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Rome, Season One: History Makes Television
"Rome, Season One: History Makes Television" examines the first season of the HBO-BBC collaboration, Rome, in a collection of thought-provoking essays by some of the world's most influential scholars in the fields of classical antiquity and popular culture.
Examines the first season of the HBO-BBC collaboration, Rome, in a collection of 17 thought-provoking essays by some of the world's most influential scholars in the fields of classical antiquity and popular culture
Focuses on the award-winning first season's historical framework, visual and narrative style, contemporary thematic overtones, and influence on popular culture
Addresses the artistic values, and roles of the script, sets, and actors
Reveals how the series Rome 'makes history' in terms of representing the past on screen and producing innovative and influential television.
Examines the first season of the HBO-BBC collaboration, Rome, in a collection of 17 thought-provoking essays by some of the world's most influential scholars in the fields of classical antiquity and popular culture
Focuses on the award-winning first season's historical framework, visual and narrative style, contemporary thematic overtones, and influence on popular culture
Addresses the artistic values, and roles of the script, sets, and actors
Reveals how the series Rome 'makes history' in terms of representing the past on screen and producing innovative and influential television.
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 24, 2008
3 people want to read
About the author
Monica S. Cyrino
13 books3 followersMonica S. Cyrino is Professor of Classics at the University of New Mexico, USA. Her scholarly research centers on the reception of the ancient world on screen. She has published numerous books and articles and often gives lectures around the world on the representation of classical antiquity on film and television. She has served as an academic consultant on several recent film and television productions.
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August 16, 2020A mixed bag of essays on various topics. Most of which will no doubt be of interest to fans of HBO's Rome.
Recommended for fans of the show.
__________
Introduction
Sprawling across the famed studio backlot, the forum set comprises only about 60 percent of the size of the ancient original, but still appears jaw-droppingly huge at first sight.
Being on location were all this history can still be seen was incredible . . . Anytime I wanted to get a feel for what the real Roman Forum was like I could just walk down the street and look at it. It’s still there. —James Madigan, Visual Effects Supervisor
“They are preparing for a party tonight,” our guide says to me ins. Stage whisper, as he—unintentionally, I surmise-echoes th words of Posca: “A very fancy list of people.”
Rome is a series that demands repeated viewings, in order to digest and savour the complex political and social structures as well as to appreciate and enjoy the lavish details of sets and costumes. And as the online chat-rooms and blogs will attest, access to the DVD allows fans to repeat more accurately their favourite one-liners from the series. As Julius Caesar cooly informs Mark Antony: “It is only hubris if I fail . . .”
While Vorenus wears the tragic mask, his friendly rival, Pullo, dons the twin mask of comedy.
The character of Pullo is shown t be a survivor, and so presents the optimistic flip side to the tragic coin of Vorenus.
Eirene, whose name means “Peace”
Rome utilises this technique of cutting between the “high” and “low” worlds to eztraorindary effect: this rubbing together of the two worlds, between the elites and the plebs, between the historical personages and the invented ones, creates a unique dramatic friction that is unlike any other representation of the ancient world on screen.
In this way, Rome visually underscores the connection between the elite characters and those of the lower classes, without casting any value judgement as to the relative morals of either.
__________
About the Book
While as a genre the epic film set in antiquity is not well known for the portrayal of strongly drawn female figures, the series Rome breaks the mould by showcasing several powerful women characters . . .
__________
Televising Antiquity: From You Are There to Rome - Jon Solomon
Prohibitively expensive and limited in duration, Rome in the historical scheme of television works like a special event.
__________
Making History in Rome: Ancient vs Modern Perspectives —W. Jeffrey Tatum
Episodes of striking violence or graphic sexuality are depicted in historical settings remarkable for their accuracy in various and numerous details, the totality of which lends every moment a high degree of plausibility.
