Denzel Washington stars as Emperor Macrinus in the epic new movie Gladiator II, but who exactly was this shadowy ruler of Rome?Join Tristan Hughes as he sits down with Dr Alex Imrie and Matilda Brown to explore the real story behind this lesser-known usurper of Rome, a North African-born knight who toppled the fratricidal tyrant Caracalla and took the throne for himself. Discover the dramatic and brutal events that shaped Macrinus' reign, including his conflict with the powerful women of the Severan dynasty and the fateful battles that sealed his fate. Presented by Tristan Hughes. The producer is Joseph Knight, audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sound.
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It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and today, well, we're keeping on the Roman Empire and the real stories of characters that feature in the new epic movie Gladiator 2. Now, in the last episode, I interviewed Dr. Alex Imry from Edinburgh University about the real Roman emperors Caracalla and Geta that have a star role in the new Gladiator film.
That was a fantastic chat exploring the terrible relationship that these two brothers had and how it ultimately ended with Getter's brutal murder in his mother's arms at the hands of Caracalla.
But alongside Caracalla and Getter, there is another central figure in the new Gladiator movie who is based on a Roman emperor, a North African-born knight who toppled Caracalla and took the throne for himself. That man's name was Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington in the new movie.
And in this episode, we're exploring the real Macrinus' story, who he was, his background, his rise to power, his rule and, ultimately, his demise. Now, for this episode, it only felt right to bring back Dr Alex Emery to continue the story from where we left off in the last episode, covering the reign and fall of Caracalla and then the rise of Macrinus.
However, we know how much you love it when we spice things up a bit and have not one but two guests.
So joining Alex, we also have another good friend of the podcast, Matilda Brown, a final year PhD candidate at Edinburgh University, whose main interest is what happens after Macrinus' reign, and the extraordinary women, these Severan Empresses, who rise to the fore and also play a big role in the downfall of Macrinus.
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