\'Battle For Rome\' On Military Channel USA

[Methos]

Salve all! I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that The Military Channel (in the USA) shall be airing the first three installments of a series entitled 'Battle For Rome' tomorrow night, Friday, March 14th, commencing at 8PM (Eastern Standard Time).

The first episode, airing at 8PM EST, focuses on Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and his efforts to legislate land reform. The second episode, airing at 9PM EST, focuses on the exploits of Gaius Julius Caesar. Whilst the third episode, airing at 10PM EST, focuses on Nero.

The series continues and concludes, commencing at 8PM EST on Saturday, March 15th. Saturday's 8PM installment focuses on Titus Flavius Vespasian and the Jewish Revolt. The 9PM installment focuses on Emperor Constantine; and the 10PM installment concludes the series with an episode focusing on Alaric I and the eventual sacking of Rome.

This series has aired on Military Channel before, but I wanted to give the heads up to any RAT members who might've missed it the first go around. It's also aired in the UK, via the BBC, under the title 'Rise and Fall of Rome'. I've been lucky enough to track down the unedited BBC version online and have noticed that the Military Channel has edited some bits and pieces of the series, especially with regard to the Nero episode. Yet, I highly recommend this series to anyone who might've missed it!!

[Renius]

Methos, thanks for the heads up. A series worth watching again .

[Methos]

Glad someone got the good word on this Renius! )

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I think I have this on DVD.......I see our blue shields in it, albeit with unfamiliar faces.....unless it is a different show of course! :roll: :?

[Magnus]

Yeah, I have all 6 episodes on DVD...very, very good!

[Methos]

Magnus, do you by chance have a region 1 copy of this series on DVD? I did a bit of poking around for a region 1 copy of this series on DVD, a few weeks ago, to no avail. Oh, and please, please, please tell me that it's unedited??

I was lucky enough to track down this series on Youtube, albeit with Portuguese subtitles and saw it in all it's unedited glory, before recording it on Military Channel. I'm fairly sure the BBC initially released this series under the title 'Rise and Fall of Rome'. The folks at Discovery/Military Channel made some fairly annoying edits to virtually all of the episodes. Some of the edits were due to language and 'adult content' (which is puzzling, given that the Military Channel doles out carnage like a generous household doles out candy on Halloween).

Yet, it was the edits that were likely for purposes of commercial time restraints that were most annoying. In the Gracchus episode, there were some bleeps and an edit of Tiberius' confrontation with Mancaeneus prior to his entreaty to the Numantians (methinks they edited bits of the Numantians surrounding the Roman Legion as well). I can't recall edits in the Caesar episode. Nero was edited a good bit (any reference to the forcible 'gender alteration' to the slave Nero came to delusionally call 'Pompea', along with the dinner sequence that involved his assasination plot). I'm sure the remaining installments have a few bits trimmed here and there as well.

Despite the edits, the series is still enjoyable and well worth watching. Yet, I would love to get a hold of this, unedited, on region 1 DVD!!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Sounds like a different show to the one I am thinking of.
Will look out for it!

[Marcus Hortensius Castus]

I watched something on google videos about this, but I think it was a different show altogether. It went on at the start about how Emperors were the mainstay of Rome's power, when in fact it seems that they forgot about the Republic altogether...

[Theodosius the Great]

Avete,

The episode on the Jewish Revolt, "Rebellion", has finally been uploaded on YouTube :

[url:3exu2v9y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cn9bP06KFs&feature=related[/url]

This was by far the best episode although they were all, generally speaking, very well done.
Great acting, reasonably good armor and clothing, good battle scenes, and good politcal analysis.
(Martin Goodman, the author of the recent book "Rome and Jerusalem", was the historical advisor for this episode.

Unlike the aired version in the US, which was heavily butchered, this is uncut - a full 60 minutes.
And it will have to serve for viewers in North America until and if it is ever released for Region 1 DVD players

I still don't know how a stone temple can "burn" down though :?

Anyway, enjoy !

~Theo

[john m roberts]

The Bible does specify a lot of timber used in building the temple. Hiram of Tyre sold Solomon whole shiploads of the famous cedars of Lebanon, as well as providing workmen (the Hebrews weren't much into monumental architecture in those days.) The roofing and support beams were probably mainly timber, as well as a lot of the internal furnishings. Cedar is oily wood and burns very hot. So, I imagine enough heat would be generated to destroy the stone as well.

[Theodosius the Great]

The roofing and support beams were probably mainly timber

If true I wonder if that was done to cut down on cost. Goodman wrote that the most modern state-of-the-art building techniques were used to build the Temple, Caesarea, etc...Herod was such a spendthrift so maybe he was running low on funds and decided to cut corners ?

The Bible does specify a lot of timber used in building the temple.

Hmm...I don't know any of the passages. But I imagine a lot of timber would be needed in any scenario to build scaffolding and cranes.

~Theo