Any reader of Herodotus will recollect how many amazing tales he includes, how many aetiologies, how many geographical excursus, and how many fabulous stories he borrows from mythology—however distilled by the reagent of rationalism—stories often redolent of private intrigue and sexual adventurism. Not that he believed in all he reported: he simply believed that what he recorded was worth preserving because of the pleasure it gave his reader.
The people don’t know what’s best for them. I do. I know exactly what they need. They’re like little children: we have to hold their sticky fingers and wipe their filthy mouths, teach them right from wrong, tell them what to think and how to feel and what to want. They even need help writing their wildest dreams, crafting their worst fears.
More controversial, however, was the element of pleasure.
According to Polybius, this was typical of Phylarchus, who was “always tying to put horrors before his readers’ eyes”. This is an approach to history that the sober and reliable Polybius rejects outright. In his view, it was not the job of the historian to thrill his readers by resorting to sensationalism.
Cicero was a serious student of the past and an unsurpassed intellectual.
Romans and he gigantic Gauls (who did in fact tend to be physically larger than the Romans)
Unlike poetry, Cicero insisted, history requires truth.
“Who does not know,” he writes elsewhere, “ that the first law of history is to never to dare to record any falsehood, or the the second law of history is never to fail to record anything true.” (—On the orator)
It was not enough in antiquity simply to record the facts of the past: the Romans sought to make their history at once grand and gratifying. In a similar way, and no doubt with an identical purpose, the creators of the series Rome offer an impressive, and impressively authentic, retelling of Roman History.
__________
What I Learned as a Historical Consultant for Rome—Kristina Milnor
But I was also, I admit, a little bit seduced—not just by the glamour of it al, but by the imaginative project.
__________
The Fog of War: The Amy in Rome—Lee L. Brice
Most of the fighting a soldier saw during his career consisted of Skirmishing, raids, detachments, garish duty, and sieges, some of which became larger engagements. Battles, however, seem more common than they actually were because of the attention they receive in the ancient sources.
The decision of Rome’s producers to omit extensive battles (especially the famous ones) in favour of briefer engagements or indirect references bracketed by military preparations and recovery is much more true to the realities of military duty.
While it may not be the definitive reconstruction, the scene is valuable because it provides viewers with a sense of how complicated Roman tactics could be and of the importance of discipline and drill to success. The version of combat presented in episode 1 is the most plausible scenario captured ono screen to date and demonstrates that reenactments consistent with historical research and eperiemtnal archaeology are possiblest le without losing their dramatic appeal.
Clearly, life in the camp was the norm while battles were the aberration.
Training, drilling, and the regimentation fo daily routine . .. —Vegetius, Military Matters
As expected, much of camp life was mundane and unexciting.
Maintenance of god discipline was a constant concern.
Repeated reference in Rome to desertion, rest, dissent, and insubordination in the ranks as well as celebration, elation, and punishment offer a more realistic portrayal of the range of moods within the Roman military than the traditionally popular idea of a uniform, machine-like discipline in Caesar’s army.
The use of bounties would grow so common after 49BC that the historian Appian characterised the armies of the late Republic as little more than mercenaries. (5.17)
Rome, as it turns out, is an antidote to the Fog of War. Rome suggests that Roman military life was made up of more than battles and leaders, and in doing so meets historical expectations.
Rome is valuable because it illustrates that the life os a Roman soldier and by extension any Roman is much more interesting and complicated as a topic than the usual presentations of the Roman Military as a disciplined monolithic unit suggest.
Rome is most important, however, because it provides an effective visual tool with which to encourage popular consideration not only of Roman military life and thee place of military in society, but also of ancient history as a whole.
__________
Caesar’s Soldiers: The Poets of Vorenus and Pullo—Brian Cooke
As Mascius’ later appeal to vorenus for property illustrates, the promise of land after retirement from service was an especially powerful motivation.
