BBC The Rise and Fall of an Empire

[Nathan Ross]

the falcata bearing celtiberian warriors of the Numantine war.

I was so busy looking out for the Romans I missed the Numantines, I'm afraid! But I couldn't really comment on their accuracy either! What did you think of them?

What historical dramas are there that do a good job of portraying ancient Roman life?

Actually, HBO/BBC's Rome didn't do a bad job. Some of the costumes were a bit wonky (silly hats, bracers, women's outfits generally), but the sets were very convincing, particularly the central area around the Forum.

The best reconstruction of Roman life I've ever seen, however, was a (UK) Channel 4 production from 2002, called Private Lives of Pompeii. I recorded it at the time, but lost the tape and I've never see it anywhere since. It was a feature-length drama documentary, with stories acted out in Latin, filmed in the actual ruins of Pompeii with touches of CGI to fill in a few background details. Did anybody else see it, I wonder?



The script was written by Alex Butterworth, who also wrote a good book about Pompeii. There's an article by him here about the programme, but it's mainly a critique of Mary Beard (!), with response from Ms Beard herself...

- Nathan