Roman army in film

[Geoffrey S]

To all those who think that it's ok to portray history as was done in ROME I would say that the inaccuracies I have highlighted are merely the easiest to demonstrate. Such inaccuracies plague historical dramas of all eras and until the media are willing to listen to the archaeologists and historians they will continue to do so.

As a result an errenous version of history is perpetuated which damages our understanding of the realities of the past.

Damages our understanding of the realities of the past? Quite frankly, a large percentage of the population has no understanding whatsoever about the exact accuracies and probably doesn't care all that much regardless. If they don't care, that's fine, but if they decide on the basis of such a series that they're interested in the subject matter and want to know more they'll very quickly find out that there's more to the Roman army than Lorica Segmentata. As for the rest, they're not bothered and there's know loss (or gain) of historical knowledge.

So how does a series such as Rome damage understanding of actual history? As far as I'm concerned as long as there are still historians and archeologists working to expand knowledge on such matters it won't and can't. I could understand that there would be worries if a popular series were to start portraying recent history in such a way as Rome did for ancient times, since modern history directly influences states and peoples and can easily be abused for propaganda purposes; but whenever that happens there tends to be far more outcry in the press due to the relevant groups mostly still being around to protest today.