__________
Becoming Augustus: The Education of Octavian—Barbara Weiden Boyd
We frequently see the young Octavian sitting at a desk, presumably studying, or in the garden reading
As they sit together—in a directional gesture to both Dante’s Paolo and ~Francesca and several of Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s Victorian depictions of poets and lovers—he reads aloud Catullus’ sparrow poem (poem 2).
Octavius’ mother Asia was sometime thereafter remarried, too Lucius Marcius Phillipus.
The absence of Marcius Philippus from the script is just one of many ways in which the dramatis personae of this historical fiction, as in most historical dramas that make their way to the large or small screens, are reduced to an essential minimum.
Expensive, discriminating, and discreet.
__________
Women’s Politics in the Streets of Rome—Antony Augoustakis
Intentionally, I believe, the character of Calpurnia looks older than both Servilia and Atia, though she would have been only 18 when she married Caesar in 59BC.
In her grief and anger, Servilia now turns to an activity befitting an ideal Roman matrona, weaving.
When the slave Eleni announces to her mistress that Caesar has won the battle at Pharsalus but there is no news of Brutus, the homosocial bond is transformed into something stronger.
The act of cutting Servilia’s hair signifies something akin to death. Moreover, just as Servilia tries to protect her damaged pudicitia (chastity) by covering her violated body with her torn dress, so does Caesar employ the gesture at the very end.
__________
Atia and the Erotics of Authority—Monica S. Cyrino
When I read the script, my eyes got wider and wider. Although I never considered nt taking the part because I didn’t find it all that offensive. The guys that iw as doing the scenes with were so brave and such a laugh. At one point, I sat no tp f the act (Lee Boardman) who played Timon, going, ‘Please, for God’s sake, make sure you cover my tits!’ He went, ‘Don’t worry about your tits, cover my tits!’
Then there’s the entirely unsubstantiated equation between red har and certain questionable moral qualities.
A drunken Octavia gloomily recites lines from Vergil’s Aeneid some twenty-odd years before it was written. (6.126-129)
But it also suggests that another “more famous” woman—one not cited by the series creators—may have also fleshed out the television character of Atia: this would be the notorious Fulvia, who was one of the best known politically active elite women of the late Roman Republic.
__________
Her First Roman: A Cleopatra for Rome—Gregory N. Dougherty
It is worth noting that she speaks to everyone in the third person, except for her equals, her husband/brother, and Caesar.
She did bear a child whom she named Caesarion, but there is little evidence that Caesar ever took public notice, although Augustan propaganda may have suggested otherwise.
Gowns and Gossip: Gender and Class Struggle in Rome—Margaret M. Toscano
I spite fo the centrality of major historical figures to the plot, the genius of the series Rome lies ni its depiction of power as intricately complex, many-layered, always shifting, unstable, and never focused on just the privileged few.
No one completely understands what forces are at work.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Rome is the way the creators lace slaves into almost every scene.
Costume designer April Ferry states that she used costume to reveal class, family, and personality. She ought to recreate historical authenticity by using only the dyes and fabrics the Romans would have had at the time: cotton, linen, wool, and some silk for the very wealthy, like Caesar.
__________
The Gender Gap: Religious Spaces in Rome—J. Mira Seo
The degreee of unmarked interaction between men and women in this show was not normal for a strongly patriarchal and gender-segregated society like ancient Rome.
__________
Staging Interiors in Rome’s Villas—Alena Allen
Whereas the colour scheme of Atia’s house is bold, full of contrasts, and serves to attract the viewer’s attention, the colour scheme of Servilia’s house is subdued, but quietly asserts the wealth and elegance of its owner.
__________
Latin in the Movies and Rome—Ward Briggs
Most of these movies are made not from wrks of ancient literature but from modern novels.
You don’t speak Latin? Well, that’s something we shall have to remedy, isn’ it?—Braveheart, 1995
__________
Spectacle of Sec: Bodies on Display in Rom—Stacie Raucci
In almost every scene in which he appears, Antony speaks primarily with his body.
