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I like the series a lot. And if the relative attention to detail inspires a few thousand kids to go out and learn more about the real history of the times, then it has done a great service. Compared to most of the TV/Hollywood baloney, this series at least tries to depict the people and the mores of Late Republican Rome as something different, instead of the usual "everyone throughout history thinks and acts just like 21st century Americans".
Well there is that, it doesn't pander to modern political or social mores, it is about the collapse of the Republic.
Zak: Ave, Imperator Cicero!
The sex offended you because it wasnt accurate or it offended you because it was sex?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wigferth Ironwall
I've never heard the Romans were sexually up-tight...
It offended me because I thought it was gratuitus.
Caesar, Pompey and Mark Antony were all riddiculed for being amerous, Mark Antony and Caesar were further jeered at for being gay. Roman matrons were expected to lie there respectfully and do nothing during the act, otherwise they were whores.
Giving in to sexual urges was un-manly and therefore un-Roman.
Sex sells. And, hey, everybody knows the Romans were a bunch of debauched horny pervs... right ? ~;pQuote:
Originally Posted by Wigferth Ironwall
I can just see the marketing guys' eyes start to glitter at the mere thought of all the gratuitious pr0n that could be put in to improve the ratings and sex up the image advertising...
An excellent series.
I dont think the sex was/is gratuitous really. At all. Infact it just seems perfectly normal.
Just cause theres some boobies flying about...
Well I have to say I thought the first episode was rather well done. Octavian is a spoiled little prat of course but I paticularly like his cunning and intellectualism. Im currently reading the new biography "Augustus" actually.
One thing I do not understand, who was the old man, Im assuming a priest of sorts, certainly not a pontiff-- who was tending to Vorenus in the alleyway? what was up with that? He asked him to "awaken him". Im not familliar at all.. or maybe ive forgotten something.
I greatly enjoyed the first season as well....despite its inaccuracies. I thought it was pretty well done given the fact that most movies/shows tend to "Hollywoodize" everything as opposed to showing them as they are/were.
My biggest complaint about season 1 was the overall lack of battle scenes. I wish they would shown more for the battle/seige of Alesia, and shown some battle scenes for Pharsalus, the seige and battle that took place in Egypt, the battle of Thapsus, and the final battle of Munda.
I have not yet watched the 1st episode of season 2 that aired last night. I am waiting to finish rewatching season one (am currently on episode 8 or 9). My DVR is set to record it though. (Gotta love the DVR) I, also, watched 24 instead of Rome. Hopefully I will get to watch that first episode of season 2 before the end of the week.
Zaknafien.... Ever watched the movie Augustus starring Peter O'Toole that came out in 2003? Not sure how accurate it is though. I haven't done a lot of reading on Augustus yet. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good all things considered. For you or anyone else that is interested here is a link to the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340529/
Maybe in the Republic circa 140 BC, but if the ruins of Pompeii are any indication, that certainly wasn't the case shortly after Caesar's time and it's doubtful it was the case DURING his time either. The Romans produced a rather prolific collection of erotic art, and it certainly wasn't confined to bordellos and whore houses. By Caesar's time there was a large population of powerless slaves who, as pretty well documented, were used as objects for satiating sexual desire without a second thought.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wigferth Ironwall
Octavian ended up banishing his own daughter because she basically slept with everyone in Rome.
Octavian himself had tons of mistresses.
So, I'm not really sure where you get the idea that the depiction in the series is that far off-base.