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Films

Gladiator

Stoics on the Big Screen? John Sellars examines the ancient philosophy which surfaces in Gladiator.

Anyone with a passing interest in the ancient philosophical school of Stoicism would have found themselves drawn to Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator. For in Gladiator we are treated to a marvellous performance by Richard Harris in the role of the Stoic philosopher and Emperor Marcus Aurelius, author of the Meditations.

Indeed, scholars of Stoicism have been drawn to the film and one – Dr William Stephens of Creighton University in the USA – has suggested that the presence of Stoicism in Gladiator is not limited to the aged Marcus. Stephens has argued that the film’s principal character – Maximus, the general turned gladiator, played by Russell Crowe – can be seen to embody the Stoic virtues of ‘strength and honour’. In what follows I shall suggest that in fact Maximus’ behaviour is decidedly un-Stoic.

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