Did ships really battle in the Colosseum? The bizarre true stories that inspired Gladiator II

Did ships really battle in the Colosseum? The bizarre true stories that inspired Gladiator II Aidan Monaghan Ridley Scott's epic sequel starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington has been widely criticised for its historical inaccuracies. Aidan Monaghan While it's believed that rhinoceroses were shown off to Romans in the Colosseum, they wouldn't have gone up against gladiators When Emperor Titus held 100 days of games in the Colosseum to mark its opening, Belonick estimates that around 10,000 animals were killed in just a few days. "They would usually reconstruct naval battles of the Greeks against the Persians," says David Potter, the Francis W Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History at The University of Michigan. Aidan Monaghan The film's depictions of gladiator fights are largely incorrect – they were more regulated, less gruesome and with fewer fatalities Much like its approach to the Colosseum games, several of the characters involved in Gladiator II were based on real people, but what happens to them in the film is fiction.