Ancient Rome: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire on BBC.

guildofevil

Is anyone watching the BBC programme Ancient Rome: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire.

What do you think?

I have been pretty obsessed with the history of the Roman Republic and the early empire, for quite a few years, (couple of decades, now that I think about it), so I think I am in a good position, for a layman, to assess the accuracy.

I think that the production values are very good.

Costume is great, in that the people and soldiers appear to be wearing all the right stuff and/or using the right equipment. The sets are convincing and the acting is superb. I find myself getting lost in it quite a bit.

The problem I have is with how they have, presumably for brevity, edited historical events, sometimes distorting and sometimes omitting important events and/or people.

For example, last nights episode was about the life of Tiberius Gracchus.
More info: http://www.unrv.com/empire/tiberius-gracchus.php

Anyone who knows about this man knows how important he was, in that he was effectively the first the populares, a brand of Roman politician which was eventually to include Julius Caesar.

The problem I have is that when you talk about this part of history, you usually talk about the Gracchi Brothers; Tiberius Gracchus and his younger brother Gaius Gracchus, who, if anything, was an even more important figure, but was never even mentioned in the programme.

It is disconcerting to have a programme with so many merits, but every so often to come across something that has me shouting my objections at the television.

Hackman

I had the same problem. I always associate the brothers when I hear the name Grachus.

Maybe they will feature Gaius soon. I think he was even more interesting than Tiberius.

By the way, I love the series too.