Archaeologists find ‘Gladiator’ tomb in Italy

Marble repository of Marcus Nonius Macrinus discovered

ROME: Italian anthropologists have discovered the tomb of the ancient Roman hero said to have inspired the character played by Russell Crowe in the film ‘Gladiator’.

Daniela Rossi, a Rome archeologist, said the discovery of the monumental marble tomb of Marcus Nonius Macrinus, including a large inscription bearing his name, was “an exceptional find”.  She said it was “the most important ancient Roman monument to come to light for twenty or thirty years”.

The tomb is on the banks of the Tiber near the via Flaminia, north of Rome. Cristiano Ranieri, who led the archeological team at the site, said the tomb had long ago collapsed into the mud but its columns, roof and decorations were intact. Some parts of the tomb had slipped into the river, but had been recovered.

Marcus Nonius Macrinus, born in Brescia in northern Italy, was a general and consul who led military campaigns for Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 AD. He became part of the Emperor’s inner circle and one of his favourites, serving as proconsul in Asia.

In ‘Gladiator’, directed by Ridley Scott, he becomes Maximus Decimus Meridius, also a general and a favourite of Marcus Aurelius.  He  falls from grace and ends up in
exile in North Africa.

He later returns to Rome as a hardened gladiator to take revenge for the murder of his family and of Marcus Aurelius.

There are believed to be plans to reconstruct the tomb as the centrepiece of a ‘Via Flaminia Archeological Park’, which would also include the House of Empress Livia, the wife of Emperor Augustus, at Prima Porta nearby.