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Rome
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…
