HBO's Rome was quite good for the standards we are used to see in TV or movie representations of antiquity. I liked the fact that they took 2 names from Commentarii de Bello Gallico and used them as the main characters, while Caesar, Mark Anthony and the most known ones run through parallel stories.

I think that they made a very good effort to represent everyday life in the Roman world in that period. The casting and acting was mixed, some of the characters are great (Titus Pullo, Lucius Vorenus, Mark Anthony) but others are far too stretched from what we know about them (Mark Anthony, Pompey Magnus, Atia).

I wish they had a better budget to represent the battles, sometimes it feels like watching those History Channel reenactments, with a close-up on 8 romans trying to represent a battle line.

But compared to other "historical" movies or series like Gladiator, Alexander, etc, I think it stands out.