Problems with the original Gladiator movie set to begin in 180 AD.
The opening text tells us this, and this was also the historical year of death of Marcus Aurelius. However there are some problems and inconsistencies, which it would be more fun to attribute to one or several independent PODs than to Hollywood disregard for historical veracity. To wit:
Marcus Aurelius has fought and expanded the Empire “for 25 years”. His first war (against Parthia) was the very year of his ascension in 161 AD, 29 years before 180 AD. 25 years could be a sweeping statement though.
The first Marcomanni war ended with the defeat of the Quadi in 174 AD but the Marcomanni were still undefeated in the 2nd Marcomanni war at the time of the Emperor’s death in 180 AD. In the movie the barbarians are defeated with the Emperor still alive. This would mean either that the movie opens in 174 AD OR that the Romans win an earlier victory in this timeline OR that the film opens AFTER the historical death of Marcus Auerelius.
Commodus is not co-emperor to Marcus Aurelius. He was made so in 177 AD. This also points toward either an earlier start (174 AD) or an alternate timeline in which this has not happened.
The decisive evidence for this being an alternate timeline, however is Lucillas son with former co-emperor Lucius Verus, who is
alive. The historical Lucius Aurelius Verus died an infant, long before the reign of Commodus. Additionally, young Lucius is “nearly 8 years old”. He should have been born no later than 170 AD, since Lucius Verus, his father, historically died in 169 AD in the Antonine plague. At any time after 177 AD he would be older than 8 years. In 180 AD, any son of Lucius Verus would be no less than 10 years old.
In the movie Lucilla is an unmarried widow and ex-lover of Maximus. Maximus tells her he mourned her husband, and comments that she now has a son, implying she did not have one last time they met. Historically, she was betrothed to Lucius Verus at the age of 11-13 and married to him two years later in 164 AD. Widowed in 169 AD, she re-married Cladius Pompeianus in the same year and bore him a son in 170 AD, who does not appear in the movie. Historically Pompeianus commanded the Legions in the Marcomanni wars, whereas Maximus does in the move. Pompeianus lived to 193 AD. It would appear in the movie her marriage to Pompeianus never happened, again supporting the idea that her husband Lucius Verus lived for several years longer in this timeline.
The Antonine Plague (which as mentioned had claimed the life of co-Emperor Lucius Verus, husband of Lucilla in 169 AD) broke out again in 177 AD, was rampant by 180 AD and was widely blamed for killing the Emperor. In the movie, a plague is just springing up “in the Greek quarter” of Rome and is not mentioned otherwise. After Commodus murder of Marcus Aurelius, no attempt to attribute his death to the plague is made.
On the other hand, Marcus Aurelius’ wife Faustina does not appear and is not mentioned. She died in 176 AD. This is consistent with events taking place in 180 AD or later and not in 174 AD.
So is Commodus age. In 180 AD, he would have been 19 years old, whereas Joaquin Phoenix was around 25 years when he played the role. However, at any earlier likely date (like 174 AD) he is far too young, compared to the apparent age of Commodus in the movie (like 12-13 years).
Conclusion: Either
- the events of Gladiator take place earlier than 180 AD, the most likely year being 174 AD with the final defeat of the Quadi. This is 23 years after Marcus Aurelius becoming emperor, but again, “25 years” could have been a sweeping statement. This however directly contradicts the opening text which places the start of the action in 180 AD and also weighing heavily against this hypothesis are the fact that Commodus is a grown man and the absence of even mentions of Empress Faustina.
- There have been substantial divergencies from our timeline already at the start of the film. If so, clearly Lucius Verus lived longer than in OTL, perhaps because there was no Antonine plague, or it was milder than in OTL and the boy Lucius is a second son, born in 172-173 AD after the first Lucius died young. Because of suffering less or not at all from the plague which historically decimated the army, the Romans are able to defeat the Marcomanni and end the second Marcomanni war earlier than in OTL. Also, Marcus Aurelius has not seen fit to make his son co-emperor three years earlier, indicating that co-Emperor Lucius Verus was still alive at that time. Obviously, Marcus Aurelius has realized his son is "not a moral man" since (which historically he never did). A recent death for co-Emperor Lucius Verus also is consistent with the dialouge between Maximus and Lucilla, whereas a death 11 years prior is not.
The most obvious POD, which explains all divergences between movie timeline and historical timeline is no or much milder Antonine plague.