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

[Matt Lukes]

I thought you promised to try not to do all the things I and many others have mentioned- one of them was not asking the same questions again and again...

1. was the city really that dirty and grimy and gritty? was the stone fromt eh temples really that dirty ,and blackened?

Who knows? None of us was there 2000 years ago.

2. Most of the characters faces on the series have this aged kind of dirty look to them, is this the work of makeup, and effects, or could real romans look like that?

Sure at times- the same way a construction worker can look dirty after a long day. The Romans liked baths, so I doubt they looked like that all the time. You're again focusing on what's probably a point in time Francis- even in the show they don't look dirty all the time- only after battles, long marches, days of work, etc.

3. Were there things in this movie that are not historicaly accurate?

Virtually everything has an element of inaccuracy about it- many things are quite wrong or complete fantasy- like the legionary 't-shirt' with the eagle stencil on it. Some 'artist' came up with that one. The mail is wrong, the gladii, pugiones, standards (they're terrible), horse equipment, coins (they're bad too), accents (why all Romans sound English is Hollywood through-and-through)... better to ask what IS accurate- the list would be shorter.

4. Would it be possible for such a story, as Vorenus and pullos be actually true?

Well it's true that some centuriones beat their men- do we have any idea if there was a significant class separation like there was/is(?) in the British Army, for example? I don't think so. I enjoyed the character dynamic, but I don't think there's any way to know if it was realistic

5. was murder that acceptable in ancient rome? where was the justice? could a roman just kill a guy on the street and get away with it?

Well you should remember Antionius complaining that he had to crucify a legionary for killing a citizen...

6.gladiator scene: can flesh really cut that easily? like when pullo chopped of that guys head with his SHIELD is that possible that the flesh cuts (BOBES) like butter?

Not a chance. It's not necessarily to cut off a head with a sword or axe- just look at the execution of Mary Queen of Scots...

7. Were there other dramatic stories like this one that could be told from other times of rome history?

Sure- read Plutarch's Lives, Caesar's Gallic Wars, and any other ancient author you can find. Some is dry, but there are lots of neat tidbits.

8. this is kind of dumb but all well it is important: could ordinary roman have real adventures like say pullo, that we dont know about historically?
or other scenarios happening like for example the whole drama with that baby child lucius?

Sure, why not? As they say, 'truth is stranger than fiction' and 'there's nothing new under the sun'- I mean think about it: you're talking about millions and millions of people over centuries, sure most anything you can imagine happening now probably happened then too...

9. Dialouge: Did romans actually talk like in this series? Did they have conversations about things portrayed in this series? fro example: lucius asking advice about women to vorenus? or other things too!

Sure, why not? If there was a class separation between primus pilus centuriones and regular legionaries, perhaps that actual conversation wouldn't have been likely, but sure people would have discussed things like that- it wasn't easy to research things like it is now, so they had to ask others...

10. Overal look: could this show be actually almost exactly what the roman world look like? was it really that kind of epic, or am I blinded by makeup, and cgi and lighting and effects? could ancient rome and its people look like in this series? naturally?

Yes and no. It was pretty cool visually I think and it was entertaining if you don't get hung up on the inaccuracies, but it was pure Hollywood in a lot of ways- they had the money and ability to get a LOT more right, but chose not to it seems. No one knows exactly what Rome looked like or what everyday society was exactly like- with respect to conversations people had, etc. so for the kabillionth time WE JUST DON'T KNOW :lol: So, just like most everything in the way of movies and even documentaries about Rome, you should consider them entertainment and not definite fact. Better to look at photographs of real places and read real authors than to watch movies and TV- take the latter as entertainment only.