promise to be oneof the last of these kind of posts-rome hbo

[Narukami]

Okay WoadWarrior, I just went and got this series on DVD. I watched the first show and took about 8 pages of legal pad notes, but I'll make them smaller and simpler here.

The helmets, shudder, the helmets. They are about 200 years too early, actually coming into the historical record about 200 years later than Julius Caesar's armies. The actual type of helmet would be mainly the various types of Montefortino Helmets, with possibly some early coolus types. For pictures of the real artifacts, try this.
[url:3sz392cf]http://www.freewebtown.com/italica/italic_military/general_italic/armor/helmets/montefortino.html[/url]
and this
[url:3sz392cf]http://www.romancoins.info/MilitaryEquipment-Helmet-montefortino.html[/url]
There are no cute little rings on top, and most hat a neck protector like the bill of a backwards baseball cap. You don't see this in the HBO helmets.

Metal Transverse crest box, again on a helmet from the wrong period, no metal crest boxes have been found/published, so they as just a guess.

Wrong shields. The rectangular scutum comes almost 30-60 years later. The Oval shield is okay for a centurion, again maybe the grandson of the people being portrayed in the film.

.

Nice analysis Caius. Nitpicking -- yes, but your response has the detail that Woadwarrior was asking for. Besides, I liked the information you packed in there, could be a possible essay here on Hollywood Rome.

And speaking of Hollywood...

I think that is exactly why the HBO production team selected those helmets and shields that are obviously from the wrong time period.

You see that error, as do many other members of the Forum, but to the vast majority those very helmets and rectangular scutum mark these soldiers as Roman. Almost everything Hollywood has every given us in terms of Ancient Romans tells us that they used helmets and shields like those in this series. (I guess we should be happy they are wearing mail instead of segmented armor as they did in Spartacus, another film I do enjoy.)

Had these Romans been wearing the correct helmets and using the correct scutum I'm not sure most viewers would recognize them as Romans, and might wonder just why they look so "odd."

"Well into my adulthood, most of what I knew about ancient Rome was learned from Hollywood. ...In my woeful ignorance I was no different from many other educated Americans who have passed from grade school to the postdoctoral level without ever learning anything sensible about Roman History." Michael Parenti, The Assassination Of Julius Caesar page 4.

All that aside, it is still a fun Sword & Sandal Soap Opera. As much as I love I Claudius, Ebusitanus is quite right -- one can re-watch it on disc only so many times.

Thanks again Caius. Points to you for the work you put in on the analysis. (I still think you should consider an extended essay on the historical faults of HBO's Rome. I think it could serve a useful purpose, though I fear that it will fall on deaf ears in Hollywood.)

:wink:

Narukami