I have already talked about this interesting and well-researched historical series on the Roman Empire, which devoted the first season to Emperor Commodus (you remember Gladiator, right? I reviewed S1 here) and the second to Julius Ceasar (here‘s the review). The series is back now with its third instalment, devoted to another quite controversial Roman ruler: Caligula, the third Emperor, who reigned from AD 37 to AD 41 and was one of the most infamous in history. If you have distant memories of a guy who believed himself a god, picked a fight with the wide blue sea, and even said (but eventually did not, legend apart) he wanted to name his horse a senator, well, it’s him.
The series makes a fine job as usual, with the scholars commenting the fiction part of the narration, and I have to say the results are pretty good in terms of historical accuracy. There are, however a few points where I feel the deviation from what remains from the Roman sources should have been better explained. For instance, the series assumes, at the very beginning, that Caligula killed Tiberius (the previous Emperor), while the contemporary sources say nothing about it. This is not to say it did not happen (absence of the proof is not proof of absence) but I would have liked in this case a scholarly discussion about its likelihood (which was indeed high). There are a few other points that would have benefitted from further analysis, but I won’t elaborate on them to avoid spoilers.
With all these noted points, the series is certainly worth watching for all the lovers of good historical fiction -here at its best. Here’s the season’s trailer:
I started watching Season 1 yesterday (only the first episode so far) and I like the mix between fictional representation and historical information, not unlike some of the History Channel specials. What I enjoy in this kind of program is that it compels me to look deeper into actual history and learn something new.
A win-win situation… 🙂
I hope you like it. IMO it is really well done, even though some of their conclusions at times are not “mainstream”. But I do appreciate their accuracy. It’s refreshing 🙂
Interesting! How does this rank against the likes of “I,Claudius”?
Good question. I haven’t watched that one (I read the book, of course), so I can’t make any comparison. I’ll do it as soon as I have the occasion. 🙂
Awesome. 🙂