UNRV Ancient Roman Empire History

I saw the previews for this show last night. It's set at the end of the Republic just after the death of Caesar and apparantly follows the rise of Octavian. From the rather short bit of information that we can get from a preview I must say that this looks rather impressive. Because of that its hard to judge the authenticity of costumes, sets, etc., but I'm hoping even the most hard core Romanophile will be pleased.

It begins June 28, so we shall see.

Excellent.

I've had a very bad few days and am looking forward to losing myself into this.

Hopefully it will be worthwhile. If not I still have high expectations from the HBO-BBC production coming out later in the year.

Surprisingly enough after seeing the previews for both, I am more intrigued by the ABC series than the HBO one. However, I'm sure in the end, 'Rome' will end up being better than 'Empire'.

Just a reminder for those of us in the states... 'Empire' premiers tonight (June 28) on ABC. 9 pm eastern.

ooo yay its on at 9 not 8. I'm watching it! (though I'll probably cry when Caesar dies...)

Im gutted

Pros:

*Breathtaking scenery and production values
*Lots of kick butt fight scenes
*I like how they inserted a few aspects of Roman religion into it
* As a personal note, I liked the Senator's daughter -- yummy.

Cons:

*Characterizations seem a bit off to me - Octavian was not a naive idiot
* Plot holes - Caesar rules the entire empire but can only find one guy to be his precious bodyguard?
* The female narrarator gets on my nerves

Bottom Line: Major suspension of disbelief is required, but is still quite fun.

I had to restrain myself from saluting the tv during Caesar's funeral scene (I would have done it, too, if mom hadn't been sitting there)

I think the whole thing is very sad...but its a good story. I did almost cry.

And I like Caesar's bodyguard

Agreed, the environment and theming were very well done. Some minor costuming was a bit off... Octavian was wearing britches at one point, and some other points of contention, but the 'feel' was there.

As for the story.. I can't understand why shows and movies can't use the real story, history is interesting enough in reality.

Some discrepancies off the top of my head.

As Ursus said... Octavian was far more savvy and cunning than portrayed.

The use of the term successor and emperor was thrown around too much. Octavian was heir not successor.

The chronology of events and details of the Senate actions were shaky. (ie sending out assassins after Caesar's family, the handling of the will, etc.)

The worst was the portrayal of Cicero as a Caesar lapdog. Once Caesar was dead Cicero openly supported the 'Republicans'.

The legions were not given any credit for their part in the drama and too much emphasis was placed on gladiators. Still I suppose the legionary role is yet to come.

There were other things that disturbed me here and there, but I waited too long to write this

Regardless I found the show entertaining and will watch next week. Still I'm pretty sure after watching tonight that HBO/BBC 'Rome' will be far more appealing.

Wow, I really like this show. I absolutely love the scenery and music. They fit so well. Now that I heard some ppl said HBO/BBC is coming out with one like this and is supposed to be better than I'm really looking forward to it.

But I'm wondering is it just me or does at some points when the characters were talking the background music was too loud and made hearing what they said difficult?

I don't know that much about roman history but um what's the character name of the general? Was he trying to win the crowd over so he can become ceasar or actually honour caesar?

Can't wait for the next episode.

That was Marcus Antonius... or Mark Antony. Historically, Antony used Caesar's funeral to incite the crowd against the assassins, and to promote his own agenda. This was actually portrayed fairly well in the show from a historical perspective.

Just want to say thanks to Primus Pilus. Yea I was pretty sure he had his own agenda by the looks of it, but I guess I really wanted him the be one of the actual good guys so much I got confused. lol.

Thanks for the links. later.

Just seen this forum and took a peek at the ABC website. Unfortunately coming from Australia I probably won't see it for some months to come.

Looking at the pictures of the characters, it seems they did a good casting job for Caesar himself - balding, rather thin of face, etc. Similar to the busts.

Just reading the previous posts and the preview description, I have a number of reservations about the series' accuracy. Like what was stated previously, actual history and the accounts from modern and ancient sources is far more interesting. I only hope this series is not exercise in dumbing down for the masses.

I don't have much confidence in the description of Octavian. He was far more cunning and ambitious than what has been described.

A really good book covering the period is "The Roman Revolution" by Sir Ronald Syme.

I guess it will be a matter of wait and see though I will probably get alot of my information about this series (and the HBO series as well) from websites and forums like this.

It was a little disappointing, but I enjoyed it despite several cringing moments

Some more random thoughts... Legionary costumes seemed to be imperial age, but I don't recall ever seeing a real solid close-up. Either way they were passable.

The show suggested Caesar was planning on disbanding the senate and confiscating all of their money for distribution to the masses. (a sort of Robin Hood theme) While this is entirely inaccurate, the writers actually did an excellent job, with limited time, of explaining that the conspirators hated Caesar.





Both my wife and I missed part of this scene (my son woke up)... Was this supposed to be Livia? If that's the case she turns out to be Octavian's second wife, and her role in 'betraying' him will be very difficult to tie up in production. Maybe they never go that far into the story. Or am I wrong and that wasn't Livia?