UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” seems to have everything an action movie set in ancient Rome needs — power-hungry elites, epic gladiator battles, a rampaging rhino and sharks in Rome’s famous Colosseum. But did Roman emperors really use a thumbs up to spare the losing fighter’s life?  

In this video, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts experts Mathias Hanses, Melvin and Rosalind Jacobs Endowed Fellow in the Humanities and associate professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies and African studies, and Jake Nabel, Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and assistant professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies, react to the new “Gladiator II” movie, parsing ancient Roman fact from Hollywood fiction. 

Watch the video by clicking the image above or on Penn State's YouTube channel.