The Order of Orgies

Abstract

When the movie Gladiator (2000) was released, critics, scholars, and general audience members alike quickly noted a specific absence in the film: the Roman orgy. John Simon titled his review, “What, No Orgy?”¹ Another critic, Andrew Sarris, likewise emphasized the absence of orgies in his title: “Russell Crowe in a Toga, but not a Single Orgy.”² Other viewers praised director Ridley Scott precisely “for not turning Gladiator into another cheap sexploitation epic of Roman imperial orgies.”³ Scott himself rather laconically defended his choice of not including orgies: “I didn’t want any orgies because orgies are boring.”⁴