MovieChat Forums > Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006) Discussion > I can't believe so many are dissing this...

I can't believe so many are dissing this show

posted 15 years ago by rock_bustin
7 replies | jump to latest

I loved it!

Look, if you want true historical accuracy you're wasting your time looking
for it on TV. I found the choice of episode subjects intriguing; I mean you
are comparing this TV Gracchus to,... which other one was it again ????
And then some want to rant that HBO's Rome was better. Better entertainment
perhaps. But just imagine you are an educator or a history lover who really
DOES read the ancient texts - even if in translation - How do you share this
with others?

Since formal Latin instruction is no longer mandatory for the educated (or
even emphasied as preferrable), you introduce the Classical World by showing
it in ways our shallow modern societies are liable to digest; In bold and
colorful, entertaining but hopefully accurate media formats that invite you
to delve deeper. Seutonius has plenty of tales of Nero juicier than the ones
the BBC shared. Probably the producers self-censored from what I remember of
some of Seutonius' gossipy, naughty tattle-tales. Regarding Caesar's epi. he
did in fact have his body hair plucked and was a total primp. That is true.
Partially due to that, rumors of being gay dogged him throughout his career
although they were possibly just slurs by his enemies (but perhaps not :-) ).

Anyone who enjoys daubling in the Classical World and would like to lighten
up from their reading with a few hours of related entertainment will completely
enjoy this six hour history series and I highly recommend it. Snobs and pHDs
can bugger off if they don't like the rest of us actually enjoying ourselves
for an evening or two in their Hallowed Halls.

Andrew

[–] ztpt 14 years ago

hear hear

[–] zhokar 14 years ago

Very readable and true criticism. I myself study classical archaeology and found the series to be entertaining. It even helped me fresh up my knowledge - not because of the content but because of the way it is presented to the viewer.

The main problem of archaeology, history and similar sciences is that they are stuck in their ivory tower. Science is worthless if it is not made accessible to the interested layman. This is one way to do it, there are other ways and all of them mean you have to filter, transform science to popular science. This is why I chose media and communication studies to go along with archaeology.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rica2005 13 years ago

I think the real problem with the acedemically-minded people is that they look at the evidence they see and read the texts and such, but they forget that these were people. I think that is what turns people away from learning about history in the first place - they don't want to learn a bunch of dates and battle names. If we can emphasise in the media the fact that historical figures were regular people, we could get more people interested in digging deeper into history.

[–] megaskunk 13 years ago

I'm surprised by this documentary series production value.

I admire Rome the series produced by HBO, watched it countless times and not getting tired of Pullo and Lucius Vorenus (coolest guys ever).
But it is a fully fledged series!
Ancient Rome is just a docu-drama miniserie.

So please don't compare those two. It's too crude.

Compare this to other miserable medieval documentarys! Ancient Rome is actually quiet some thing.

[–] gregorioos 13 years ago

============================================================================
Look, if you want true historical accuracy you're wasting your time looking
for it on TV.
============================================================================

This isn't TV, this is the BBC.

I like swords, sandals and girls taking their kit off and that is why I watched HBO's Rome. But when the Beeb does a documentary I expect a higher level of accuracy.

[–] Kawada_Kira 9 years ago

Look, if you want true historical accuracy you're wasting your time looking
for it on TV.

I think that when a TV series presents itself as an educational program, even in a docu-drama form, the viewer has every right to expect historical accuracy. I don't understand this idea that not only is the medium of television literally incapable of historical accuracy, but that it wouldn't even be desirable for it to be otherwise. There's no reason whatsoever why history can't be both accurate and entertaining at the same time. And it isn't "snobbish" to expect that it could be.

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of history.
-Mao Zedong