I've started watching this series, and while I enjoy the occasional classical philosophy and idioms, I'd be interested in knowing just how many liberties the directors and historical consultants took in the making of it.
>>18753780The battle with Gauls in the first episode is brief but it's by far my favorite depiction of ancient combat in television
>>18753780I no longer watch brainwashing tv programming.
Spoiler alert, if you haven't finished it stop reading Caesar did not beat his girlfriendAttia's daughter was not a lesbian Attia herself was not a mastermind plotter Cleopatra did not sleep with a random legionary The whole storyline with Vorenus' wife and kids and Augustus' involvement is very cringe and unrealistic But overall not a terrible series
>>18753785Aren't you special. So unique and interesting.
>>18753795Autism yourself cunt.
Feels like they brought historical advisors on the show but gave them zero power over any of the characters or plot. So its like wacky fun characters traipsing about in an authentic Rome. Vorenus is probably the most realistic roman in the show.
"I have to go now; my people need me">Note: Timon died on the voyage to Judea
>>18753795Sure, and Caesar didn't scream "He was a consul of Rome!" I think that's really not the point and probably not what OP is askingIn historical fiction, the historical inaccuracies are when the work contradicts points of recorded and verified fact. What historical figures felt or did behind closed doors, outside of the historical record, is game for speculation. The writers aren't actually suggesting that these events happened, and for what it's worth, you aren't really able to say they didn't, either. The whole theme of the show is that real people had secrets that history couldn't tell us, and that much is certainly true
>>18753780Anything you watch on tv should be considered fictional entertainment. Even things that are "based on a true story". Don't be a retarded goy.
>>18753806Realistic? Vorenus is the Roman that Romaboos imagine all Romans were, because Roman guys wrote that this how they all were like -- when they weren't busy complaining about how un-Roman Romans were constantly behaving. That's kind of the whole joke. That he's basically alone in his sturdy, stolid Romanness might be one of the most realistic parts of the show.He's an idealized Roman man, and his own plot is all about how his whole irreproachable, manful Romanness is a crumbling facade
>>18753830Rome had a standard, even and especially if they didn't always live up to it. And they created on of the greatest empires of history, so they must have done something right.
>>18753795Those look like fairly inconsequential discrepancies, are they the most obvious ones?
>>18753824I was interested in attempting to guess the motives of the makers of the show by comparing the main histories of the show to established history.
>>18753868Mainly to show Polly Walker naked.
>>18753894I'm not complaining
>>18753780Main one is that Cato wasn't an old fuck, he was younger and had some spine
>>18753806The whole friendship is that Vorenus was an idealized Roman of old Republican values and ideals, while Pullo represents the thug reality of a Roman pleb growing up in 1st century BC RomeAverage pleb likely had no clue about great Roman figures like Cincinnatus, just like how modern American today can give you little information about the Founding Fathers
>>18753824I did not accuse the screenwriters of any deception, that's your strawman argument and I wanted to address it first. The scenes that I mentioned and others like them still look like gratuitous slop that did not develop the storyline in any meaningful way. If the point was to show that everyone had secrets, they could have chosen less far-fetched "secrets". If the point was to show why Caesar was alone on the Ides, they could have written it in a better way. Most of the scenes and storylines are well done, but there is enough there to criticize.
>>18753781God, if this had received the budget it deserved, we could have seen Phillippi as it was intended.
>>18753848The show itself is not bad. They don't make it unwatchable for sure. My biggest gripe is the Vorenus- family situation and the way Servilia manipulated it. Both dumb. They didn't have to write it that way but they did. Other than that, it gives you a good feel on how life might have been like, and the Augustus-Anthony dynamic is well presented.
>>18753780Great show. Find it on DVD if you can, because there is an option for historical notes that details which parts are creative license and how it really might have been. Also, the final confrontation between Atia and Servilia is probably the greatest scene in television history between two women.
>>18753799I gave you a fair spoiler alert. Why so angry?
>>18753955Historians were spoiled before the series even aired.
>>18754049I still cried when they stabbed him
>>18754051he deserved it. I never understood the support for Caesar
>>18753795The two MCs being involved with pretty much every major historical event was cringe and unrealistic
>>18754232Fuck off opt*mate scumHe was the savior of Rome
>>18754237That too but at least it was kind of understandable in the context of the show. They had to anchor it somewhere otherwise it would be all over the place with characters amd their development. That being said, the Pullo-initiated riot was a cheap oversimpifying of the factionalism that existed in Caesar's time. They did other things better, like the underhanded tactics both sides used, and the criminal side of Roman daily life.
>>18753780The show takes a lot of historical liberties, but they are all in service of creating a compelling drama and aren't egregious. I'll concede that they probably could have copied some of what we have from the late republic word for word and made an even better drama while not putting historical accuracy on the chopping block, but what liberties they do take almost always come around to create interesting an satire of tropes in actual ancient literature. Were the Romans obsessed with a conniving step-mother because they all had overbearing mothers? Maybe, but it sure as hell is humorous and tells me the producers/writers actually cared a little bit about the subject matter, which is more than you get with most historical productions. I will warn any prospective viewers that after you have finished this and "I, Claudius" you will be starved of any good content which puts Rome on the screen. Barbarians tried, but they weren't up to it, and I can't really blame them, these are difficult shoes to fill.
>>18754396>what liberties they do take almost always come around to create an interesting satire of tropes in actual ancient literature.Perhaps that's what all historical shows should aim for in a general sense.
