The Real History Behind Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator II' and Life as a Fighter in the Ancient Roman Arena

Meilan Solly Senior Associate Digital Editor, History To mark the opening of the Colosseum in 80 C.E., the Roman emperor Titus staged a staggering spectacle, flooding the arena with water and bringing in “horses and bulls and some other domesticated animals that had been taught to behave in the liquid element just as on land,” according to the Roman historian Cassius Dio. “He also brought in people on ships, who…