As Lucilla, the sister of the villainous Emperor Commodus, Nielsen brought some much-needed subtlety to the swords-and-sandals epic and held her own sharing the screen with Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe.

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Marcus Aurelius' foolish son Commodus squandered the imperial treasury, and expenses skyrocketed as later emperors launched expensive wars of choice against family enemies, greatly enlarged their imperial armies and raised military salaries.

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