"Something Kind Of Made Up": HBO's Acclaimed 2-Season Historical Show Gets Praise From Expert Despite Some Battle Inaccuracy (2024)

Roman historian Michael Taylor rates the historical accuracy in HBO's Rome. The award-winning and critically acclaimed series starring Ray Stevenson and Ciarán Hinds ran for two seasons before it was cancelled. The historical drama takes place during the last days of the Roman Republic and into the transition to the Roman Empire. It featured real-life historical figures, such as Julius Caesar (Hinds), and lesser known individuals such as Titus Pullo (Stevenson), who was mentioned in Caesar's personal writings.

In a video with Insider, Taylor breaks down the historical accuracy and inaccuracies of the combat featured in Rome.

Taylor focuses on clips that highlight the battle formations that the troops employ, along with taking note of the armor that the soldiers are wearing. While he indicates some inaccuracies, he is still impressed by certain details in these scenes. Check out Taylor's explanation below:

We do know that Caesar's army, like the army in Spartacus, usually fights in three lines, and one reason for doing that is, if the people in the front line become exhausted, you can bring up cohorts from the rear ranks to replace them. Now that being said, we do not have any kind of evidence of any extremely coordinated system of rotating men within an individual century or cohort. That's something they've kind of made up.

The system that they show honestly seems clumsy and impractical to me. You don't want that many men cycling around a formation when you're trying to maintain its coherence and the goals are rushing against you. We also have a textual passage that describes a battle fought shortly after Caesar's death as part of the Roman Civil War that simply says men stayed in the front rank until they were killed, and then they were replaced, so that probably is the simplest way to do it.

Some things that I like include the fact that all the Roman soldiers are wearing male armor that is authentic. I do like the idea of Roman soldiers fighting in coherent formations. I'm going to give it an eight.

This Breakdown Proves That Rome Was Cancelled Too Soon

The Show Stands Out As An Impressive Historical Drama

While it is historical fiction, Rome is more historically accurate than many other stories in the genre. Taylor's breakdown proves that the series pays excellent attention to accurate historical details, including the soldiers' period-accurate armor. In other areas, such as the use of coherent battle formations, Taylor admits that it makes sense for the show, despite the lack of historical evidence supporting it. This balance between historical accuracy and what worked well narratively elevated Rome above many of its competitors. Rome also stood out due to its high production value, with the substantial costs leading to the show’s cancellation.

At the time, Rome was one of the most expensive series ever made, with each episode costing an estimated $10 million, although The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Game of Thrones, and other series have now far surpassed it. Rome was arguably ahead of its time as high production value became the standard for many of television's most successful shows, including HBO's Game of Thrones. Rome brought the titular setting to life, crafting an immersive world based on real history, and that served as the perfect stage for the ambitious story it was telling.

The historical period Rome took place opened doors for countless more stories across many future seasons that were unable to be brought to fruition with its talented ensemble of actors. Hinds, Stevenson, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kevin McKidd, Indira Varma, James Purefoy, and other members of the cast have gone on to have strong careers, with many of them starring in award-winning and critically acclaimed stories, and Hinds, Menzies, and Varma all playing important roles in Game of Thrones. Despite its premature cancellation, Rome remains a memorable and impressively realized historical drama.

Source: Insider

Rome

TV-MA

Action & Adventure

Drama

Rome is a historical drama television series that aired from 2005 to 2007. The show is set in the 1st century BC and follows the lives of two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, as they navigate the complexities of ancient Roman politics and warfare.

Where to Watch

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Not available

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Cast

Kevin McKidd , Ray Stevenson , Ciarán Hinds , James Purefoy , Polly Walker

Release Date

August 28, 2005

Seasons

2

Creator(s)

John Milius , William J. MacDonald , Bruno Heller