11-16-2006, 04:29 AM
Quote:The total focus of Constantine on Christianity was also totally over the top, making his conflict with Licinius into a war of Christianity against all other gods. It wasn't.
Yes, it seems a lot of the time people like to merge Constantine with Theodosius I. Rome wasn't officially Christian until the latter reigned.
I thought this episode on Constantine was incomplete. Too much was left out like : the founding of Constantinople (it wasn't even mentioned), his mother Helena who made an Imperial pilgrimage to the Holy Land in part to atone for Constantine's execution of his wife and son (his son wasn't mentioned at all !), and his successful wars across the Danube.
I agree with Mithras about the actor chosen to play Constantine. He was too haggard to play the role. A robust-looking, thirty-something year old should've been cast instead. Besides appearences, I think Mithras is right about him playing a bit of a madhatter. Constantine was first and foremost a military man, the best general of his day.
So, in the end I think we got a somewhat distorted view of what he was like. But it was my favorite episode as well. The first three were very well done, IMO. I think they should've skipped Nero and done one of the five "great" emperors instead so that there isn't a two hundred year gap.
Theo
Jaime