__________
Vice is Nice: Rome and Deviant Sexuality—Anise K. Strong
The choice of this poem connects Octavian and Octavia with the presumed inspiration for Catullus’ poetry, Clodia, wh was herself famously accused of incest with her brother, Publius Clodius, in one of Cicero’s speeches.
Recommended for fans of the show.
__________
Introduction
Sprawling across the famed studio backlot, the forum set comprises only about 60 percent of the size of the ancient original, but still appears jaw-droppingly huge at first sight.
Being on location were all this history can still be seen was incredible . . . Anytime I wanted to get a feel for what the real Roman Forum was like I could just walk down the street and look at it. It’s still there. —James Madigan, Visual Effects Supervisor
“They are preparing for a party tonight,” our guide says to me ins. Stage whisper, as he—unintentionally, I surmise-echoes th words of Posca: “A very fancy list of people.”
Rome is a series that demands repeated viewings, in order to digest and savour the complex political and social structures as well as to appreciate and enjoy the lavish details of sets and costumes. And as the online chat-rooms and blogs will attest, access to the DVD allows fans to repeat more accurately their favourite one-liners from the series. As Julius Caesar cooly informs Mark Antony: “It is only hubris if I fail . . .”
While Vorenus wears the tragic mask, his friendly rival, Pullo, dons the twin mask of comedy.
The character of Pullo is shown t be a survivor, and so presents the optimistic flip side to the tragic coin of Vorenus.
Eirene, whose name means “Peace”
Rome utilises this technique of cutting between the “high” and “low” worlds to eztraorindary effect: this rubbing together of the two worlds, between the elites and the plebs, between the historical personages and the invented ones, creates a unique dramatic friction that is unlike any other representation of the ancient world on screen.
In this way, Rome visually underscores the connection between the elite characters and those of the lower classes, without casting any value judgement as to the relative morals of either.
__________
About the Book
While as a genre the epic film set in antiquity is not well known for the portrayal of strongly drawn female figures, the series Rome breaks the mould by showcasing several powerful women characters . . .
__________
Televising Antiquity: From You Are There to Rome - Jon Solomon
Prohibitively expensive and limited in duration, Rome in the historical scheme of television works like a special event.
__________
Making History in Rome: Ancient vs Modern Perspectives —W. Jeffrey Tatum
Episodes of striking violence or graphic sexuality are depicted in historical settings remarkable for their accuracy in various and numerous details, the totality of which lends every moment a high degree of plausibility.
Any reader of Herodotus will recollect how many amazing tales he includes, how many aetiologies, how many geographical excursus, and how many fabulous stories he borrows from mythology—however distilled by the reagent of rationalism—stories often redolent of private intrigue and sexual adventurism. Not that he believed in all he reported: he simply believed that what he recorded was worth preserving because of the pleasure it gave his reader.
The people don’t know what’s best for them. I do. I know exactly what they need. They’re like little children: we have to hold their sticky fingers and wipe their filthy mouths, teach them right from wrong, tell them what to think and how to feel and what to want. They even need help writing their wildest dreams, crafting their worst fears.
More controversial, however, was the element of pleasure.
According to Polybius, this was typical of Phylarchus, who was “always tying to put horrors before his readers’ eyes”. This is an approach to history that the sober and reliable Polybius rejects outright. In his view, it was not the job of the historian to thrill his readers by resorting to sensationalism.
Cicero was a serious student of the past and an unsurpassed intellectual.
Romans and he gigantic Gauls (who did in fact tend to be physically larger than the Romans)
Unlike poetry, Cicero insisted, history requires truth.
“Who does not know,” he writes elsewhere, “ that the first law of history is to never to dare to record any falsehood, or the the second law of history is never to fail to record anything true.” (—On the orator)
It was not enough in antiquity simply to record the facts of the past: the Romans sought to make their history at once grand and gratifying. In a similar way, and no doubt with an identical purpose, the creators of the series Rome offer an impressive, and impressively authentic, retelling of Roman History.
