Urgent.. Dropping the elite class from the Roman Empire to Trump

After grossing nearly $400 million, Gladiator II will be available to viewers online on Christmas Eve.

 

 

This second part of Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic replaces the two imperial brothers, Caracalla and Geta, with the original Commodus, and not only are they modeled after him, but they are a group of bloodthirsty tyrants in the world. Rome is like Caligula, Nero, and Domitian.

 

 

The American Time magazine said that the greatness of these emperors and their disregard for social norms may resonate among the masses in the wake of Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, but so do their appeals to the general public and the hostility they aroused in the educated elite of Rome. 

 

Although both films capture the image of tyranny described by the anti-intellectuals, only the new film bears further evidence of the important social changes driving politics at the time. And now: the film includes characters of different races.

 

Whatever the reasons that led to the choice of actors, the Roman Empire already included people from Countless races in counties extending from Scotland to the Arabian Peninsula. 

 

In fact, the movie “The Second Gladiator” It is neatly shown that the Roman ruling class had become multiethnic by the day of the film 211 AD, a shift that would have opened the door to more conservative politics – a shift that might be surprising to today’s audiences. 

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Thus, the film takes place in a world similar to the modern United States, where a conservative, multi-ethnic populist coalition has begun to marginalize the elite. The Roman Empire in the century following Caracalla also offers valuable insights – and warnings – about what Americans can expect from the beginning of a new political era.

When the first Emperor Augustus ended the Roman Republic at the turn of the first century AD, almost all of the senators, governors and the like were from Italy. 

By 97 AD, a century earlier Almost as early as the appearance of gladiator films, Trajan of Spain became the first non-Italian emperor. 

He was quickly followed by a number of Spaniards, Gauls, "French" North Africa and the Syrians. 

This was not the result of bottom-up social change, but rather reflected how regional elites absorbed the ruling class. 

For example, in 1948 AD, when Emperor Claudius did his best to justify the inclusion of a small number of prominent Roman Romans in the Senate, he emphasized the Gauls’ long-standing support for the empire and the extent to which they had already been integrated into the Its elite.

Even wealthy provinces that did not reach the Senate could enter the small bureaucracy established by the early emperors, but they needed to find established mentors who were often "but not always coming from the same city" Or the region.

 Accordingly, Trajan’s father enjoyed the patronage of Emperor Vespasian, an Italian, but he also followed in the footsteps of prominent Spaniards such as the philosopher and courtier Seneca, and his rapid adaptation to elitist values ​​meant that wealthy Roman authors would not call Trajan a tyrant but would later declare him "the best emperor".

Although initially smooth sailing, by the third century AD when  As the events of the gladiator films take place, this assimilation made way for the collapse of social class barriers. 

And behind Commodus, the villain in the first film  Gladiator, as Emperor Pertinax, son of a former slave. When Pertinax abandoned his career as a teacher and joined the army, the Frontier Wars hollowed out the ranks, allowing his exceptional talent to attract the attention of his superiors.

 Although widely accepted at the time, Pertinax’s rise It was a harbinger of the more intense tensions that accompanied the collapse of social barriers, which would erupt during the reign of the co-villain of the second Gladiator film. Caracalla.

Although he was a product of the empire’s integrated elite – his parents, the Emperor and Empress, came from prominent families in North Africa and Syria respectively – Caracalla disliked the old aristocracy and preferred working-class constituencies such as the army , He even granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. 

This removed one of the last obstacles that prevented the poor provinces from ruling the empire. 

By In the late third century, most emperors and many of their senior officials rose from rural peasants through the ranks of the army.

The empire soon faced mounting crises. Constant civil wars and reigns that sometimes lasted only a few months made it difficult to defeat foreign invaders. By mid-century, the Goths had killed Emperor Decius, his near-successor Valerian had been captured by the Persians, and the empire had split into three parts.

 

The new elite rose to the occasion and, by the early fourth century, had succeeded To reunite the empire, restore borders, and slow the rapid turnover of emperors.

 The Roman government succeeded in achieving this goal through a massive increase in the numbers of army personnel and a fortification program, which was funded By raising taxes and expanding the bureaucracy to support the larger state apparatus. 

The number of paid imperial officials rose from a few hundred at the beginning of the empire to more than thirty thousand.

At the same time, The Romans came to favor conservative social values ​​that emphasized personal austerity, perhaps partly due to the democratization of political culture.

Many of them experimented with fasting, sleep deprivation, and vegetarian diets while taking vows. Often celibate. 

By 450 AD, one of the emperors entered into a chaste marriage.

 Because of a lack of patience with the alleged sexual immorality that was prevalent among their ancestors, the Most of Caracalla’s successors prioritized repelling ongoing invasions. 

Their efforts delayed the fall of the Western Empire for centuries.

Although the values ​​that The reign of ancient Rome brought much needed seriousness, but the Romans still paid a heavy price.

While the early imperial aristocrats viewed provinces as subservient nations with their own cultures, their working-class successors viewed the Romans as a single people and expected Everyone should share the same values.

 These demands fell heavily on minorities, especially Christians. 

While the Romans Pagans banned Christianity Technically, Trajan explains in a famous exchange of letters that the Roman elite of his day remained content to leave Christians mostly indifferent.

 The ruling class of the empire in the third century felt otherwise, and authorized Three times with mass massacres against the largest religious minority in the empire. Excerpts from discussions about the authorization of persecutions show that the courtiers were more concerned with observing ordinary life than their predecessors. 

The Emperor Decius even required all Romans to show a certificate as proof that they had sacrificed to the pagan gods.

p>Although the Romans may have needed to expand their army, expanding state intervention in the economy had dire consequences. The law that was supposed to stop inflation by setting the prices of everything sold failed. The empire failed miserably. 

The expansion of bureaucracy led to the bankruptcy of small towns when members of elite families left for respectable government jobs in the imperial capitals.

 

A post-2024 presidential election moment

 

In a post-2024 presidential election moment, the ending of Gladiator II picks up on the beginning of this The operation, when jubilant soldiers outside Rome celebrate their overthrow of the old ruling class. 

This would mark the beginning of a more conservative political consensus, one that helped the empire face its challenges, But in the end it came at the expense of freedom.

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