I've started watching HBO's Rome (free on the Roku via Amazon Prime) and Tam joined me when she returned from New Hampshire. There's a certain trainwreck fascination in watching the Republic go off the rails (any resemblance to modern politics is purely coincidental -- right?), along with a certain trainwreck fascination in the things the show producers get wrong, from details (a wooden "anvil" does not ring!) to omitted personages to elided incidents. --And, both amusingly and horrifyingly, the actress who plays the immoral and licentious Atia (a combination of at least two historical Roman women and more lurid than either) is a near-twin of a friend who I know to be of sterling moral character, a contrast which is its own sort of trainwreck.
Of course, the outcome is inevitable; but the process of getting there is a plot better than any soap-opera.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
5 comments:
"SENAETEUS POPULAEUS QUE ROMANUS"
FOR THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME WAS THE EVER PERSISTENT MOTTO THAT THE CAESARS USED TO JUSTIFY THEIR RULE LONG AFTER THE REPUBLIC CEASED TO BE AND THE SENATE WAS USED AS A RUBBER STAMP SOUND FAMILIAR ?
READ ALL ABOUT IT ! TRY "THE 12 CAESARS" BY CAIUS SUETONIUS TRANQUILLICUS (PENGUIN CLASSIC PAPERBACK TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN BY ROBERT GRAVES) SECRETARY TO HADRIAN HE HAD FREE ACCESS TO DOTH THE SENATE AND IMPERIAL ARCHIVES
HE HAD THE DIRT ON EVERYONE AS TO WHO WAS STEALING FROM WHOM WHO WAS GETTING/GIVING KICKBACKS FROM THE LEGIONS WHO WAS GOING TO THE
ORGY AND WHO WAS NOT DURING "THE DECLINE AND FALL" READ SUETONIUS TOGETHER WITH GIBBON FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENED IN ROME CECIL B. DEMILLE HAD NOT A CLUE IN HIS EPICS YOU MIGHT TRY
"CARRY ON CLEO" OR BETTER YET
"A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM" ENJOY !
THE ARISTOCRACY HAD THEIR WINE SERVED IN FANCY LEAD CUPS WHEREAS
THE COMMON FOLK USED WOODEN BOWLS
THE CAESARS AND THEIR FRIENDS ALL SUFFERED THE NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS
OF LEAD POISONING FROM THE WINE LIBERATING THE LEAD MOLECULES AND THEIR INGESTING THEM IT EXPLAINS
SOME THE CRAZY EXCESSES THAT WENT
ON-- WHAT EXPLANATION FOR WHAT GOES ON AT 1600 PENNSY AVE AND WITHIN THE BELTWAY BEATS ME
"MORITORI TE SALUTAMUS"
That is a great series, my wife and I have watched it twice over the past 5 years and while it kind of mixes things up I think it gives a plausible view of how things might have been during that time. The casting is great and the charcter Titus Pullo is kind of like an ancient Roman Forest Gump, always in the place where things happen.
I kind of lost interest after the first season. It was interesting, but the somewhat gratuitous sex and things that weren't quite right put me off. Of course, this preceded the "It's not porn, it's HBO" trend.
see if you can find "I,Claudius" starring Derek Jacoby. Wonderful series on PBS.
I was so sad when Rome-the-series ended. Apparently high production costs were a factor. The director insisted on real, contemporary Romans as extras, because they moved right, or something.
And the 3/4-scale sets!
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