AbleMedia LLC

MEDFORD, MA - January 16, 2002 Allen Ward is the winner of AbleMedia’s annual Gold Chalice Award for The Movie “Gladiator” in Historical Perspective published on the Classics Technology Center on the Web (CTCWeb, http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb). Ward is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Connecticut. “Look out Mr. Crowe, by exposing the historical inaccuracies in ‘Gladiator,’ a truth seeker wins academic gold,” said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb Editor-in-Chief. “We are overjoyed that we have the opportunity to make this thoughtful and good natured exposé available to the Classics community worldwide.”

In his analysis of “Gladiator”, Ward reveals the movie’s shortcomings, including radically compressed timelines, misquoted Latin texts, and a right-handed, brunette actor cast as the emperor Commodus, who actually was left-handed and blonde. Ward provides an extensive bibliography, including both ancient and modern source materials that guide students to the facts. Ward does not fault the moviemakers for skewing history. On the contrary, he believes “Gladiator” and other movies and books like it, keep modern society interested in the ancient world.

Ward considers it an “excellent” idea to post his examination of “Gladiator” on CTCWeb. “I think that it is important for professional scholars to make available the most accurate information possible to the millions of people who now rely on the Web as their primary research tool,” he said. Ward reported that he was surprised and delighted by the number of people who were exposed to his work and respond to his chronicle of Hollywood inaccuracies. Ward said, “I cannot believe how much correspondence the piece has prompted.”

Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/), the CTCWeb Showcase (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/), and CTCWeb Netshots™ (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots.html). Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.

AbleOne serves millions of educators, students, and other users in over 100 countries and the number of users is tripling annually. AbleOne’s CTCWeb is a repository of practical tools, for classicists and other educators, to enhance the use of computer technology in Classics education. At CTCWeb, students, educators and others find the free dissemination and open exchange of practical educational materials, systems, and applications by individuals and organizations involved in the Classics community. AbleMedia sponsors CTCWeb as part its AbleOne Education Network.

The AbleOne Education Network (AbleOne) is an online educational resource for millions of educators and students at the K-12 and post secondary levels around the globe. For seven years, AbleOne’s has used the Internet to provide quality teaching and learning materials to its rapidly growing corps of dedicated users: educators, students, and other curious minds worldwide. For more about AbleOne go to http://ablemedia.com/ableone.

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AbleMedia LLC is a global management and technology consulting firm. For over a quarter of a century, we have served the best, the brightest and the biggest in business, technology, and education. AbleMedia can be found on the Web at http://ablemedia.com.