its a very grey area to be sure :)


Historical inaccuracy

The three playable Roman factions are named after three of the most famous Romans of the Republican era, Julius Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus, and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. There were no "Scipii" or "Brutii" families. Both were cognomina- a third name that labeled one as a member of a specific family within a larger clan. The family of Marcus Junius Brutus would have been the "Junii", while Scipio Africanus would have belonged to the "Cornelii." (NOTE: Sometimes a family had also been named after the cognomen of a famous family member. For example, the form "Scipiadae" would be plausible (cf. Vergilius Aeneis VI. 843). Using the form Brutii and Scipii also proves the developer's lack of Latin language knowledge, see below.) This stratification into specific families is difficult, however, since during the Republic there were so few noble Roman families, and they were constantly intermarrying. See Roman Naming Convention for more information.

The three-faction Roman system in the game is entirely ahistorical. In fact, the Roman Republic was ruled exclusively by the Senate (which had substantially more power than is reflected in the game) and the various assemblies. Individual families might rule small provinces, but expansions to the empire would have been assigned to new governors, not left to the generals who conquered them. Generals, too, were selected by the Senate and assemblies, and the roles of governorship and generalship were not as conflated as they are in the game. There were cases where influential politicians such as Julius Caesar could quite possibly serve as both generals and governors, but they would only occur during the later Republic.

The primary reason for the three-faction system is to simulate the civil war that ultimately resulted in the end of the Roman Republic. Furthermore, while the Julii may hypothetically be correctly said to be Imperialists because Julius Caesar became the first dictator perpetuus, the precursor to the modern understanding of Roman Emperor (which his successor, Augustus Caesar, would assume), Brutus was thoroughly Republican and is in fact famous for having killed Julius Caesar after he was granted absolute power through the office of dictator perpetuus by the Senate; theoretically speaking, the family of Brutus would not have imperial ambitions. This inaccuracy is glaringly apparent in the Brutii introductory cut scene in which the narrator scoffs at the right of the masses to rule themselves.

In addition, although perhaps more trivially, the names are declined incorrectly. While the plural of Julius is indeed Julii, the plural of Brutus is Bruti, not Brutii. Likewise, the plural of Scipio is Scipiones, instead of Scipii. Latin words are, in general, wholly or partially Anglicized in pronunciation; velites (Classical Latin /weːliteːs/) is pronounced /vɛlɪtes/ instead of the expected /vɛlɪtiz/ (compare the ending sounds of the English word indices). Similarly, the C in principes is pronounced as a hard [k] as in Classical Latin instead of the [s] expected for English. See Latin declension and Latin pronunciation.

Many of the units are ahistorical as well. For example, the Urban Cohorts are depicted as the highest elite of the Roman Army, but in fact were a combined fire brigade and night watch. The arcani were a group of agents provocateurs and spies, rather than the heavily armoured pseudo-ninjas they are portrayed as in the game.

The Romans are not the only factions with ahistorical units. Druids, like those used in-game by the Barbarians, were in fact excused from military service in Celtic culture, being vital to the operation of organized village life. A totally invented unit is the British Head Hurlers, who hurl decapitated heads coated in quicklime. Severed heads were a valuable trophy in Celtic culture, and would never have been used as ammunition. The phalanx formation which the Germans employ in the game is also ahistorical, since Roman authors are emphatic that the only military formation employed by the Germani was the wedge, and the idea of pikes as Germanic weapons is contradicted by archeology as well as Tacitus (Germania Ch.6). Some units, such as wardogs and flaming pigs, were used, but never to anything like the extent depicted.