By: Amanda Wininger

In 180 A.D. Rome, Marcus Aurelius is near death. On his death bed, he names his loyal and triumphant general, Maximus Decimus Meridius, as his successor. However, Marcus Aurelius' unbalanced son, Commodus has other plans. Blind with rage, Commodus orders Maximus to be executed and Commodus would take his father’s place as Caesar. Maximus winds up a slave to the former gladiator, Proximo in North Africa. He rises once again but this time as a gladiator. Maximus makes it all the way back to Rome and an unsuspecting Commodus.

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