Rome

Rome (2005)

3 corrected entries in show generally

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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.

Marcus Scott

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.

Show generally

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.

Marcus Scott

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.

Tailkinker

Correction: The filmmakers do not claim to be historically accurate.

Stealing From Saturn - S1-E4

Factual error: The verse Octavia recites is from Virgilius' poem "the Aeneid". That poem was written at least a quarter of a decade after the death of Caesar.

More mistakes in Rome

Cassius: Look now. Look at that.
Marcus Junius Brutus: It is a chair. What of it?
Cassius: A chair? It's a throne.
Marcus Junius Brutus: I believe thrones are generally more decorative. That is decidedly plain, and chair-like.

More quotes from Rome

Trivia: Although they didn't have any scenes together, Kevin McKidd (Vorenus) and Tobias Menzies (Brutus) would discuss their characters and brainstorm about how to portray them, because they felt their characters went through very similar moral conflicts. Confirmed by Kevin McKidd on the season one DVD commentary.

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The Stolen Eagle - S1-E1

Question: I don't understand why Pullo is so angry with Vorenus and thinks he needs to apologise. Having fought in Caesar's army for as long as Pullo has he would be very well aware of the repercussions for what he did, why would he blame Vorenus for abiding the law and doing what is required of him as a centurion?

Answer: Its Pullo's nature to resent people of higher standing than him. His jealousy of Vorenus in later episodes, which in part leads to their falling out, is proof of that. From Pullo's point of view, Vorenus just got better breaks to get where he is in the army and so, isn't really his superior. That, plus his natural arrogance is explantion enough for his behaviour in spite of the fact that he broke the rules and was being fairly punished.

roboc

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