Roman army in film

**Centurion Crastinus** · 08-22-2007, 02:50

What movie or movies most historically shows the way that Legionaires fought, looked, or behaved. Also, why was it that the Roman soldiers in The Passion of the Christ had lorica segmentata that appeared as if it were made of leather. Is there something that I'm missing?

**russia almighty** · 08-22-2007, 03:04

Cheap bastards in budget and or costume design ? When people think of legions they tend to think of the LS armored legions . Not the Earlier chain covered ones or the Camilian ones .

I would love to see a movie with Camilian legions going against Phyruss of Eprius .

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · 08-22-2007, 04:32

I can't think of any movies with extremely accurate Roman Legions. But if the movie is about the middle of the Emperial timeframe, AD0-AD200ish, LS isn't necessarily bad to have.

**GracchusTheGreat** · 08-22-2007, 09:32

The opening scene of the first episode of HBO's "Rome" series shows Caesar's legions fighting against Gauls, complete with unit rotation and the Romans' good-ol' shield-bashing and quick-stabbing. The second season has a portrayal of the battle of Philippi, in which the clashing armies eventually lose their cohesion entirely. Not at all like RTW. At one point, Octavian Caesar asks Marc Antony, "Are we winning?" To which Antony replies, "Beats me. When all else fails, Attack!" So far this series is the best you can hope to see of Roman combat.

And of course there's Gladiator. I wouldn't bother.

**Thaatu** · 08-22-2007, 09:58

Well Gladiator did have the battle against the furballs, which was pretty atmospheric, if not accurate.

**sass** · 08-22-2007, 10:15

I believe the Units in the Passian that have leather are temple guards not roma military..Im not certen but the legians did not wear battle gear unless on campian or in the field..or patrol..the wiping scean is while in the fortress and there would be no need to have city milita wearing expensive armor becouse thats what thy where urban local millita leather is somewhat apporeate we really have no idea what the axillary units wore

so anything go's

Also the best fighting men are not going to be set watching and killing Prisoners..thy would be in there barracks or out side of the citys away from the vices of the everday people

So i'm certen that retired or ageing or local men at arms would have assisted the gov in dealing with small petty affers such as tending the jails and handing down roman law..the tenth legian marching and wiping jesus

very laughable.

On a side note..alot of the old roma military hardware was given to the old stock and city milita so leather and old bits of armor wouldent be so much out of place

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · 08-22-2007, 19:34

Originally Posted by Thaatu

Well Gladiator did have the battle against the furballs, which was pretty atmospheric, if not accurate.

One of the funniest things about that battle, beside the completely incorrect representation of the Roman military, is the fact they are fighting in a 'clear-cut'. It is clearly a modern tree plantation with a fresh clear-cut in it.

**Geoffrey S** · 08-22-2007, 10:04

There was a good short series with each episode being about a particular great Roman. They used sets and costumes from various larger productions, and the overall effect was great. Some of the actors were very good (Nero), and for a limited budget they got some really nice battles (Gracchus as a young man attacking Carthage and the siege of Jerusalem were particularly nice) in some cases showing tactics very well (Pharsalus) with correct pre-Imperial uniforms. It wasn't great, and at times looked very cheap, but in general I was very impressed at what they managed to achieve.

**Helgi** · 08-27-2007, 15:43

Originally Posted by Geoffrey S

There was a good short series with each episode being about a particular great Roman. They used sets and costumes from various larger productions, and the overall effect was great. Some of the actors were very good (Nero), and for a limited budget they got some really nice battles (Gracchus as a young man attacking Carthage and the siege of Jerusalem were particularly nice) in some cases showing tactics very well (Pharsalus) with correct pre-Imperial uniforms. It wasn't great, and at times looked very cheap, but in general I was very impressed at what they managed to achieve.

Yes, I saw that one, with Gracchus, in Carthage, one of his men was dresses as a Hastai, with the plate covering his solar plexis. Totally loved the battle of Carthage and the pre-Marian uniforms shown.

**Maeran** · 08-22-2007, 17:01

Originally Posted by russia almighty

Cheap bastards in budget and or costume design ? When people think of legions they tend to think of the LS armored legions . Not the Earlier chain covered ones or the Camilian ones .

I would love to see a movie with Camilian legions going against Phyruss of Eprius .

I'd like to see something along the lines of 'the life of Camillus', but I have no illusions of it happening on film.

There was a mini series on Hannibal which had pretty good Iberian, and Celtic gear. I only saw Scipio senior for the Romans though and his breastplate didn't look good. But then I only saw the first episode, which got Hannibal across the Alps- just.

Just spent the last 20 minutes trying to find it on the net, but can't. Lots of other Hannibal projects, including one from National Geographic. Too much to hope for?

**Primative1** · 08-22-2007, 17:20

Originally Posted by Maeran

There was a mini series on Hannibal which had pretty good Iberian, and Celtic gear. I only saw Scipio senior for the Romans though and his breastplate didn't look good. But then I only saw the first episode, which got Hannibal across the Alps- just.

Just spent the last 20 minutes trying to find it on the net, but can't. Lots of other Hannibal projects, including one from National Geographic. Too much to hope for?

This is it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0766213/

I'm no expert but the battle scenes looked very good/authentic.

**Maeran** · 08-22-2007, 17:36

That's the bunny.

**Rodion Romanovich** · 08-23-2007, 14:07

Originally Posted by mjmehrer07

What movie or movies most historically shows the way that Legionaires fought, looked, or behaved. Also, why was it that the Roman soldiers in The Passion of the Christ had lorica segmentata that appeared as if it were made of leather. Is there something that I'm missing?

The best I've seen so far is the end battle in Stanley Cubrick's "Spartacus", because the legionaries IIRC held realistic formations and the battle scene wasn't full of flaming arrows, flaming pigs, dancing elephants, man-to-man sword duels, people bending down over fallen comrades in the middle of the battle with slow motion and music, and they weren't running at top speed all the time for hours, and cliché-filled battle speeches. However, the actual battle wasn't shown in much detail, but rather: after the manouvering they switched to a picture of the dead after the battle had ended. About whether the roman legionary equipment was correct for the era etc., I can't comment, but the atmosphere was more realistic than most other examples I've seen.