How accurate was this show in terms of its portrayal of the characters and personalities of major historical figures?

Solarmoviez dot to

mywatchseries.to/serie/rome

This quote should be on the Veeky Forums sticky. Next to "this is not /pol/ with dates"

ty bois

TRUE ROMAN BREAD FOR TRUE ROMANS... (trails off)

>posting malware/scam sites

Would be nice if some credible network did an adaptation of Robert Harris' Cicero trilogy.

Use an adblocker idiot

I'd honestly much rather see an adaptation of Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. The 120-60BC period has literally no video material and yet it's every little bit as interesting as the death throes of the republic. They could do a season per book. 40x22 should be enough minutes for certain. Especially if they cut out some of the early julian drama, after all who the fuck cares about poor ickle Julilla and her madness.

HE WORSHIPS DOGS AND REPTILES

HE BLACKENS HIS EYES WITH SOOT LIKE A PROSTITUTE

HE DANCES AND PLAYS THE CYMBALS IN VILE NILOTIC RITES

>attia of the julii I call for justice

what's the historicity of this and the slave pouring ash over her head or when she was carving out some curse directed at Caesar on the lead tablet.

I liked the grit of it. Finally a Rome that looks "used" and inhabited by TRVE ROMANS. Not the overpolished, marble everywhere, trumpet blaring Rome of the 50s, nor the fantasy, sword clashing epic of Ridley Scott. It's made of wood and stone and colorful rags as it should be.
Look at those dirty, late Republican legionaries, with their hamatas, it's great.

Would be great if it happened, something on same level as what BBC did with Wolf Hall.

Didn't happen. Servilia buried her sons ashes after Phillipi and lived the remainder of her days in relative obscurity before dying of old age.

what about the act itself though, is this something people would do?

>what's the historicity
I'd bet money they made it up completely.
I mean I can believe the lead tablet curse, but human sacrifice had already been a big no-no for generations at that point.

Never happened.

Cursing of other people on the other hand happened. How exactly it happened, nobody fucking knows. Many patrician women were in the college priests for juno and other fem only goodesses yet we know fuck all about their rites. Those rites were for women only and they did not write down anything. Disturbing such a rite was serious criminal offense.

The scene is just there for shits and giggles, I guess.

>Disturbing such a rite was serious criminal offense

top lad

Yes I thought the same, makes sense, I was just wondering if there's actual record of the Romans doing specific gestures.

Totally unrelated actually. The gesticulations are literal acting. The ancients saw rhetorics as a full body performance, with non verbal cues being every little bit as important as the actual words in expressing meaning and emotion. Read up on pronuntiatio and chironomia.

Well... So it's not totally unrelated. I mean it's pretty clear he had specific gestures for specific phrases

It's unrelated to making oneself understood to distant crowds. It was something done in every situation, not just when addressing large assemblies.
It must also be noted that the romans had people repeating speeches for the distant crowd at assemblies, and that most gestures are rather minute and certainly in no way expressive enough alone to substitute for the spoken word, so it's silly to call it a sort of mute language.

Ok, this was what I was asking myself. I'll check that, thanks.

I was more speculating that people who heard him but not very well could see his gestures and get his meaning, not that it was full fledged sign language

But maybe I was wrong idk

No idea but the scene where she engraves curses on a tablet against all her enemies is a real thing Romans did.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_tablet

That show gave me feels

m.youtube.com/watch?v=9zK0-oJiAYg

Fellow citizens of the Aventine!

Mark Antony was by far the best character

>Mark Antony wasn't that much of a dumb chad.
Actually by all accounts he totally was.
I mean he wasn't a moron, but then it's not like the fictional version was either.

Good scene.
Yeah, this. I found the character really interesting and similar to what he was suppossed to have been. On the other hand, I think Octavian was shown to be a genious since an early age, and I'm not so sure he was. In any case the character in the show is still cool.

SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW ME
>cricketchirping.wav

I kind of like when these characters get re-imagined - we can't ever really know what they were like afterall. On that note, has there even been a film or novel that's portrayed Caesar in a negative light? That is, portrayed him as a tyrant who did legitimately want to be king of Rome?

I thought that Rome (the HBO version) was pretty neutral on it, you couldn't really read what Caesar was thinking in the end. It's a nice change from making him a flawless hero who just wants to save the Republic from itself.

