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The movie has Commodus being killed in the arena in front of a crowd. While this makes for a more dramatic ending, Commodus was actually strangled on 31 Dec 192 in his private apartments by an athlete hired by those conspiring against him. The fight in the arena at the end is not so far-fetched, though, since Commodus did in reality fight in the arena on occasion and had planned to assume the Consulship in gladiatorial dress on 01 Jan 193 had he not been strangled the night before. |