Friends, Romans, countrymen!

Lend me your ears! HBO’s new series ROME is as good as TV can get. Finally, a show pulls the curtain off the raw sex, wholesome violence, and power politics of pre-Christian Europe, giving us the fall of the Roman Republic in all its pagan gore and glory. As executive producer and writer Bruno Heller said:

“Human nature never changes… and the great thing about the Romans is that they’re a people with the fetters taken completely off. They had no prosaic God telling them right from wrong and how to behave. It was a strictly personal morality, and whether or not an action is wrong would depend on whether people more powerful than you would approve. You were allowed to murder your neighbor or covet his wife if it didn’t piss off the wrong person. Mercy was a weakness, cruelty a virtue, and all that mattered was personal honor, loyalty to yourself and your family.”

That is why we study the classics!

Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar march on Rome.

Knowing the history just makes the show more enjoyable. The first three episodes reveal how a series of misunderstandings and miscalculations lead to civil war. Cicero, a brilliant yet doomed politician of the age, is artfully shown as the tragic leader of the moderate faction in the Senate. Those who know the detailed biographies Pompey, Caesar, Cato the Younger, Scipio, Octavius, Servilia, Brutus, and all the rest will find particular pleasure in the series.

For television, the history is remarkable. (The historical consultant said the show will be “authentic, not accurate.”) Thus far, my only beef is that they skip Caesar’s attack on Hispania. (After marching on Rome, Caesar sailed west to deal with Pompei’s reserve legions before heading to Greece for a showdown—in the series, he heads straight for Greece.) Additionally, the main story closely follows the lives of Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two soldiers mercilessly swept up in the current of history.

You can read more about the series at Wikipedia, and catch it on HBO at 9pm on Sundays. I’m also glad to report that the rave reviews have inspired the production team to sign on for another season (it was originally planned, like Band of Brothers, as a mini-series).

P.S. Be wary of downloading the show.