Historian Reviews the Best and Worst Depictions of the Roman Empire in Film and TV

Why are there no reviews for the Starz series 'Spartacus' ?

Here to watch the full version on Metatron's recommendation after his recent video about this one. I'm glad he did both (the video and linked recommendation). Subscribed and excited to check out the existing works.

It's the Judean Popular People's Front! Bloody splitter

hypocaust

Metatron sent me. Subbed.:-)

Came here because of recomondation from Metatron, Great Video well done.

Has this guy review or react to Barbarians form Netflix??! That series covers the battle he talks about during the "centurion" portion, right?

Metatron shouted you out.

Netflix's Barbarians?

I love the sentiment on display when he is talking about Centurion. Things like that are great gateways into, in this case ancient Rome.

For me I had known some Roman history from school and had thought it interesting but never really pursued it. Then came Rome: Total War. 20 years on and I bet that I could put together a decent survey course for Roman history through the fall of the West. (I don't stop there, Rome didn't really fall until 1453, but that would be a new course given how we treat the Byzantines as if they weren't the Eastern Roman Empire for whatever reason.)

I thought the Romans likes to imbed bits of metal and glass to their whips. I know that they did but not sure when it started to be implemented. Kind of terrifying that pretty much only the Romans in the ancient world went like 10 steps up to make a whipping as painful as possible. When typically a whipping is probably the most lenient punishment you can get. It’s not fun but usually you’d walk away from it. You’d only die if it was overkill or you die from an infection from the welts. But Romans were like “yeah let’s make this as brutal as possible”

The thing with the rolling flaming balls is I don't know why the defensive square of shielded soldiers doesn't just open up and let the ball continue down the hill. They just stand there like bowling pins waiting for a strike.

Well , i guess no German would recognise your pronounciation of the Teutoburger Wald = Teutoburg Forrest , while the excact location of the Battle is still unknown you can reduce the location to a strip of 10-20 km alongside the Wiehengebirge near Kalkriese . It was a b i g Victory for Arminius vs Publius Quinctilius Varus , Arminius was the underdog which won against all odds versus 2 Legions . In hindsight it was more than a simple Battle , it showed the germanic Tribes that the romans could be beaten . This brought roman conquests to a standstill in Germania , Rome later came back with 8 Legions but had only limited success and high losses , at the end after 3 Years it it seemed to be to costly for Cesar to conquer all of Germania and Rome gave up in 16 a.d

SPOILERS, DONT READ IF YOU HENT SEEN ITI love the twist in Rome concerning Caesarion'[s parentage.

In the next batch pleas include Netflix "Barbarians" about the Arminus and HBO " those about to die" for the Flavians.

Shame you did not include the scene at the end of that Doctor Who episode where the son misbehaves and is instructed to go apoligize to the house gods and the shrine is now bearing the image of The Doctor, the Tardis and Donna.

HBO rome is probably one the most underrated shows of all time, I've watched it probably 8 times. RIP Rolo.

Where's Astérix le Gaulois coverage?

Alesia? I don't know any Alesia...

He looks and sounds like he gets along great with his wife's boyfriend.

The story of TudorBorg is way over told I know it's not spelled right I don't care

Uh, Monty Python was very much not into a “fair or equal or even classical” representation of (so-called) history and were more about the truer facts that lay underneath - mostly the ridiculousness! of it all.
What’s next? Are we tearing down Mel Brooks’ “History of the World, Part 1” for its lack of actual factuality, as well? How ‘bout “Blazing Saddles” for its inaccurate (too accurate) portrayal of life in Ye Olde Old West?
Poppycock and Frufuberries…

I wanted to applaud for "Gaius Octavius" but then you immediately started using "Octavian" :( This was my biggest issue with Rome, why the f everyone called him Octavian since the start :(

Where can I get that SHIRT?!?!

Never even heard of that movie, The Last Legion, but looking at the clips here – wow, the cast was stacked! I also like how they went for a more Byzantine aesthetic of the costumes (no idea if that's historically accurate, but you don't often see it on screen, so it's interesting to see). Too bad the movie itself is supposed to be not good.

The most historically inaccurate thing in this video is the pronounciation of Caesar.

I admit I was afraid you would dump on Centurion. I enjoy that movie very much and watch it regularly. While I don't expect any movie to be historically accurate, it's interesting to know there are a few historical touchstones to ground the plot, and I should read more.

Censorship = downvote

No "romani eunt domus"??

If you do another of these, I'd love to see your thoughts on:
Caligula (1979)
I, Claudius (TV Mini Series 1976)
Spartacus (1960)
Dragon Blade (2015)
Masada (TV Mini Series 1981)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Cleopatra (1963)

Love the respect for Life of Brian. I remember some eminent theologian being interviewed about it, and admitting that it was probably closer to reality than many hand-wringing fairy-worshippers would like to admit

I know The Eagle Of The Ninth was not super historically accurate but, for a very young me, it (the television adaptation, at least) was the catalyst for an undying love of history.
For the last forty-plus years, I've been absolutely enthralled by our collective stories of who did what to get us where we are today

Idk seems pretty cowardly to humiliate and execute a defeated enemy in this fashion.

TV series Spartacus ?

The intro is realy frustrating, please skip it if it's just spoilers for the rest of the video.

Enjoyed all the actual content

Caesar was in his forties and balding when he faced down the Gauls. That's a very flattering portrayal of him in Rome.

I always wonder how Gauls or Kelts, etc. like Vercingetorix and such, could communicate with the Romans? Did they speak Koine Greek perhaps to each other (which would have supposed a very good education of the mentioned non-Roman people), did they have translators (which would have supposed well versed translators)? Is there anything in historical sources about this?

I cant imagine that some group of soldiers didn't realise the value of a whistle on the battlefield. Even if it might not have been official, or even common, some number of professional soldiers would have seen the value and used it. In any sort of military there are those little things passed down grunt-to-grunt that never make it into the handbook.

Interesting comments. Being English you find it hard to believe the 9th could be killed in the North, but make it Germany and it's fine. Never occur to you that it would be entirely possible for the 9th to be massacred and then reformed and moved to Holland. I mean they had a century to do so. You probably also have no problems with the impossible absurdities claimed for just after the Romans left Britain. The nit picking on the whistle seemed pointless too, you know whistles existed in a military setting, you know the Romans didn't care where an idea came from, they would use it regardless, and also that they were smart and innovative. Yet you balk at the idea that they might have used whistles for one of the most obvious uses. I also strongly suspect that any historical accuracy from Monty Python was incidental.

Days since I've thought about the Roman Empire: 0

Not sure if anyone else noticed the Arch of Titus at the end of HBO Rome, which wasn't built until 81AD, so well after Julius Caesar's time..... Don't hate the nerd, hate the knowledge.

Dear British… you did exactly what the Romans did. Must’ve learned it from them.

Historians get a lot wrong. Often based on scant record or a single written record of an occurrence.

I guarantee the punishment for falling asleep on sentry duty was NOT death. If there are records of it happening it was not the falling asleep that was being punished but the consequences of having fell asleep. Like failure to warn fellow soldiers of an attack due to having fallen asleep.

I am sure the punishment was enough to get soldiers to do everything they can to stay awake, but I guarantee it was almost never death and a few anecdotes are likely related to a sense the the legionnaire was a habitual malingerer or the consequences of having fallen asleep was severe to the legion due to a loss from an attack that they were not warned about.

Soldiers fall asleep constantly in combat zones. Often standing up.

And anyone that served knows that sometimes no matter what you try to do to stay awake, your body shuts down.

Roman legions would be able to function if they were executing legionnaires for such common mistakes.