John Logan has written numerous great screenplays, Star Trek:Nemesis, The Aviator and Skyfall among them. When asked to pick his best script by IMDB users, the overwhelming favorite was Gladiator.
Does the enduring legacy of Emperor Marcus Aurellius have anything to do with it. His writings are still being read today. He reigned in troubled times, hit was hit with a double whammy. The first major plague since Rome was a small Republic (shortly after Alexander the Great conquered the Eastern World) and the first serious Germanic invasions in 220+ years. After the Germans won a number of battles he struck back, decimating them near modern day Graz. Always in poor health, he succumbed to his frailties before he could complete his conquest. Had he been of more stoic health he would have added a large territory to the Roman Empire. What would be today, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the German regions of Swabia and Bavaria. In that regard the opening scenes of Gladiator are factual.
However it's his ideas on stoicism that endures to the present day.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/05/20/marcus-aurelius-meditations-mortality-presence/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Does the enduring legacy of Emperor Marcus Aurellius have anything to do with it. His writings are still being read today. He reigned in troubled times, hit was hit with a double whammy. The first major plague since Rome was a small Republic (shortly after Alexander the Great conquered the Eastern World) and the first serious Germanic invasions in 220+ years. After the Germans won a number of battles he struck back, decimating them near modern day Graz. Always in poor health, he succumbed to his frailties before he could complete his conquest. Had he been of more stoic health he would have added a large territory to the Roman Empire. What would be today, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the German regions of Swabia and Bavaria. In that regard the opening scenes of Gladiator are factual.
However it's his ideas on stoicism that endures to the present day.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/05/20/marcus-aurelius-meditations-mortality-presence/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
