Accuracy of HBO Series: Rome (would like opinions before buy

[Historylover]

Thanks guys so much, I'll be looking for a deal on it . All the best, Jonathan

[Narukami]

Best Buy has a current special on for the second season of Rome. I believe Circuit City does as well. This deal probably originates with HBO so it may well be available at Amazon too.

You might check the BB web site.

Good luck and happy viewing!

:wink:

Narukami

[Na Saighdiuir]

Hmmm gotta get me the second season now!!!The first seasons getting lonely up on my shelf

[Libitina]

I'm coming in late but BUY IT BUY IT.

It may not be accurate but my, is the cast pretty.

I've seen the two series on TV. Got the 2nd season on DVD at christmas but it's still waiting to perved over again. Viewed. I meant viewed again.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Your just all in a fluster there young lady :wink: :lol:

[Virilis]

I managed to get through about 5 episodes, and found it all extremely tedious and unlikely. Characters like Caesar and Antony didn't seem to bear any relation to what I thought was known about them, so I didn't trust any of the others, either. The 2 main characters are not only present at every major event of the end of the Republic, but seem to CAUSE them all as well! Bad costuming, lousy armor and weaponry. Sorry, but it just never grabbed me, and I really tried.

Matthew

Exactly my opinion too! There is a complete "lack" of athmosphere in it and I stopped watching it too after five episodes. The "realistic behaviour" (sex & violence) of the romans was just cheesy, calculated and unconvincing...

[Wander]

An interesting note of trivia: Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenius were both real Roman soldiers, though unlike in the series they were both centurions. Apparently there was some heroic exchange of saving each other's lives in battle, which got mentioned in Caesar's account, and that's probably where the writers got the names.

The rest of their story, as depicted in the show, is fiction, but very entertaining. For my money, the one thing the show did better than anyone else is to show us what Rome probably really looked like, based on the best current research (and budget limitations!).

Wander/ Wayne Anderson

(sorry, forgot the name first time)

[Senovara]

I really enjoyed both seasons! True, it bends history and costuming is inaccurate here and there, but the sets are really spectacular, and i loved how they designed the streets and homes.

The cast are all talented actors, so i think you will be entertained.

My only quibble is how they portrayed Cleopatra. Not the actress, but I mean how they wrote her.

Enjoy!

.. btw Wander, please add a signature and put your real name in it. It's a forum rule! Thanks.

[Robert Vermaat]

you will be entertained.

Ooh, now you're sounding just like Commodus! Scary. :wink:

[Sean Manning]

My only quibble is how they portrayed Cleopatra. Not the actress, but I mean how they wrote her.

That was one of the things that bugged me about season 2. They basically followed all the Augustan propaganda about a selfish, scheming Oriental vixen sapping the strength from sturdy Roman men. Its sad that 2,000 years later that is still an effective message. But I did like the show over all.

[Julilla]

Well, I fear that selfish, scheming oriental vixens just make for more interesting cinema to some producers than intelligent and capable female heads of state!

[Wander]

Interestingly, when I talked with Steven Saylor, he said the things he disliked most about the HBO series were 1) their portrayal of Cleopatra, and 2) the low-budget presentation of Alexandria.

While I can excuse the latter complaint due to budget limits (and the show wasn't cancelled due to poor ratings, but because it was so expensive), it wouldn't have cost any more to present Cleo as the brilliant woman that she was.

I had heard rumors of a "Rome" movie, but that was before the set at Cinecitta was damaged by fire. Anybody know anything about it since then?

[Julilla]

Interestingly, when I talked with Steven Saylor, he said the things he disliked most about the HBO series were 1) their portrayal of Cleopatra, and 2) the low-budget presentation of Alexandria.

I imagine he would! I've met Steven a couple of times at historical symposia; he declared to hold a soft spot in his heart for Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra.

[Historylover]

Just wanted to say thank you guys again and tell you that I picked up Season 1 .

Have viewed part of Episode 1 and I really like what I see so far...could have done without the sex scene right off the bat no less than 12 minutes into it LOL but Im afraid thats more the military historian in me...MORE BLOOD AND FIGHTING! LOL Although I will say the girl was certainly exquisite and good looking. So far I also really love the guy whos playing Caesar, so far its just as I imagined him when reading about him, he just seems to have captured the character and made it his. (Ala Johnny Depp and Jack Sparrow)

Its a shame they portrayed Cleopatra that way...everything Ive ever read on her said that she was brilliant but perhaps not as beautiful as described, that rather her beauty was her intelligence and thats what attracted the Romans to her.

Then my g/f called and asked me what I was doing and she quickly reminded me that she had wanted to try it out with me (shes not too big on Military History stuff but love and intrigue she loves)...I was shocked I had forgotten such a momentousness occasion that she actually wanted to watch something like this with me. LOL So I put it back in the box to be viewed by us during the weekend . All the best, Jonathan

[Graham Sumner]

This might be of interest

Rome Series One: History Makes Television.

Edited by Monica S. Cyrano. (Blackwell 2008)

Hb £50 Pb £19.99 available from Oxbow Books.

A series of articles by various scholars on the series and it's authenticity.
Graham.