Series Description

The Rome TV show was a 60 minute historical drama series on HBO about the final years of the reign of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. The main theme of the series was how the politics of that turbulent time affected the lives of two Roman soldiers and their families.

Rome Cast

Kevin McKidd .... Lucius Vorenus
Ray Stevenson .... Titus Pullo
Polly Walker .... Atia of the Julii
Lindsay Duncan .... Servilia of the Junii
Tobias Menzies .... Marcus Junius Brutus
Kerry Condon .... Octavia of the Julii
David Bamber .... Marcus Tullius Cicero
Max Pirkis .... Gaius Octavian
Rick Warden .... Quintus Pompey
Indira Varma .... Niobe
Nicholas Woodeson .... Posca
Suzanne Bertish .... Eleni
Paul Jesson .... Scipio
Kenneth Cranham .... Pompey Magnus (2005)
Karl Johnson .... Porcius Cato (2005)

Rome Trivia

In a brilliant move, HBO decided to partner with the BBC in producing Rome. The BBC's access to European locales and period costumes, sets, etc. makes for an outstanding partnership!

The main set used to film the Rome TV show is the largest standing set in the world at five full acres in area! (as of August 2005)

HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht has stated that the second season of Rome will be its last. He went on to explain that the series was, at first, conceived as a miniseries, but after seeing the high quality of the initial scripts, the decision was made to expand Rome into a series. The decision to end the series after only two seasons was stricly economics. The first season production costs were approximately $100 million!

Rome's ratings were ok, especially when you figure that U.S. viewers don't tend to be huge historical drama fans. Rome was very well received by critics and was nominated for a whopping eight Emmys! Apparently, HBO was pleased as they decided to continue the Rome TV Show for a second season!

The actors British accents were used to emphasize the difference between the different social classes. The officers and upper class spoke with distinct, proper English and the common soldiers and lower class spoke with strong accents. Some of the accents were so strong that U.S. test audiences had trouble understanding them, so they were somewhat toned down.

There were more than four thousand pieces of wardrobe designed (by April Ferry) for the Rome TV show! The fabrics used to make them were authentic to the period; mostly wool, cotton, linen, and silk imported from Prato in their raw form and then dyed at the shooting site! 1250 pairs of shoes were hand-made in Bulgaria! While the typical Roman soldier's armor was mass-produced in India, hundreds of other metallic pieces and ornaments worn by officers were hand made (by Luca Giampaoli)!

In the "Caesar's Triumph" scene, there were 750 actors and extras used!

In order to maximize the realism of Rome, 55 extras were sent to "Roman Boot Camp"! For two weeks they lived and trained, as much as possible, the way that Roman soldiers did! There was full military discipline, they lived in tents, they built camps and rebuilt them after marching to a "new location", training went on day and night, and they could only bathe in the lake! Only 43 of the 55 "graduated" from boot camp!

There was one thing that could not be authentic in the production of Rome. Romans did not use stirrups when they rode horses. Unfortunately, that would have increased the odds dramatically of serious injury to the actors and stirrups were used. One exception was that they were removed for some close-up scenes.

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

TV Promotional Special

Making Rome (8/11/2005)

Season 1

1. The Stolen Eagle (8/28/2005)
2. How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic (9/4/2005)
3. An Owl in a Thornbush (9/11/2005)
4. Stealing From Saturn (9/18/2005)
5. The Ram Has Touched The Wall (9/25/2005)
6. Egeria (10/2/2005)
7. Pharsalus (10/9/2005)
8. Caesarion (10/16/2005)
9. Utica (10/30/2005)
10. Triumph (11/6/2005)
11. The Spoils (11/13/2005)
12. Kalends of February (11/20/2005)

13. Passover (1/14/2007)
14. Son of Hades (1/21/2007)
15. These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero (1/28/2007)
16. Testudo Et Lepus (The Tortoise And the Hare) (2/4/2007)
17. Heroes of the Republic (2/11/2007)
18. Philippi (2/18/2007)
19. Death Mask (3/4/2007)
20. A Necessary Fiction (3/11/2007)
21. Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man) (3/18/2007)
22. De Patre Vostro (About Your Father) (3/25/2007)