Popular Culture
After the release of the movie Gladiator sales of the Meditations rose sharply, and as Claudius Maximus is identified only by the name "Maximus" in the very first book of the Meditations, this apparently led some to believe there might have been a connection between the Maximus of the Meditations and the Maximus Decimus Meridius of Gladiator. No documentation appears to back this up however. Rather, the original name of the movie's main character was Narcissus, identifying him with the gladiator who is believed to have ended Emperor Commodus' life. Later versions of the character incorporated other classical historical influences however there seems to be no connection between Claudius Maximus of the Meditations and the Maximus of Gladiator.
Read more about this topic: Claudius Maximus
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or culture:
“Let us dismiss, as irrelevant to the poem per se, the circumstance ... which, in the first place, gave rise to the intention of composing a poem that should suit at once the popular and the critical taste.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“Our culture still holds mothers almost exclusively responsible when things go wrong with the kids. Sensing this ultimate accountability, women are understandably reluctant to give up control or veto power. If the finger of blame was eventually going to point in your direction, wouldn’t you be?”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)