"Rome" HBO

[LordBest]

Your thinking of Greek women, by the end of the Republic Roman women had quite good rights by Roman standards, could go out on their own, werent cloistered in the home anymore. could go out and socialise at libraries and gymnasia, which were not always segregated.
                                                  LordBest.

[Retrospectator]

i seem to remember there was a series/play on the bbc years ago about Massada (Flavian era)
wouldnt it be great to see another series on the Flavian - Severan eras

regards to all
mick dale
 

IMHO That was a very good little series. I think it starred Peter O' Toole, Barbara Carrera and I think also, Anthony Quayle? It was shown in the UK in 1983 and I'd like to see it again.

[ricksta]

1981 mini-series with Peter O'Toole...

[mickdale]

ricksta, is the drama as good as i remember it?
some programmes dont age well

[David Atherton]

'Masada', though a fictionalized account, is one of the best movies about ancient Rome I have ever seen.

I bought a copy a few years ago and have watched it many times since. Mind you, it's over six hours long, so either watch it in installments or set aside a day!

BTW, the book by Ernest K Gann is excellent also.

[Basemetal]

Lol...I do believe that Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton must have been roman in a previous life. 
Remember the PBS drama about the Life and death of the Bishop of Canturbury?
O'Toole as the king was told by Burton the future ArchBishop:
"But sire, no king has ever dared to tax the Church before"
O'Toole answered:
"Well, dammit man, I've never been this POOR before"
Truth to tell, I believe that even the movie "Gladiator" when the idea that it is chronologically and literally history is cast aside, is a great compendium of various real historical ancedotal snippets forged into a watchable movie.

[Static]

Coin props from "Rome"

[PeterD]

Very realistic, but at least one of them is over 300 years too early!

[ancientcoins]

I am currently watching "Augustus" with Peter O'Toole as Augustus.  I think it is a pretty good movie, although the acting is kind of corny .


Andrew

[Automan]

Just watched season 1 last weekend. Quite entertaining. Looking forward to season 2. The Romans, though - not very nice people IMO! Cruel, imperialist, wasteful, respectless, greedy, violent etc. Every bit as bad as, say, the Nazis. Not that the series provides a very truthful image, probably. In real life, the Romans were a lot worse, I think, and most were not in the least civilized in the modern sense (where civilized tends to be similar to "humanist"). Doesn't make them less interesting, though. Probably the other way around.

Auto

[wolfgang336]

I am currently watching "Augustus" with Peter O'Toole as Augustus.  I think it is a pretty good movie, although the acting is kind of corny .


Andrew

Take it back! Peter O'Toole deserves to be deified! You should see him in Lawrence of Arabia!!

Evan

[Retrospectator]

I think Peter O' Toole is also really good as Tiberius in Bob Guccione's Caligula.

[ancientcoins]

I am currently watching "Augustus" with Peter O'Toole as Augustus.  I think it is a pretty good movie, although the acting is kind of corny .


Andrew

Take it back! Peter O'Toole deserves to be deified! You should see him in Lawrence of Arabia!!

Evan

Well, I wasn't going directly at him, he only has one goofy part.  Caius, Lucius, and a few others the corny ones.

Andrew

[gang-warily]

It's worth pointing out that American and British audiences did not see exactly he same series.  What I mean by this was in the UK it was decided to condense it.  For example the first three episodes were shortened and made into two.  So the British audience saw 2 hours insttead of three.  Whether this happened with later episodes I'm not sure but The makers were understanandably upset.  The official reason given for this was that the British had a better understanding of the historical background between Ceasar and Pompeii (laughable - I know).  So they cut out a lot of the political intrigue, but of course left all the sex in !
Given these circumstances I would certainly recommend the full DVD if I had only seen it in the UK.
Oh, and by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  If I want the exact history I'll read my books.

[Robert_Brenchley]

That sounds like something which once happened to my brother; he had a contract with a publisher for a series of four novels, which was then cut back to three in time to mess up the last volume. Infuriating!

[Basemetal]

When is an HBO series about the massacre of the Tetuoberg Forest going to be made? It's all there.
Courage in the face of hopeless odds, excellent pro and an-tagonists, possible romance (remember those camp followers), betrayal, a commercial tie-in:
"Try the new, luxurious Arminius four wheel drive. It conqured the Roman Legions. It will conquer your roads"

[David Atherton]

When is an HBO series about the massacre of the Tetuoberg Forest going to be made?

Until HBO (or some other such entity) gets around to making that flick, there is a novel which tells the tale: "Arminius" by Clint Von Hummel. I haven't read it but have seen it for sale before.

[Basemetal]

Vespasian:

I've got to look that up!

There was a series of novels by ahem...Lance Horner... that dealt with the life of Elegabalus.   Lots of homoereotic overtones, but all in all not bad historically.

[wolfgang336]

lol... I think if a novel about Elagabalus is going to even remotely historically accurate, there'll be homoeroticism. Poor Elag... he had a rough time of things.

Evan

[Basemetal]

Wolfgang:
I read a couple....hooo ...boy were they rife with homosexual overtones and more than overtones.  But amazingly they were fairly much on the money with the historical facts, dates, and known historical facts of roman imperial court life.

[wolfgang336]

Sex sells! 

Evan

[David Atherton]

"Rome" came out on DVD on August 15th. I bought it yesterday and must say it's better than I had thought it would be.

The history is a little off (something all historical epics suffer from), but it is visually stunning and well acted.

[Steve Minnoch]

This series is currently showing here.

I tried to watch the start of this series, but after showing a sacrifice where Caesar's neice Atia was showering in the blood of a sacrificial bull, made Octavia copulate with Pompey as part of marriage negotiations, send her son Gaius Octavius (with everyone calling him Octavian despite the fact this is still years before Caesar's assasination) off to Gaul to see Caesar with barely an escort I realised it wasn't for me.  The trailers for episodes they show during the news (almost the only TV I watch) seems to imply that they have Octaviun and his sister engaging in an incestuous relationship, and that it was Atia who inspired Caesar's march on Rome.

You can keep this rubbish.

Steve

[christopher62883]

The second season will air on HBO beginning January 7, 2007.  The series will end after season two because HBO does not want to spend anymore money on it. 

[areich]

This has happened to good programs, too, although I personally think 'Rome' is watchable.
But then I don't really know my ancient history very well.