knives removed all opposition to Hitler within the Nazi Party and gave power to the SS, ending the revolutionary period of Nazism.
The shrinking role of the SA
After the purge, the SA diminished both in size and importance, though it was still used for violent actions against Jews, notably Kristallnacht on the 9 – 10 November, 1938. After the events of Kristallnacht, the SS took over the position of the Brownshirts, who were then relegated to the role of a training school for the German military.
Mistrust of the SA by the SS prevented the Brownshirts from ever regaining a prominent role in the Nazi Party. The organisation was officially disbanded in 1945 when Germany fell to the Allied Powers.
After World War Two ended, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg declared that the SA had not been a criminal organisation. stating that effectively, after the Night of the Long Knives ‘the SA was reduced to the status of unimportant Nazi hangers-on’.
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