__________
What I Learned as a Historical Consultant for Rome—Kristina Milnor
But I was also, I admit, a little bit seduced—not just by the glamour of it al, but by the imaginative project.
__________
The Fog of War: The Amy in Rome—Lee L. Brice
Most of the fighting a soldier saw during his career consisted of Skirmishing, raids, detachments, garish duty, and sieges, some of which became larger engagements. Battles, however, seem more common than they actually were because of the attention they receive in the ancient sources.
The decision of Rome’s producers to omit extensive battles (especially the famous ones) in favour of briefer engagements or indirect references bracketed by military preparations and recovery is much more true to the realities of military duty.
While it may not be the definitive reconstruction, the scene is valuable because it provides viewers with a sense of how complicated Roman tactics could be and of the importance of discipline and drill to success. The version of combat presented in episode 1 is the most plausible scenario captured ono screen to date and demonstrates that reenactments consistent with historical research and eperiemtnal archaeology are possiblest le without losing their dramatic appeal.
Clearly, life in the camp was the norm while battles were the aberration.
Training, drilling, and the regimentation fo daily routine . .. —Vegetius, Military Matters
As expected, much of camp life was mundane and unexciting.
Maintenance of god discipline was a constant concern.
Repeated reference in Rome to desertion, rest, dissent, and insubordination in the ranks as well as celebration, elation, and punishment offer a more realistic portrayal of the range of moods within the Roman military than the traditionally popular idea of a uniform, machine-like discipline in Caesar’s army.
The use of bounties would grow so common after 49BC that the historian Appian characterised the armies of the late Republic as little more than mercenaries. (5.17)
Rome, as it turns out, is an antidote to the Fog of War. Rome suggests that Roman military life was made up of more than battles and leaders, and in doing so meets historical expectations.
Rome is valuable because it illustrates that the life os a Roman soldier and by extension any Roman is much more interesting and complicated as a topic than the usual presentations of the Roman Military as a disciplined monolithic unit suggest.
Rome is most important, however, because it provides an effective visual tool with which to encourage popular consideration not only of Roman military life and thee place of military in society, but also of ancient history as a whole.
__________
Caesar’s Soldiers: The Poets of Vorenus and Pullo—Brian Cooke
As Mascius’ later appeal to vorenus for property illustrates, the promise of land after retirement from service was an especially powerful motivation.
__________
Becoming Augustus: The Education of Octavian—Barbara Weiden Boyd
We frequently see the young Octavian sitting at a desk, presumably studying, or in the garden reading
As they sit together—in a directional gesture to both Dante’s Paolo and ~Francesca and several of Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s Victorian depictions of poets and lovers—he reads aloud Catullus’ sparrow poem (poem 2).
Octavius’ mother Asia was sometime thereafter remarried, too Lucius Marcius Phillipus.
The absence of Marcius Philippus from the script is just one of many ways in which the dramatis personae of this historical fiction, as in most historical dramas that make their way to the large or small screens, are reduced to an essential minimum.
Expensive, discriminating, and discreet.
__________
Women’s Politics in the Streets of Rome—Antony Augoustakis
Intentionally, I believe, the character of Calpurnia looks older than both Servilia and Atia, though she would have been only 18 when she married Caesar in 59BC.
In her grief and anger, Servilia now turns to an activity befitting an ideal Roman matrona, weaving.
When the slave Eleni announces to her mistress that Caesar has won the battle at Pharsalus but there is no news of Brutus, the homosocial bond is transformed into something stronger.
The act of cutting Servilia’s hair signifies something akin to death. Moreover, just as Servilia tries to protect her damaged pudicitia (chastity) by covering her violated body with her torn dress, so does Caesar employ the gesture at the very end.