>Roman soldiers' costumes are immaculately accurate
>the Gauls look like fucking Asterix and Obelix rejects
Why

What do yall think about the overuse of the Lorica Segmentata in Hollywood? How widespread was its use in the legions since it was adopted around Tiberius' reign?

My guess would be the budget - they never really showed the Gauls for very long, so they probably reasoned it didn't matter as much.

It's overused because it's what most people have come to associate with Romans - you stick legionnaires in Segmentata and it 'looks' Roman, just like the red tunics.

As for how widespread it was, there's differing theories, but the real answer is nobody knows. It may have depended on the unit, the period, or legions may have even had a mix. I mean, even modern military's rarely have matching kit for all their soldiers - newer stuff tends to get doled out to frontline soldiers first and slowly rolled out across the rest of the army.

They would look way too similar otherwise. Compare with the Egyptians: Cleopatra's army was basically a bunch of jewish and galatian mercs, yet we only saw some kind of nubian honour guard in the show.

>How exactly it happened, nobody fucking knows

I thought they found clay tablets buried in the Circus Maximus that had curses that trailed off into wild nonsensical babble. Like, I recall some that were throwing vowels to the wind.

Cleopatra they portrayed overly sexual. Which is not suprising given that it's HBO.

I think they hit the nail on the head with Cleopatra. Not particularly pretty but she's got something very charming and erotic about her.

>Not particularly pretty but she's got something very charming and erotic about her.

Power is sexy. Divine power is even sexier.

Everyone wants to stick their dick in a goddess and make the baby butter.

She looked fine, I just think they could have toned down the sluttiness a bit.

Yes, part of rhetorical training at the time included formalized gestures for purpose of emphasis.

Yes, I think with Caesar in Rome they did some good things, like when he wants to have some tone of purple to make people think of the Kings.

Its on amazon if you have prime

Octavian was remarkable enough to attract the notice of Julius fucking Caesar and persuade Caesar to make him heir to his name and fortune. I think it's safe to say Octavian was remarkable from the start.

Fair point. Were there other males in the family? Gotta check the family tree. I mean, did he choose him mostly because of being worthy? Did the fact that he was family have some influence?

Well but we do know that Cleopatra had no trouble using her cunt for her political aims, given the fathers of her children.
That's just like in the show. It's not like she's shown fucking for any reason other than securing allies. Even when Anthony is there playing drunk Dionysus she's shown to be just humouring him rather than partecipating in the orgies.

I liked how they showed the collegia in season 2, but I didn't really like Titus being the character to show it through. I just didn't find his sudden transition to a criminal and corruption very believable.

There were a couple other julians alive, but they were optimates. Anthony and his brothers were also something like first cousins once removed to Caesar, so about the same distance as Octavian, if more horizontally rather than vertically.
So it's not like Octavian was the only one available, he was just the best pick. Of course it mattered that he was an actual blood relation, but he was still picked due to being seen as the best blood relation.

How does it compare to the 70s "I, Claudius" miniseries?

>speaking english
dropped

I liked Rome better, but they just feel different.
I Claudius is about personal politics, Rome is more "slice of life".

I, Claudius is hard to stay awake to.

I, Claudius is fantastic

>IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?

was it autism?

Rome is a good introduction to the way normal romans lived, their hopes and angst and why the Civil Wars of the first century happened.

I Claudius is more about the dynastic struggles of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and is more focused on court intrigue. It also imo better acted even though it kinda hammy at times. Naturally more shit happens in Rome due to the time period, but I like both equally. What I don't like in Rome is all the OC characters they introduce.

it has dated a bit but I'd still be extremely wary of a remake

>I, Claudius remake
I get the feeling that the main characters would be Caligula and Messalina were that to happen.

BRIAN BLESSED!

GO BACK TO GAUL YOU BARBARIAN FUCCBOI

>What extraordinary names these plebs have.

for some reason the show got cancelled, I believed it originally wanted 4 seasons, so season 1 was set out pretty well but then shit hit the fan and then they had to squeeze 3 seasons into 1.

In terms of production values, they were top notch. They even made the costumes using ancient techniques and ancient textile production methods. In fact, its meticulous historical accuracy is probably what made it so prohibitively expensive to make, and probably why it only lasted 2 seasons (that and to make room for Game of Thrones)

The only places they took creative liberties was with the characters, and it was always in the form of "what if?" within he gaps of the historical record, so they had a good compromise between historical plausibility with the needs of the plot.

