Q: Rome is 15 miles inland. If you’re the official marine biologist to the Caesars in 196 A.D., can you think of a way to transport a dozen sharks to the Colosseum alive?

The movie "Gladiator II" features scenes involving rhinos, baboons and sharks. A professor explains whether these animals were actually featured in the Roman Colosseum.

"Gladiator II" shows the Roman Colosseum as it likely never was: filled with water and sharks in order to host bloody sea-battle re-enactments.

Some folks cannot believe the Roman Colosseum was home to man-eating sharks, but the truth isn’t too far removed from Gladiator II’s most outrageous scene.

Were there ever naval battles with sharks in the Colosseum? Unknown. But Scott is willing to believe it was within the realm of possibility, especially since the Colosseum and other parts of ...

Ridley Scott's "Gladiator 2" features a standout action set piece where the Colosseum is filled with water and sharks. Did that actually happen?

Were there ever sharks in the Colosseum? Did gladiators ever really ride rhinos? We asked a (very patient) Roman-history expert all our questions about ‘Gladiator II.’ ...

Roman emperor Domitian is believed to have put on a sea battle in the Colosseum in 85 AD, for instance. The “Gladiator II” naumachia raises the stakes by adding sharks, although that is ...

‘Gladiator II’ Delivers Friends, Romans and Sharks How the Colosseum, filled with water and stocked with predators, becomes the scene of epic naval combat in Ridley Scott’s sequel.

Several Roman writers, including the admiral and naturalist Pliny the Elder, wrote about sharks, and they were depicted in art, including in a second-century BCE mosaic from Pompeii of a ...

The movie "Gladiator II" features scenes involving rhinos, baboons and sharks. A professor explains whether these animals were actually featured in the Roman Colosseum.