Gladiator

The Gladiator

Ridley Scott's film the Gladiator is in my opinion one of the best film's ever made. Although the movie might not be completely based on true events but Ridley Scott does a great job accurately portraying the way people lived and the social hierarchy in the Roman Republic. As well as how the Romans used these Gladiator games to reinforce the social hierarchy and to show examples of people moving up and down the social hierarchy. People can watch this movie and learn a lot about the Roman lifestyle without even realizing it.

At the top of the social ladder during the roman republic were the Senatorial class which includes the Emperor Commodus and his senators. Nearly everyone in this class had quite a bit of wealth they had very nice houses with their own servants. This class had most of the power throughout the republic, they voted on the laws and other political matters. These men could basically do anything they wanted because they had the money and the power to do so. Now just below the Senatorial class comes the Equestrian class now this class would include the wealthy property owners like Proximo who is the guy that bought Maximus as a slave. Like the senatorial class these men lives comfortable lives, but they had no power in law making or anything along those lines. They have to follow the same laws as the common people, the equestrian's just have a lot more money (McManus).

Now in what would be considered the lower class is where the common people, freed people, and than the slaves. You can compare the common people to today’s middle class, the common people live simple lives and work hard for what they have. Most of the time the father owns a small business doing some kind of trade. Following the common people are the freed people, who are people who used to be slaves and were able to gain their freedom. They are very poor people but they are just thankful for their freedom. They have a very low social status but have a chance...