Beware modern slang in historical writing

True, but the Roman senators only thought of Commodus as mad because he enjoyed dressing up as a gladiator and participating in gladiatorial games ... which was definitely an undignified thing for an emperor to do.

There's a certain snobbery at play here: "Only slaves and criminals are allowed to be something as common as a gladiator!" etc. (The "criminal" class, by the way, includes people who defaulted on a loan).

Given that, the basic premise of the "Gladiator" movie -- Commodus forces a senator to become a gladiator -- is certainly ironic, but makes a strange kind of sense; other so-called 'mad' emperors did the same, e.g. Caligula forced senators and equestrians to fight as gladiators.

The thing that annoys me about the "Gladiator" film is how Commodus comes to the throne at all, i.e. he murders his father (Marcus Aurelius). In reality, Aurelius died in his military quarters not far from Vienna, of unknown causes. Commodus did join him at the front, but there is no evidence at all that he killed his father. Commodus may have been lacking in judgment, but that doesn't make him a murderer. *shrug* Still, I guess it makes for a good story.

 

In the 1996 John Travolta movie Michael, it takes them three days to drive from an unnamed small town in Iowa to Chicago. Council Bluffs, IA, is about as far from Chicago as you can get, and Google maps says it's a six hour and thirty-six minute drive.