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70 free Gladiator trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
69 free gladiator trivia questions with answers. This gladiator trivia quiz comes in two halves. The first covers Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000): the casting, the Malta and Morocco shoots, Oliver Reed's death mid-production, the Zimmer and Gerrard score, the five Oscars, the box office and the historical liberties taken with Commodus and his father. It also dips into Gladiator II and the abandoned sequel scripts. The second half is the real thing: where the games came from, the retiarius, secutor, murmillo and thraex, the Spartacus revolt, the Colosseum and its awning crews, the Ludus Magnus, what gladiators ate, female fighters, the thumb signal, and the emperors who finally banned it all. It suits film fans, history buffs and anyone who has ever shouted 'Are you not entertained?' at a party. Questions start easy and get genuinely hard, and every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries and primary-source summaries before publishing.
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Q 01Who directed the 2000 film Gladiator?
Ridley Scott
He agreed to direct after producers showed him a single 19th-century painting of the arena, reportedly saying he did not care that he knew nothing about the story yet.
Q 02What is the full name of Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator?
Maximus Decimus Meridius
The character is fictional, though he loosely resembles a real general who was a friend of the emperor, and Spartacus.
Q 03Which actor played the emperor Commodus in Gladiator?
Joaquin Phoenix
He used a clipped British accent to signal aristocratic Roman status, and later earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
Q 04Connie Nielsen played which character, the sister of Commodus?
Lucilla
The real Lucilla was implicated in a plot to assassinate her brother in AD 182 and was exiled to Capri, then executed.
Q 05Oliver Reed died before finishing his scenes in Gladiator. How were his remaining shots completed?
A body double with his face digitally attached
His character was originally meant to survive; after his death the script was changed so that the trainer dies fighting the Praetorians, and the film is dedicated to Reed.
Q 06Which character did Oliver Reed play in Gladiator?
Proximo
The role earned Reed a posthumous BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, his first and last recognition from the academy.
Q 07Richard Harris played which role in Gladiator?
Marcus Aurelius
Harris went on to play Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films before his death in 2002.
Q 08Who played Juba, the gladiator who becomes Maximus's closest friend?
Djimon Hounsou
Juba's friendship with Maximus and the afterlife theme were expanded by William Nicholson, the third writer brought onto the script.
Q 09David Franzoni's original screenplay was inspired by which 1958 novel?
Those About to Die
Franzoni read the book during a 1972 motorcycle trip through Eastern Europe and the Middle East, decades before pitching the film to Steven Spielberg.
Q 10The opening battle in Germania was filmed at Bourne Wood in which English county?
Surrey
The Forestry Commission was already planning to clear that section of woodland, so the director got permission to burn it down on camera.
Q 11The scenes set in Rome, including the arena replica, were shot in which country?
Malta
The set was built inside Fort Ricasoli, a 17th-century fortress that later doubled as Troy, Alexandria and Toulon for other films.
Q 12Roughly what fraction of the Colosseum did the crew build as a physical set?
One-third
The set rose to 52 feet; the rest of the amphitheatre and its upper tiers were added digitally.
Q 13The gladiator training school and desert scenes were shot near which Moroccan town?
Ouarzazate
The town sits beside the Atlas Mountains and has hosted everything from Lawrence of Arabia to Game of Thrones.
Q 21What was Gladiator's production budget?
$103 million
DreamWorks handled North America while Universal took international distribution under a deal struck in November 1998.
Q 22Mel Gibson turned down the role of Maximus because he was committed to which other 2000 film?
The Patriot
Antonio Banderas and Tom Cruise were also considered before the producers went with Crowe, whose L.A. Confidential turn had put him top of their list.
Q 23Which actor auditioned to play Commodus but lost the part?
Jude Law
The winning candidate reportedly clinched it with a 'knockout' audition tape rather than an in-person reading.
Q 14Hans Zimmer shared credit for the Gladiator score with which singer-composer?
Lisa Gerrard
Zimmer later said she did not write the main theme but her presence was so influential that he insisted on giving her co-credit.
Q 15In 2006 Zimmer was sued over the Gladiator score by the foundation of which composer?
Gustav Holst
The complaint centred on similarities to The Planets, and the case was settled out of court.
Q 16How many Academy Awards did Gladiator win?
5
It led the field with twelve nominations, and its wins included Best Picture, Best Actor, Costume Design, Sound and Visual Effects.
Q 17Gladiator was the first Best Picture winner without a directing or screenplay Oscar since which 1949 film?
All the King's Men
Best Director that night went to the maker of Traffic, who was nominated twice in the same year.
Q 18Who beat Gladiator's director to the Best Director Oscar in 2001?
Steven Soderbergh
He was nominated twice that year, for Erin Brockovich and Traffic, and won for the latter.
Q 19Approximately how much did Gladiator gross worldwide?
$466 million
Its $34.8 million opening was then the third-biggest ever for an R-rated film, and it stayed in cinemas for over a year.
Q 20Gladiator finished 2000 as the second-highest-grossing film worldwide behind which title?
Mission: Impossible 2
The Tom Cruise sequel took $546 million; ironically Cruise had been among the actors considered for Maximus.
Q 24Which line spoken by Commodus was ad-libbed by the actor on set?
"Am I not merciful?"
The script was so unfinished that Crowe later claimed shooting began with only about 32 pages.
Q 25Crowe adapted the phrase 'Strength and Honour' from the Latin motto of what?
His high school
The original motto, 'Veritate et Virtute', translates as 'Truth and Virtue'.
Q 26Describing Maximus's farm to the emperor, Crowe was actually describing his own home in which country?
Australia
The farm scenes themselves were shot in Val d'Orcia, Tuscany, rather than in Spain where the character supposedly lived.
Q 27Which 1872 painting persuaded the director to sign on after producers showed him a copy?
Pollice Verso
Jean-Léon Gérôme's canvas of Vestal Virgins condemning a fallen fighter now hangs in the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona.
Q 28The extended cut of Gladiator adds how many minutes of footage?
16
The theatrical version runs 155 minutes; the longer cut has appeared on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray.
Q 29How did the real Commodus die, unlike his arena death in the film?
Strangled in his bath by a wrestler
A poisoning attempt earlier that day failed when he vomited, so the conspirators sent in his wrestling partner Narcissus.
Q 30The emperor Commodus murders in the film actually died at Vindobona, now which modern city?
Vienna
The Antonine Plague, thought to be smallpox or measles, swept the empire during his reign and finally claimed him in AD 180.