How do historians evaluate the level of historical truth in a historical drama?
While watching a historical drama, historians will check and register several aspects of the drama, including the following:
# 1. What is shown on the screen
# 2. What the actors are saying
# 3. What the actors are doing
# 4. What is happening
# 5. Locations mentioned in the drama or used while filming the drama
# 6. Technology shown and used in the drama
# 7. The language spoken in the drama
Having checked and registered such aspects, historians will compare them with well-documented facts
A comparison with well-documented facts will enable historians to assess the level of historical accuracy
Here is one example:
Gladiator II which premiered in 2024
An on-screen message placed at the beginning of this drama says the story begins sixteen years after the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
No year is given, but we know Marcus Aurelius died in AD 180. This means the story begins in AD 196.
A second on-screen message says the Roman Empire is ruled by two emperors: the twins Geta and Caracalla.
Geta and Caracalla are real historical persons.
We know when they were born:
** Caracalla in 188
** Geta in 189
They are brothers, but they are not twins. At this early moment in the drama, we have a violation of historical truth.
Did Geta and Caracalla rule the Roman Empire in 196?
No. In that year they were not even ten years old!
Who was the ruler of the Roman Empire in 196? Lucius Septimius Severus was the Roman emperor 193-211.
Who was he? He was the father of Geta and Caracalla. But he is neither seen nor mentioned in this drama.
Who was their mother? Julia Domna was the Roman empress 193-211. But she is neither seen nor mentioned in this drama.
We are only a few minutes into the drama and we have already found several violations of historical truth.
Geta and Caracalla succeeded their father when he died in 211. But they were not emperors in 196.
The parents of Geta and Caracalla were alive in 196, but both of them have been excluded from this drama.
Later in the drama, we meet a female character Lucilla, who is a real historical person.
Lucilla was the daughter of Marcus Aurelius. She was born in 148 or perhaps in 150.
When she appears in the drama, the story has moved forward. Perhaps we are now in the year 200.
Her appearance in this drama is odd.
Why?
Because she died in 182. In 196, she had already been dead for 14 years! In the year 200, she had already been dead for 18 years!
But director Ridley Scott decided to give her a longer life. The director created his own version of ancient Roman history.
The historian can check the historical accuracy of the whole drama in this way. Step by step.
I am not going to do this here. I just want to offer a few examples to illustrate the procedure.
But I can reveal that this drama has a low level of historical truth.
For Ridley Scott, it seems a dramatic and spectacular scene is more important than historical truth.
When a director makes a movie, he hopes it will be entertaining. He hopes it will sell many tickets all over the world. This is his major concern. He is rarely concerned with historical accuracy.
As a historian, I understand that a historical drama must have a captivating story. What I do not understand is the need to “improve” the true story.
Real historical events are in many cases dramatic and spectacular. In addition, they have one extra advantage: they are true. Why create fiction, when the historical facts are available?
Sometimes the true story is so dramatic and so surprising that it is hard to believe.
In Gladiator II, Geta is killed by Macrinus (who is a real historical person), while Caracalla is watching. This scene is quite dramatic. Is it real? No. It is not.
What really happened?
Geta was killed by his brother Caracalla, while their mother Julia Domna was watching!
The real story is even more dramatic than the false version created by the director and his scriptwriters.
The director has poetic license.
I get that.
I accept that.
Sometimes the real story is very complicated. The director has to make it simple and easy to understand. Sometimes the real story is too expensive to recreate. The director has to make some changes.
We don't want to see a long line of boring scenes. The director is allowed to focus on dramatic moments. This is not wrong.
But when the true story is turned upside down in a historical drama, the director has crossed the line. When this happens, the director has gone too far:
** Poetic license does not justify huge violations of historical truth
** Poetic license does not justify gross distortions of historical truth
*****
The famous English director
Ridley Scott
(born 1937)
*****
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