Actum Cinemagraphicum – HBO’s Rome

Last week, before we saw a snippet from an episode in class, I watched the beginning of HBO’s Rome TV series. Specifically, I watched the first two episodes of the series. In Episode 1, the show highlights two characters: Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. Vorenus is a centurion of the 13th legion of Rome, under the command of Caesar. Titus Pullo is a rowdy soldier under Vorenus’s command who loves to party. The show opens with a battle where Titus Pullo disobeys Lucius Vorneus on the battlefield, leading to Pullo’s punishment. Pullo is publicly whipped and then imprisoned, which aligns with the infamnia tactics of publicly shaming Roman citizens which we talked about in class. 

The audience is then introduced to Pompey and Caesar as we watch Julia, Caesar’s daughter and Pompey’s wife, die in childbirth. Once Julia died, loyalty no longer lied between Caesar and Pompey. We then see a scene on the Senate floor, where one man encourages Pompey to betray Caesar. Despite Pompey’s public rejection of this idea, behind closed doors, Pompey starts questioning his allegiance to Caesar and plays around with the idea of overthrowing him. Ironically enough, Pompey starts conspiring about Caesar while he was at a play with masked actors. This portrayal of masked performers ties to our discussion about the word persona and forms of entertainment in Rome. 

There was also a scene where Octavian, Caesar’s nephew, is captured by barbarians and held captive. Pullo and Vorenus, on their search for Caesar’s stolen eagle, slay the barbarians and rescue Octavian. In order to establish credibility, Octavian states that he is a Roman citizen born of noble birth. This reminds me of the saying “Civis Romanus Sum”, used when Romans prove their validity to others like Octavian did in this scene. 

In the episodes I watched so far, the plot is centered around the build-up of Caesar and Pompey’s tensions ultimately resulting in the Civil War. The show highlights Pompey’s jealousy of Caesar as the main cause for the feud. Pompey is jealous because the people of Rome love Caesar. This plotline, along with many other aspects of HBO’s Rome, are very historically accurate. It is very interesting to see our discussions about Roman history play out on the TV screen. I am eager to continue watching and see the Civil War and Pompey’s death play out as well.