After grossing almost $400 million, Gladiator II will become available to streaming audiences on Christmas Eve. This sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic substitutes the brother emperors Caracalla and Geta for the original’s Commodus, modeling them not only on him, but on a host of Rome’s other reputedly bloodthirsty despots like Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. These emperors’ grandiosity and disregard for social norms may resonate with audiences in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, but so do their appeals to the common people and the hostility they aroused in Rome’s educated elite.