For example, Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus are famous for being the only two plebeians mentioned in Julius Caesar's entire body of work. We know absolutely nothing about them, except for the fact that they both saved each other's lives at one point in the Gallic campaign, one right after the other, in front of their cheering comrades. Everything else about their lives is fair game, and choosing them as the two protagonists was a great way to give a common man's eye view to some of the most famous events in western history.

We don't know that much about Atia or Servilia, either, making their behind the scenes catfighting completely plausible. Although one historical inaccuracy is Servilia's suicide. The real Servilia outlived them all, even Octavian.

Their rendition of Cleopatra was probably the most accurate to date, portraying her as someone who wasn't the most attractive woman ever, but who oozed sexuality and radiated raw charisma, and could literally charm the pants off of some of the most powerful men in the world.

>but who oozed sexuality and radiated raw charisma, and could literally charm the pants off of some of the most powerful men in the world.
VORENUS' PURE ROMAN VIRTUE COULD NOT BE PIERCED BY GYPO SLUTS

>a proper use of extraordinary not merely used as a compliment

still love that line

Titus Pullo, meanwhile, fucked that bitch right in the pussy

Scene were he fucked his Tunisian slave over the table as punishment was the best.

Dignitas and severitas, not debauchery & hubris okay? Praise Jupiter.

a webm would be nice

>5,000 years later and people are still calling each other cucks as an insult

>if I kill my wife maybe it'll be okay

did Caesar really cuck as many guys as they be sayin'?

Pullo from episode 1 scene 1 is a guy who while good at heart is primarily worried with his friends and family is fairly unscrupulous in how he achieves his wealth and power, even if he shows restraint and kindheartedness with the power and wealth he receives. He's always ready to fuck someone up if he thinks they're in the wrong and when he's in the collegia he's not exactly in charge of a street gang, more like a group of private police and lawkeepers.

>Instead of a praise junkie who only wants to be loved
That's... actually exactly what we get. They openly use this to maniuplate him all through season one.

HBO got a new CEO. So if the show failed it was his fault for not cancelling it. But if it went well it was he predecessors idea. Same with Deadwood.

Also the show proved that something of that scale could be done on TV. It enabled GoT.

I want a 3rd season about Diocletian. It's got everything you want in a drama: civil wars aplenty, friends becoming enemies, and plenty of morally grey characters to pick from. It can establish how much times have changed, while also setting up the crisis of the 3rd century that leads to his reign, retirement, and the shitstorm that followed. With some tasteful time skips diocletian would be a really cool story, just because it's the same sort of crisis situation that Rome was in before the rise of the Princeps. Diocletian is pretty much untouched by the media and it's the good story.
It could also be done well in the I, Claudius model, with an old Diocletian remembering his life as he sits in retirement. Maybe end the series with a depressed Diocletian sulking after realizing he had lost authority and influence after trying to make a comeback.

Of course it will never be made because nobody knows about Diocletian, only reason HBO did Caesar is because he's the biggest name in Roman history. It's a shame.

>Not the sullen, Catonian. The cheerful, brutish one.

I'd watch it.

The lead tablets though are accurate. They found some embedded in walls of some homes. Pompeji if i remember correctly.

>No Pullo
No thanks

what's funny is that occasion why he is saying is that Herod has arrived and he not a jew and is in fact hated by them

Octivias was pretty autistic

Yes. One story tells ceaser got love letter from wife of another senator while he is being accused of treason. Senate demands to see it. He probably gave the paper to senate while smirking liek a fuck boi

>Diocletian
>not restarting with Caligula

At least people knew the meaning of the word when they used it.

Am I the only one who found the average life of Lucius more interesting than the whole civil war?

I felt like I was watching a Roman sitcom.

>Octavian Dynamite

At first I was a bit dissapointed that we didn't get much legion action with Lucius, but damn, I really like that they show how regular romans lived. This usually is a weak spot in many shows, both historical and sci-fi: they focus in adventures and very particular places, instead of showing workplaces, houses, etc.

I mean, independently of how good it is from the historical point of view (and I have the impression it is actually quite good), they show everyday life in a great way.

they fucked up Cato
he was younger and like Cicero actually plebeian which the show ignored for all its time
they also did a wrong version of catos death
but still nicely made show