Roman history seen from the eyes of two legionaries
Some time ago, I watched an old series on Sky, “Rome”, which includes two seasons and was broadcast between 2005 and 2007. It’s an HBO/BBC production and was filmed in Cinecittà .
The series tells the story of the last part of
the Republican period, from the rise of Julius Caesar to that of Octavian. The well-known historical events,
all too often shown in films, TV series and novels, are intertwined with the totally invented ones of two Roman legionaries.
We know
well what happened to Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian. You don’t
watch this series to learn history (also because it’s heavily fictionalised),
but to have fun imagining it as closely connected to the lives of Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus.
In reality,
the two soldiers did exist, but the little that is known about them makes it
unlikely that their fates followed those of the above-mentioned historical
figures. This gave the writers the freedom to imagine them very close to Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian, so much
so that they were always present at their side in the most important historical
moments.
I won’t go
into details, as it’s fun to discover them while watching.
Moreover,
the screenwriters repeatedly bent the
real facts to make the plot more suitable and interesting for the viewers.
And I’d say they succeeded. Even though I already knew how it would end, I
remained glued to the screen the whole
time, also thanks to the way in which the
plot mixes dramatic elements with others that are much lighter and more ironic
(in particular those linked to the character of Titus Pullo).
I also
really appreciated the scenography and
costumes. Some reconstructions, such as Caesar’s triumph, are wonderful.
I also
really liked the way the politics of the
time are shown and how its protagonists exploit elements of news
dissemination (such as graffiti on the walls and announcements in the forum) to
their advantage.
All in all,
there is not much difference between the mechanisms of then and those of today
from a conceptual point of view. Of course, what is different is that political enemies were simply killed.
Nowadays, in most civilised countries, there is a tendency to use somewhat less
direct methods (usually!).
Overall, I
really enjoyed this series and I
recommend it.
By the way,
the end of the series partially overlaps, from a historical point of view, with
the beginning of “Domina” (Sky
Original series).
I think it’s interesting to see how the same characters, specifically Octavian and Livia, are represented in a completely different way in the two series, precisely because the objective of the narration is different.
