Corrected entry: During the dinner scene where Octavian confronts his family and Marc Anthony about their various infidelities, he refers to Agrippa as "a low born Pleb". This is done to amplify the disgrace to Marc Anthony of his wife having an affair with Agrippa. But the real Agrippa definitely was not a Pleb but a member of the Equestrians, the second tier of Roman aristocracy. This can be easily confused as in 43AD Agrippa became Tribute of the Plebs. But this office was open to both Plebs and Equestrians by this time, but not Patricians such as Octavian. Given Octavian's thoroughness, it is hard to believe this is a character mistake.
Marcus Scott
4th Feb 2008
Rome (2005)
15th Feb 2008
Rome (2005)
Corrected entry: It is made out in Series 2 as if Livia is Octavian's first wife. In fact she was his third wife. In reality his marriages to his two previous wives only lasted 2 years in total so historically they were much less relevant than Livia, the mother of Tiberius, the next Emperor.
Correction: Creative license. The show also leaves out Brutus' wife, several of Antony's wives and Octavia's husbands, along with a number of children. They have to leave some people out, or the show would have too many characters to focus on. Furthermore, while it is IMPLIED that Livia is his first wife, it's never actually STATED. He could have been married before when he was living with Agrippa.
1st Jan 2008
Rome (2005)
Corrected entry: At the time the series is set the height of the average Roman foot soldier is estimated by historians to be about 5 feet 4 inches. A big chap like Pullo would have looked like he was surrounded by Hobbits in battle. The Celtic peoples that the Romans fought tended to be significantly taller due to a better diet than Mediterranean people. The small battle shown in the first episode is therefore not strictly accurate. As more Central and Northern Europeans were recruited by the Romans the average height of the army rose. Excess character height tends to be a mistake in all historical dramas and would be extremely difficult for the directors to correct.
Correction: When real people are portrayed in films, the actor or actress is often the wrong height, as acting ability generally takes precedence over exact appearance. Likewise many other physical factors (age, hair colour, weight) take second place to the quality of the performance when casting. In a nutshell, using actors of the wrong physical appearance is completely standard in films. As such, in common with other standard movie conventions, this sort of thing is not considered to be a mistake.
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Correction: Even though one may agree that calling Marcus Vipsanus Agrippa a lowly pleb is harsh, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus was in his right to do it. Yes, Agrippa was an equestrian of the second tier of the Roman nobility, but this tier were also plebeians or plebs. Only patricians like Octavian are not considered plebs in ancient Rome, and EVERYONE else (not slaves or freedmen though), no matter how rich or powerful, were in the legal sense plebs. Even Pompeius Magnus and Cicero.