Authencity of "Rome" tv show?

[Tartaros]

3. What kind of weapon is that?

Could it be a fasces???
could be the only explanation outside of an medieval hellebard...

[Skullheadhq]

A fasces doesn't exist. Fasces is plural

[Tartaros]

singular fasces
verbum plurale fascis

more common today:
plural subject fascismus
it´s not fascesmus

[Fluvius Camillus]

I really love the series! Awesome characters, and for a commercialized serie, very accurate.

The best characters:

1. Mark Anthony, definately!!! The extreme dick attitude of him made me laugh so much. His foul political play and his jokes are awesome... Who does not remember the scene where he starts peeing in a plantpot, during one of his threatenings to Cicero (S01E04, if not mistaken). And his disrespect for anything suits him so well.

2. Atia, the extremely cunning woman (probably not too realistic). (I swear on Jupiter's black stone that I did not kill your husband - Atia talking to Octavia, denying she murdered Octavia's husband).

3. Vorenus, the serious, fast to anger man, who has much suffering but has an amazing story.

Another good actor, Octavian, his personility really looks like the view I have about Aemilius Paulus, no offence meant if you take that. If you dont understand why, I will go into further detail if necesary.

Battles, GREAT fights, Pullo in the arena, great. Phillipi, awesome! And not to forget the Aventine street fight where Pullo rips out Memmio's tongue.

Amount of sex, it was good, some nice scenes, and probably made more people view (then making more people know the basics of the Romans evolving into an Empire). I really liked the scenes, but that is not the reason I viewed the series.

I probably forgot other points where I express why this serie is so great. I am watching the series a third time and still enjoying!

~Fluvius

[pezhetairoi]

I have to beg to differ with Fluvius on one small point though--I thought Phillipi the most ridiculous Roman battle re-enactment ever. And the battle of Alesia a close second behind. Both were also possibly among the most inaccurate re-enactments in the modern day.

Watching Alesia at the start of the series I went weak at the knees at the fact they were dressed ACCURATELY--then I realised that at Alesia they were supposed to be fighting on ramparts, not in the open field--and then they did that stupid front-row-rotation thing and I realised something was very fishy.

Then came Phillipi, a set-piece battle (apparently) with only a whole bunch of Romans walkinginto each other. Seriously. If you don't throw pila that's fine enough--but already bad enough. But not even bothering to charge? Which army walks to the attack? Not to mention the Romans were in far, FAR too deep a formation. It was just one solid block of men.

Yeah maybe it's because I've studied too much ancient history and played too much EB, but the battles were very much worse than the rest of Rome--which was awesome. And, of course, the fact that there's a voulge (I think that's what it is) in Caesar's tent means that when I get back my access to my Rome discs I shall have to look out for it just so I can chuckle at it.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Nothing portrayed in ROME was accurate, the soldiers were not dressed properly, everthing was archaic or nonsense. The only excpetions be SOME of the mail shirts and scuta.

So all those applauding it for looking good, don't.

[satalexton]

Shouldn't Julius Caesar be pronounced "U-Li-Us Kaisar"? =/ irks me when watching that BBC show....other than the fundamentality of wt the romans really are.....

[Aemilius Paulus]

SOME of the mail shirts and scuta.

The lorica hamata I understand, as I also had the opinion many of them were accurate, but the scutum? The scuta the carried seemed to me as wholly inaccurate due to being more representative of Augustus' legionaries.

[Fluvius Camillus]

I have to beg to differ with Fluvius on one small point though--I thought Phillipi the most ridiculous Roman battle re-enactment ever. And the battle of Alesia a close second behind. Both were also possibly among the most inaccurate re-enactments in the modern day.

Watching Alesia at the start of the series I went weak at the knees at the fact they were dressed ACCURATELY--then I realised that at Alesia they were supposed to be fighting on ramparts, not in the open field--and then they did that stupid front-row-rotation thing and I realised something was very fishy.

Then came Phillipi, a set-piece battle (apparently) with only a whole bunch of Romans walkinginto each other. Seriously. If you don't throw pila that's fine enough--but already bad enough. But not even bothering to charge? Which army walks to the attack? Not to mention the Romans were in far, FAR too deep a formation. It was just one solid block of men.

Yeah maybe it's because I've studied too much ancient history and played too much EB, but the battles were very much worse than the rest of Rome--which was awesome. And, of course, the fact that there's a voulge (I think that's what it is) in Caesar's tent means that when I get back my access to my Rome discs I shall have to look out for it just so I can chuckle at it.

About the battles, I just enjoyed watching the raw slaughter. I did not actually mean they were so realistic.

~Fluvius

[Gabeed]

Actually, for me, the battles were the worst part (besides the overabundance of sex--especially Octavia sex ), not because of their historical inaccuracies, but because of their lack of grandure in every case. I realize that this wasn't a Michael Bay movie in terms of budget, but never did I get the impression that there were actual armies marching along and fighting. I can tell the producers tried hard to give this impression, but it didn't convince me. The worst case of this is when Caesar is trapped with like 12 legionaries in Alexandria by a Ptolemaic force that we don't really see, and the "battle" is merely montaged.

Overall, though, I love the show.

[keiskander]

The little ive read is that Cato most likely did not wear a black toga but rather a purple one since he was abit of a snob.

The series Rome itself i enjoyed alot though.

[IrishHitman]

The little ive read is that Cato most likely did not wear a black toga but rather a purple one since he was abit of a snob.

The series Rome itself i enjoyed alot though.

Purple is a royal colour, I don't think he'd be caught dead wearing purple...

[Ludens]

Purple is a royal colour, I don't think he'd be caught dead wearing purple...

Didn't Clodius propose for the senate that Cato be given the right to permanently wear a purple-bordered toga (like those worn by magistrates) to honour his settlement of Cyprus? He turned it down, if I remember correctly. But even if he didn't, an entirely purple toga would be the height of extravagancy, quite unlike the austere, conservative image that Cato tried to project.

[IrishHitman]

Didn't Clodius propose for the senate that Cato be given the right to permanently wear a purple-bordered toga (like those worn by magistrates) to honour his settlement of Cyprus? He turned it down, if I remember correctly. But even if he didn't, an entirely purple toga would be the height of extravagancy, quite unlike the austere, conservative image that Cato tried to project.

Purple borders and entirely purple are different things entirely.

Purple would be considered traditionally effeminate, royal, Eastern and un-Roman.