11-04-2005, 03:27 PM
I think they don't want to confuse the audience with Roman naming customs so they're going with the names everyone is familiar with, primarily from Shakespeare: "Octavian", "Marc Antony" and "Pompey" instead of Gaius Octavius, Marcus Antonius and Pompeius. I don't blame them. This is a minor quibble I can live with. I had a harder time swallowing Caesar's statement to the chief augur that he was "a simple soldier, unfamiliar with religious matters." He was pontifex maximus, for Jupiter's sake. He ruled on all aspects of Roman religion. And don't get me started on Cleopatra and the Alexandrian court. Overall, though, I find it a very superior production, way ahead of any other tv Classical drama.
Pecunia non olet