Who is Maximus Decimus Meridius?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who is Maximus Decimus Meridius?

 

Maximus Decimus Meridius is the name of the hero in the historical drama Gladiator which premiered in the year 2000.

 

Is this a real historical person?

 

No!

 

He is a fictional character created by the English director Ridley Scott and the three scriptwriters.

 

The name sounds like a Latin or Roman name, but there is something wrong here. A real Roman person would never have such a name.

 

What is the problem?

 

Male members of the Roman elite usually had three names:

** first name = praenomen

** family name = nomen gentile

** nickname = cognomen

 

Here are two well-known examples:

** Gajus Julius Caesar

** Marcus Tullius Cicero

 

The fictional hero has three names, but the three names do not follow the standard pattern:

First name, family name, and nickname

Instead, we have:

Nickname, first name, and family name

The order of the names is wrong. If we want to use these three names, the order must be changed like this:

 

Decimus Meridius Maximus

 

Why?

 

Because:

 

** Decimus is a first name

It has to come first

** Meridius can be or could be a family name

It has to be in the middle

** Maximus is a nickname

It has to come last 

 

Let us compare the corrected name of the fictional hero with the name of a real historical person: the Roman poet Decimus Ausonius Magnus (310-395):

 

** Decimus is a first name

** Ausonius is a family name, which looks like Meridius

** Magnus is a nickname, which looks like Maximus

 

Obviously, Ridley Scott and his script writers do not know the basic facts about Roman names.

 

They know male members of the Roman elite usually have three names, but they do not understand how these names are chosen and combined.

 

The Romans had rules and traditions for everything. They also had rules and traditions about names.

 

Ridley Scott and his script writers did not know the rules. They did not bother to ask for help. They did not want to learn the basic facts about how Roman names are chosen and combined.

 

The name of the fictional hero is a clear violation of historical truth. 

 

The inaccurate name chosen for the fictional hero shows that Ridley Scott and his scriptwriters do not have much concern for historical accuracy.

 

PS. What is the meaning of the three names Ridley Scott and his scriptwriters have given the fictional hero?

 

** Decimus = a child who is number 10 (a boy)

** Meridius = a person who is from Mérida, a town in Spain, whose Latin or Roman name is Augusta Emerita.

** Maximus = the greatest

 

REFERENCES

 

Gladiator: A Brief Comment about Names

 

Gladiator: Good Drama, Bad History

 

*****

Gladiator

This historical drama 

about life and death in the Roman Empire

premiered in the year 2000 

*****