I saw Gladiator and I actually liked it a lot. It was kind of a rehash of familiar elements, but I found it entertaining.
Anyway, I did some research on the web, and I found out Marcus Aurelius was a real Caesar. He was known for his intelligence, and actually wrote some stuff on stoic philosophy, which I am a big fan of. I was impressed. His successor really was Commodus, and he really was kind of insane, and his love of public games was noted. His reign was ended by trecherous circumstances, but it lasted 12 years.
I don’t know, I thought it was cool.