__________
Atia and the Erotics of Authority—Monica S. Cyrino
When I read the script, my eyes got wider and wider. Although I never considered nt taking the part because I didn’t find it all that offensive. The guys that iw as doing the scenes with were so brave and such a laugh. At one point, I sat no tp f the act (Lee Boardman) who played Timon, going, ‘Please, for God’s sake, make sure you cover my tits!’ He went, ‘Don’t worry about your tits, cover my tits!’
Then there’s the entirely unsubstantiated equation between red har and certain questionable moral qualities.
A drunken Octavia gloomily recites lines from Vergil’s Aeneid some twenty-odd years before it was written. (6.126-129)
But it also suggests that another “more famous” woman—one not cited by the series creators—may have also fleshed out the television character of Atia: this would be the notorious Fulvia, who was one of the best known politically active elite women of the late Roman Republic.
__________
Her First Roman: A Cleopatra for Rome—Gregory N. Dougherty
It is worth noting that she speaks to everyone in the third person, except for her equals, her husband/brother, and Caesar.
She did bear a child whom she named Caesarion, but there is little evidence that Caesar ever took public notice, although Augustan propaganda may have suggested otherwise.
Gowns and Gossip: Gender and Class Struggle in Rome—Margaret M. Toscano
I spite fo the centrality of major historical figures to the plot, the genius of the series Rome lies ni its depiction of power as intricately complex, many-layered, always shifting, unstable, and never focused on just the privileged few.
No one completely understands what forces are at work.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Rome is the way the creators lace slaves into almost every scene.
Costume designer April Ferry states that she used costume to reveal class, family, and personality. She ought to recreate historical authenticity by using only the dyes and fabrics the Romans would have had at the time: cotton, linen, wool, and some silk for the very wealthy, like Caesar.
__________
The Gender Gap: Religious Spaces in Rome—J. Mira Seo
The degreee of unmarked interaction between men and women in this show was not normal for a strongly patriarchal and gender-segregated society like ancient Rome.
__________
Staging Interiors in Rome’s Villas—Alena Allen
Whereas the colour scheme of Atia’s house is bold, full of contrasts, and serves to attract the viewer’s attention, the colour scheme of Servilia’s house is subdued, but quietly asserts the wealth and elegance of its owner.
__________
Latin in the Movies and Rome—Ward Briggs
Most of these movies are made not from wrks of ancient literature but from modern novels.
You don’t speak Latin? Well, that’s something we shall have to remedy, isn’ it?—Braveheart, 1995
__________
Spectacle of Sec: Bodies on Display in Rom—Stacie Raucci
In almost every scene in which he appears, Antony speaks primarily with his body.
__________
Vice is Nice: Rome and Deviant Sexuality—Anise K. Strong
The choice of this poem connects Octavian and Octavia with the presumed inspiration for Catullus’ poetry, Clodia, wh was herself famously accused of incest with her brother, Publius Clodius, in one of Cicero’s speeches.
March 25, 2011
Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing.
There were two or three essays I enjoyed. That's it. It was not enough to counteract the two essays that involved slut shaming or authors going "bawwwww" because they weren't hired as historical consultants. Even beyond the realm of truly exasperating, many other articles fail to hold one's attention. Look elsewhere for thoughtful essays on the process of adaptng a historical narrative to a fictional context. In fact, look elsewhere for authors that get basic information right; I lost track of how many times plot points were misattributed to the wrong episode. Nitpicking? Yeah, but that's just lazy writing.
To (not) quote Caesar: "son, I am disappoint."
There were two or three essays I enjoyed. That's it. It was not enough to counteract the two essays that involved slut shaming or authors going "bawwwww" because they weren't hired as historical consultants. Even beyond the realm of truly exasperating, many other articles fail to hold one's attention. Look elsewhere for thoughtful essays on the process of adaptng a historical narrative to a fictional context. In fact, look elsewhere for authors that get basic information right; I lost track of how many times plot points were misattributed to the wrong episode. Nitpicking? Yeah, but that's just lazy writing.
To (not) quote Caesar: "son, I am disappoint."
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