While the character Maximus is fictional (or an amalgam of several historical figures, as noted elsewhere in this trivia section), several characters and events in this movie are based in history. Emperor Marcus Aurelius was succeeded by his son Commodus in 180 A.D. Female gladiators, like the charioteers in the re-created Battle of Carthage, were occasionally featured in games in the public arena. The real Commodus had emotional issues (vanity, paranoia, cruelty) that made him unsuited to rule, and like the movie character, he was quite athletic, and appeared in the arena as a gladiator. He had an older sister, Lucilla, who was caught plotting to depose him. Lucilla's son Lucius Verus, like the boy in this movie, was named for his father. Finally, Emperor Commodus died by violence. He was strangled at the end of 192 A.D. by Narcissus, his trainer and sparring partner, who was recruited into a plot by several Senators.

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