Broadcaster and historian Dan Snow has slammed Gladiator IIs historical inaccuracies over a scene showing rhinos in the Colosseum.
Coming to cinemas on Friday November 15, Gladiator II features a host of stars including Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Connie Nielsen.
Beloved Normal People star Mescal stars as Lucius, the grandson of Romes former emperor Marcus Aurelius and son of Lucilla, who must fight for freedom after being taken into slavery.
In one scene of Gladiator II, Mescals character, Lucius Verus, is pitted against a rival fighter standing on top of a rhinoceros, its horns covered with blood.
Snow, whose two-part documentary series about the Colosseum is due to be released in the next few weeks, said this would never have happened because the rhinos would have turned on their handlers.
In one scene of Gladiator II, Mescals character, Lucius Verus, is pitted against a rival fighter standing on top of a rhinoceros, its horns covered with blood
In another scene, the Colosseum, which has digitally recreated to look as it did during its heyday 2,000 years ago, fills with water like a giant bathtub
Broadcaster and historian Dan Snow has slammed Gladiator IIs historical inaccuracies over a scene showing rhinos in the Colosseum
The huge territorial empire existed between 27 BC and AD 476, spanning across Europe and North Africa with Rome as its centre.
Violent gladiator battles were hosted around the empire, including at Romes Colosseum, the remains of which still stand today.
These public spectacles, which drew crowds much like todays football matches, saw men fighting bloody battles to the death.
In one scene of Gladiator II, Mescals character, Lucius Verus, is pitted against a rival fighter standing on top of a rhinoceros, its horns covered with blood.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Snow said: Rhinos are famously grumpy animals. You cant domesticate them… they despise their own keeper, theyre particularly horrible animals.
But he added that those in the movie industry should be allowed to show fantastical visions of the past, even if theyre inaccurate.
Kathleen Coleman, a professor at Harvard Universitys department of classics, points out that gladiators fought other men, not animals.
The people in combat with beasts were a separate category of person – bestiarii, who did not fight other men, Professor Coleman told MailOnline.
Beloved Normal People star Mescal stars as Lucius, the grandson of Romes former emperor Marcus Aurelius and son of Lucilla, who must fight for freedom after being taken into slavery
A new trailer for Gladiator II sees Paul Mescals Lucius Verus seek vengeance against Rome in a blood-soaked battle with his captor general Marcus Acacius
The Normal People star, 28, stars as enslaved former heir Lucius in Ridley Scotts
Professor Shadi Bartsch, a classicist at the University of Chicago, agrees that the depiction of rhino riding isnt quite accurate.
Martial, a Roman poet who often described the action from Romes Colosseum, did write about a rhinos tossing a bull up to the sky in AD 80.
However, it was the one-horn rhino, not the two-horn version shown in the film, and theres no evidence that people rode them, she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Another gripe of Snows was that there is no evidence to support the idea of sharks used in amphitheatres.
In another scene, the Colosseum, which has digitally recreated to look as it did during its heyday 2,000 years ago, fills with water like a giant bathtub.
Even more bizarrely, sharks then fill the arena and proceed to attack fighters that have fallen from a floating ship.
Snow also questioned how they could be kept alive during transportation.
Professor Bartsch believes there is an inaccuracy here, as she doesnt think the Romans knew what a shark was.
However, the Romans did stage naval battles in the Colosseum, meaning it was flooded with water at some point during its ancient history.
Ridley Scotts original 2000 Gladiator film was also blasted for experimenting with the boundaries of fiction and truth.
But he defended his inclusion of sharks in the Colosseum, saying those who say it could never have happened are dead wrong.
With Russell Crowes legendary Maximus long-since dead and buried, it is vengeful Lucius who must fight for his liberty after being taken into slavery and ripped away from his wife and daughter by general Marcus (Pedro Pascal)
The pair use one another to achieve their goals: Macrinuss invasion of Rome and Lucius slaying the general
He told Collider: The Colosseum did flood with water, and there were sea battles. Dude, if you can build a Colosseum, you can flood it with water. Are you joking? And to get a couple of sharks in a net from the sea, are you kidding? Of course they can.
Mescals character is also made made to fight vicious-looking baboons, but Professor Coleman adds that there is no record of this.
She told MailOnline: There is no record of the Romans fighting baboons, or indeed of displaying them in the arena.
When Ridley Scott was recently asked for his response to anyone calling the film historically inaccurate, the director brusquely responded: Get a life.
Professor Bartsch had called the film total Hollywood b*******, although shes since said her comments were very lighthearted with no sniping involved.
She told MailOnline: I certainly didnt mean to take on the Hollywood movie industry!