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Anachronisms (7) |
Continuity (2) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (1) |
Revealing mistakes (5) |
Spoilers (3)
Anachronisms
A truck drives along the hills behind a battle scene.
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Slave extras wearing wristwatches and sandshoes.
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Antoninus is wearing a Rolex watch
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A map of Italy can be seen in Spartacus' camp tent (it is prominently featured in the scenes involving the pirate emissary), which is far too accurate for the times of the movie.
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Slaves digging with steel shovels of a pattern invented in the early 20th century instead of Roman wooden spades.
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The trainer blows a pea-whistle to call in the slaves. The first pea-whistle wasn't invented until the 19th century, although the Romans are known to use other whistles on board slave-galleys in order to keep the correct pace.
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In the opening credits, there's a shot of a plaque with the letters "ECXXI" written on it. At first glance, they appear to be Roman numerals, but the letter "E" was never used to represent a number during Roman times. In fact, the only time the letter "E" was ever used as a Roman numeral was hundreds of years later during the Middle Ages, where it was used to represent the number 250, but it is no longer used in modern times.
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Continuity
While in the senate house Gaio Giulio Cesare is wearing the traditional white robe trimmed with a purple border, however when he walks out onto the steps with Gracchus he is wearing a gray robe trimmed with white vine leaves.
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During the gladiator battle, the black slave just barely catches the right heel of Spartacus with his net, tipping him over. In the next shot, the net is tightly bound around both his knees.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs
This is a romantic allegory of 20th century social ills, using an ancient setting to make a point (see trivia). It is not a historical documentary, nor a biopic. Though many of the main characters were real people, they are used fictitiously, as explained in the ending disclaimer. Most apparent errors in costume, custom, design, dialect, politics, armaments, etc., are specifically exempt from this list for the same reason.
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Revealing mistakes
During the scene where the slaves are storming a wall, the slaves who die at the wall can be seen rolling under it to jump over again later.
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As the gladiators revolt, a Roman soldier is killed, falls off a balcony and then crawls into a partially opened door below the balcony.
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During the final battle sequences the slaves drag down burning hay rollers. One of the slaves in Sparacus's army overshoots the end of the run and a Roman soldier generously drops his sword in order to catch him.
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In the main battle scene toward the end, there is a soldier lying "dead" on the ground that clearly repositions himself as others fight around him so that he isn't stepped on.
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During the gladiatorial battle between Spartacus and the black gladiator, the sword Spartacus is using is clearly shown as a prop sword with a retractable blade.
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Spoilers
Continuity
The length of Kirk Douglas' hair varies between scenes. When, after the final battle, he is captured and led to Rome, his hair is much longer than before the battle. But when he later fights Antoninus, his hair is short again.Share this
Factual errors
In the fight scene at the gladiator school, when Draba has Spartacus against the wall with the trident at his neck, he looks to the audience to see if he should kill him, and receives the thumbs-down. The movie makes it evident that Draba is supposed to kill Spartacus. However, historically the Romans used the thumbs-down signal to spare the combatant (literally, to thrust their weapon into the dirt), and thumbs-up to kill them.Share this
Revealing mistakes
When climbing the balcony during the revolt, Draba reacts to being hit with the spear before it actually reaches him.Share this
