Fux Romana
With the unexpected demise of Deadwood, Mrs. BH and I decided to look to HBO's other historical drama, Rome [Link], in order to fulfill our weekly quota of excessive profanity, sex, and violence on teevee.
At first, I found its frank portrayal of Roman morality and religion refreshing, although "I, Claudius" certainly didn't shy away from those topics 30 years ago. The acting, lavish sets, and special effects were eye-popping as well. However, like Deadwood, the more I watch the show, the more off-putting I find the liberties that the show's writers are taking with established Roman history.
Last night's episode was particularly egregious in its depiction of the confrontation between the forces of Marc Anthony and Octavian, against Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. The battle appeared to be a cakewalk for young Caesar. After Cassius is outflanked and mortally wounded by Anthony's men, Brutus, sword in hand, rushes headlong into the opposing army where he is stabbed repeatedly in an ironic echo of his own assassination of Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate. Dramatic without a doubt, but highly inaccurate historically.
In fact, Cassius and Brutus were winning the battle, at least at first, as Brutus had overrun Octavian's camp. Marc Anthony did in fact defeat Cassius' men, but Cassius, unaware of Brutus' victory against Octavian, believed that all was lost and ordered his slave to kill him. Upon learning of Cassius' suicide, Brutus fled into the hills with the remnants of his legions, where he also killed himself.
The killing of Cicero in last night's episode, while not fact-futzed as extensively as the battle of Philippi, also takes some liberties by showing him waiting stoically in his villa for his murderer to arrive. In fact, he was caught trying to escape in a litter.
I should also mention that the character of Octavian's mother, Atia, has been flipped completely over to the dark side in order to serve the dramatic muse. Ancient historians call her one of Rome's most honorable matrons, but in the show she's portrayed as a scheming, evil bitch who's not above using brutal torture to humilate her bitter rival, Servilia. In reality, subjecting a patrician to such degradation would have been absolutely unthinkable under Roman mores.