Despite the film's supposedly historically grounded approach, much
artistic licence is taken regarding historical figures, peoples, events, religion, wardrobe, and weaponry. The film places the story of Arthur not in its better-known medieval setting, but in the (still plausible) earlier times of
antiquity, the early dawn of the
Middle Ages – as did the earliest versions of the Arthur story. It would appear that the Arthur depicted in the film is based most closely upon
Ambrosius Aurelianus, the
Romano-Briton who fought against the Saxons in the 5th century, and was probably the leader of the Romano-British at the
Battle of Mons Badonicus (Mount Badon). Nevertheless, Arthur's full name in the film is
Artorius Castus, referring to
Lucius Artorius Castus, a historical Roman active in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century. It is specified that Arthur was given the ancestral name of a legendary leader. The film is loosely based on the "Sarmatian hypothesis", formulated by C. Scott Littleton and Ann C. Thomas in 1978, which holds that the Arthurian legend has a
historical nucleus in the
Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops stationed in Britain, referencing the similarities between the legends of king Arthur and the older legends of Nartian king
Batraz. In the 2nd century, 5,500
Iazyges were transported there as
auxiliaries during the
Marcomannic Wars.
Roman political issues In the film, the
Roman legions withdraw from Britain in AD 467; in reality,
this was completed in the year 410, nearly 60 years before. Similarly, the opening text dictates that "King Arthur and his
Knights rose from a real hero who lived [...] in a period often called the Dark Ages". The film, however, is set in 467. Some count the
Dark Ages as beginning in
Sub-Roman Britain, after the last
Emperor of the
Western Roman Empire,
Romulus Augustus, was deposed by
Odoacer in 476, nine years after the date for the setting of the film. The current Roman Emperor in the film's time would have been
Anthemius. The Roman family which Arthur rescues lives north of
Hadrian's Wall (in modern Scotland). Such a mission would be unlikely. At times there were Roman expeditions and forts as far north as
Cawdor, near Inverness. There were periods, during the 2nd century, when Romans occupied areas as far north as the
Central Lowlands (such as modern
Falkirk, where pieces of the
Antonine Wall are still visible). Romanized client states such as that of the
Votadini did exist north of the wall even into the
Sub-Roman era. In general, however, Hadrian's Wall represented the extent of Roman rule in Britain.
Britons and Saxons The
Picts are called "
Woads". This word is a reference to one plant the Picts may have used to make blue paint; In an interview Antoine Fuqua stated that they used "Wodes" (
sic) instead of "Picts" because they thought the latter sounded "a little weird". Nevertheless, John Matthews said in an online article that the name substitution was "meant to echo similar belittling titles given to enemies". According to the
Chronicle Cynric succeeded Cerdic as king of
Wessex in 534 (Cerdic was the founder of the kingdom). Thus the two could not have died at the battle of
Mount Badon. The battle is thought to have been fought sometime between 490 and 516. The Saxons are shown attacking Hadrian's Wall from the north. By 467 the Saxons were already occupying parts of Britain far south of the wall. Later in the film, Cerdic stops a warrior from raping a woman because it would lead to less-than-pure Saxon blood. This scene references the long-held belief that the
Anglo-Saxons eradicated the Romano-Britons from the eastern part of the island. This contention, largely based on linguistic evidence, continues to be debated. Some historians (and fiction writers) have even suggested that Cerdic himself was at least part Briton. His name "Cerdic" has been argued to be a
Germanised form of a
Celtic name such as
Ceretic or
Caradoc.
Military technology Historically, Sarmatians were armoured in the manner of
cataphracts (full-length coats of
scale armour); the film's Sarmatians are armoured with a mishmash of pseudo-Roman, Turkish, Mongol and Hunnic designs. The Saxons historically used
bows (to a limited extent) and
spears instead of
crossbows during the period. Though there is evidence for the use of some form of crossbows by Romans (calling them
manuballistae) and, some claim, the Picts, The Eastern Roman Empire, however, used the traction trebuchet as early as the 6th century. Roman soldiers displayed in the film are depicted as
legionaries with 2nd century armour different from that used later.
Religious inaccuracies The real
Pelagius was a monk, not a bishop. He engaged
Saint Augustine of Hippo in a debate on the theological issue of the relationship between
grace and
free will. However, the film confuses the issue of political freedoms and social choices (which were not issues in political debate in the 5th/6th centuries) with the principle of free will in relationship to God. When Arthur informs the people that "You ...were free from your first breath!",
Roger Ebert notes that he is both "anticipating by a millennium or so the notion that all men are born free, and overlooking the detail that his knights have been pressed into involuntary servitude." The
Pelagian heresy denied
original sin with its doctrine of the bondage of the will and the need for healing by God's grace.
St. Germanus of Auxerre's second (and last) mission to Britain was twenty years before (447 AD) and he died the following year. Germanus is venerated as a
saint by the
Catholic Church,
Eastern Orthodox Church and
Anglican Communion and, although portrayed in the film as a cruel and pompous aristocrat, historically he "extended his hospitality to all sorts of persons, washed the feet of the poor and served them with his own hands, while he himself fasted." The film implies that the Pope (who in 467 was
Pope Hilarius) was in control of the
Western Roman Empire, although it was actually ruled by the
Emperor through
praetorian prefects, with military units under the control of
magistri militum. The Pope would not gain the political power to grant lands and other comparable privileges until centuries after the setting of the film. The film seems to be implying a literal interpretation of the
Donation of Constantine, a document purportedly written in the 4th century, but in actuality an 8th-century forgery.
Promotion Elements of the film's promotion have likewise been criticized as historically unsound. Its tagline "The True Story Behind the Legend" has been criticised as false. A trailer for the film claims that historians now agree that Arthur was a real person because of alleged "recent" archaeological findings, yet there is no consensus amongst historians on Arthur's historicity and no recent archaeological find proves Arthur's existence; the so-called "
Arthur stone", discovered in 1998 in securely dated 6th century contexts amongst the ruins at
Tintagel Castle in
Cornwall, created a stir but has subsequently been of little use as evidence. ==Reception==