I have been half impressed and half annoyed by Rome. Some of the scenes are very well done — Octavian and Cleopatra as you say, also the proscriptions, and Antony's violent character — but some things are just plain wrong. For example, Octavian being cowardly at Philippi. I just don't believe it of a man who had plenty of previous military experience and had impressed Julius Caesar with his bravery and resourcefulness. The depiction of Antony in Egypt is straight out of Octavian's propaganda and I don't believe it for a moment. It would have been more dramatic to show us a gap between the character assassination back in Rome and the actual events in Alexandria.
There were other missed opportunities. Where was Octavian's first wife Clodia Pulchra? And where was her mother Fulvia, who was married to Mark Antony and who raised eight legions and fought a war against Octavian? The real story of Clodia and Fulvia in my opinion beats the made up soap opera plots involving Atia and Servilia. (Octavian never consummated his marriage with Clodia, perhaps one factor in her mother's enmity to him.)
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Date: 2007-07-25 06:59 am (UTC)There were other missed opportunities. Where was Octavian's first wife Clodia Pulchra? And where was her mother Fulvia, who was married to Mark Antony and who raised eight legions and fought a war against Octavian? The real story of Clodia and Fulvia in my opinion beats the made up soap opera plots involving Atia and Servilia. (Octavian never consummated his marriage with Clodia, perhaps one factor in her mother's enmity to him.)
An interesting attempt, but no I, Claudius.