Goofs

When Maximus approaches Tigris and he picks up a handful of dirt, the shield disappears from his left hand, then reappears.

Maximus kicks Tigris down, and his mask slides open. In the next shot, Maximus opens Tigris's mask with his ax.

In the Rome-Carthage battle, Maximus rides a white horse, with his sword in his right hand and his shoulder armor on his left shoulder. After the Romans are defeated, his sword is in his left hand and the armor is on his right shoulder. It changes back in the next shot.

When Commodus meets the gladiators in the arena after the battle of Carthage recreation, the gladiators all drop their weapons. Yet after Maximus reveals himself, a wide aerial shot of the arena shows there are no weapons at all lying around the gladiators' feet.

At the gladiator school, Maximus lacerates his left shoulder in an attempt to remove his legionnaires tattoo. But for the rest of the film there is no sign of a scar, or ink residue on his shoulder.

Roman legions always fortified their encampments; they never camped on open space.

Traditional Roman combat strategy of the era taught soldiers to lunge with their swords while under cover of their shields, instead of the hacking seen in the movie.

When Maximus kills one of the tigers, it emits the high-pitched scream of an American mountain lion, which is a purring cat (genus Puma). Tigers (genus Panthera) are roaring cats.

In the one-on-one battle, the sound effects are of constant sword striking sword and not the actual sound of sword striking shield when doing so.

Commodus was Co-Emperpr from 177 to 180CE with his father. There was no doubt he would become sole Emperor, which he was until 192CE.

As the disclaimer states that, while based on true events, the story is a work of fiction. Most liberties taken with costumes, customs, language, geography, architecture, and biography are not counted as goofs, especially when tied to artistic or dramatic decisions. The Colosseum is bigger than it ever was in real life, for filming convenience. Some historical errors, such as stirrups on the horses, are for the stunt performers' safety. Saying that a character would have referred to something like "The Spaniard" in Latin are absurd, when all of the characters are already speaking in modern English.

Characters in the movie smoke cigarettes. Tobacco was introduced to Europe in 1600. However, Romans had smoked cannabis since 100 BCE, and opium since 300 BCE. Marcus Aurelius smoked opium regularly, to sleep and to cope with the difficulty of military campaigns.

The Colosseum in Roman times was referred to as the Flavian Amphitheater and was not called Colosseum until the middle-ages.

The movie was filmed in modern English and its most common name was used so that audiences would understand what was actually being referred to.

Maximus is a general in the professional Roman army but he was Spanish by birth. The Legions were open to any Roman citizen, not just native-born Romans. Since Spain was a Roman province at the time, it's very likely that Maximus was a Roman citizen as well as Spanish native.

Maximus says Rome is corrupt, to which Marcus Aurelius replies "Yet you've never been there". Later, Lucilla refers to her childhood with Maximus. He grew up in Spain, she grew up in Rome. However, many upper-class Romans owned villas outside the city, and Lucilla's family could've had a villa in Spain.

When Maximus takes his helmet off at the end of the Rome-Carthage battle, his fingers make indentations in his helmet, revealing that it's made of rubber.

When Maximus returns home, the tracks in the wheat field could not have been made by a horse-drawn carriage or trailer. If the vehicle was horse drawn the animal would have left a track between the wheel tracks

When the senators stand at the top of the senate stairs to welcome Commodus and Lucilla from the Germanic campaign, some shots show a dark background (curtains or drapes covering the inside of the senate). However, in a few close shots of Gracchus, the background drapes are parted, showing the blue sky behind the actors. That means the room is not the entrance to a large cavernous room like the senate (as shown in the next few scenes), but a set standing-in for the senate entrance.

During the first fight in Zucchabar, Maximus stabs one of the opposing gladiators. The sword passes between the man's side and his arm.

After the fight against Commodus, a piece of sky appears where the Colosseum's upper tiers should be.

In the film, the streets of Rome are very sandy. In reality, they were paved with stones.

During the meeting between Maximus, Gracchus, and Lucilla, a statue of a boxer can be seen behind Maximus. The statue is part of a duo, Creugante and Damosseno, carved by Italian artist Antonio Canova between 1795 and 1806. It is currently in the Vatican Museum.

Locks as portrayed in the movie were not yet invented.

During the chariot battle, a woman in the crowd standing and clapping, near the center of the screen above the entrance, is wearing a pair of modern sunglasses.

During the fight with the tigers, Maximus falls and rolls over, revealing Lycra shorts.

The morning after the battle, when Maximus is petting his horse, a crew member in blue jeans walks backwards through the space underneath the horse's head and neck.

During the Rome vs. Carthage battle, a chariot slides sideways and hits a wall. A blanket lifts up just before it hits, revealing a large tank and some pipe fittings on the back of the chariot.

In the Rome-Carthage battle re-enactment, when one of the archers is cut in two by a chariot's wheel blade, a crew member can be seen kneeling in the chariot.

At the end of the second battle in Zucchabar, Maximus throws his sword. The next shot shows Maximus and his fallen competitors as he taunts the crowd. A crew man, in blue jeans and white t-shirt, and a camera are visible on the left side of the screen, in the first row.

During the fight with the tigers, one of them leaps onto Maximus's back. As he falls down to the ground, the tiger is now on top of a tiger-handler dressed as a gladiator, holding up a big piece of meat for the tiger to eat.

In one scene, you can see the Tiber river from the Colosseum. The Colosseum was built near one of Rome's hills, and no road led directly from there to the river.

As the gladiators head for the entrance of the Colosseum floor to re-enact the Battle of Carthage, the shadow of the boom mic is visible on the right of the screen during the shot showing Maximus heading for the Colosseum entrance.

In the extended edition blu ray release, as the 2 Soldiers who are being sacrificed are being led to their death, there is a long shot showing a sandstone building. 3 crew members wearing modern day clothes and holding a boom Mic can clearly be seen trying to hide around a corner of the building.

In Marcus Aurelius's tent, after the opening battle scene, an officer says Rome was founded as a republic. It was actually a monarchy long before it became a republic.

Gracchus's servant warns him of the Praetorians coming to arrest him by saying, "Praetorians, master!" Earlier in the film, Gracchus's servants were said to be deaf and mute, unable to speak.

Commodus tells Lucius about their ancestors, including Emperor Claudius, who was assassinated in 54 AD. With the murder of Claudius's son, Britannicus, by Claudius's step-son, Nero, in 55 AD, and the earlier murders of the family of Claudius's nephew Caligula by Tiberius, the Julio-Claudian dynasty ended. Commodus's family were of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty, and not descended from Claudius.

After the first fight in the Colosseum, Commodus refers to the battle being reenacted as "The Battle of Carthage." It was actually called "The Battle of Zama," as it took place on the plain of Zama. Carthage stood for decades after Hannibal's defeat, until the 3rd Punic War.