Rome, Season One Rome, Season One: History Makes Television E dited by Monica S. Cyrino © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-405-16776-5 For Flavia optimae sorori Rome, Season One: History Makes Television Edited by Monica S. Cyrino © 2008 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148–5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Monica S. Cyrino to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. First published 2008 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1 2008 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rome, season one : history makes television / Edited by Monica S. Cyrino. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-6776-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-6775-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Rome (Televison program) 2. Rome–On television. I. Cyrino, Monica Silveira. PN1992.77.R557R66 2008 791.45′72–dc22 2007032666 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 10.5 on 13 pt Minion by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed and bound in Singapore by C.O.S. Printers Pte Ltd The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards. For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website at www.blackwellpublishing.com Contents List of Illustrations vii Notes on Contributors viii Episode Guide xii Introduction 1 Monica S. Cyrino 1 Televising Antiquity: From You Are There to Rome 11 Jon Solomon 2 Making History in Rome: Ancient vs. Modern Perspectives 29 W. Jeffrey Tatum 3 What I Learned as an Historical Consultant for Rome 42 Kristina Milnor 4 Rome’s Opening Titles: Triumph, Spectacle, and Desire 49 Holly Haynes 5 The Fog of War: The Army in Rome 61 Lee L. Brice 6 Caesar’s Soldiers: The Pietas of Vorenus and Pullo 78 Brian Cooke vi Contents 7 Becoming Augustus: The Education of Octavian 87 Barbara Weiden Boyd 8 “Not Some Cheap Murder”: Caesar’s Assassination 100 Alison Futrell 9 Women’s Politics in the Streets of Rome 117 Antony Augoustakis 10 Atia and the Erotics of Authority 130 Monica S. Cyrino 11 Her First Roman: A Cleopatra for Rome 141 Gregory N. Daugherty 12 Gowns and Gossip: Gender and Class Struggle in Rome 153 Margaret M. Toscano 13 The Gender Gap: Religious Spaces in Rome 168 J. Mira Seo 14 Staging Interiors in Rome’s Villas 179 Alena Allen 15 Latin in the Movies and Rome 193 Ward Briggs 16 Spectacle of Sex: Bodies on Display in Rome 207 Stacie Raucci 17 Vice is Nice: Rome and Deviant Sexuality 219 Anise K. Strong Bibliography 232 Index 244 Illustrations Figure 1 The city of Rome at the end of the Republic. 2 Figure 2 Caesar’s military conquests. 64 Figure 3 Brothers in arms: Pullo (Ray Stevenson) and Vorenus (Kevin McKidd). 80 Figure 4 The Gallic campaign: Caesar (Ciarán Hinds) rides into camp. 110 Figure 5 Caesar’s triumph: Atia (Polly Walker) sits next to Antony (James Purefoy), with Calpurnia (Haydn Gwynne) in the background. 138 Figure 6 Atia (Polly Walker) and Antony (James Purefoy) enjoy dinner at her villa, while a servant attends them. 158 Figure 7 Plan of a typical Roman domus. 181 Notes on Contributors Alena Allen is Instructor of Latin at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, California. Her most recent publication explores the image of Briseis in the Homeric poems, Ovid’s Heroides, and the fi lm Troy. A lifelong student of Roman and Italian art, she is interested in the depiction of the ancient world in contemporary visual media. Antony Augoustakis is Associate Professor of Classics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has recently completed a book, (M)otherhood and the Other: Fashioning Female Power in Flavian Epic. He has also published scholarly articles on Plautus, Pliny the Younger, Lucan, Statius, and Silius Italicus. His current project is a commentary on Plautus’ Mercator. Barbara Weiden Boyd is Henry Winkley Professor of Latin and Greek at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She is the author of Ovid’s Literary Loves: Infl uence and Innovation in the Amores (1997) and the editor of Brill’s Companion to Ovid (2002). She has written several textbooks on Vergil’s Aeneid, and numerous articles on Augustan poetry. Her current project is a book on Augustan Rome. Lee L. Brice is Associate Professor of Ancient History at Western Illinois University. His current book project is Holding a Wolf by the Ears: Mutiny and Unrest in the Roman Military, 44 bc–ad 68. He is also a contributor to the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World c.700 bc–ad 602. He currently serves as the President of the Society for Ancient Military Historians. Notes on Contributors ix Ward Briggs is Carolina Distinguished Professor of Classics Emeritus and Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Humanities Emeritus at the University of South Carolina. He is the editor of The Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists (1994) and Soldier and Scholar: Basil Lanneau Gilder- sleeve and the Civil War (1998). At present he is completing a biography of the American classicist Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve and beginning a book on classical myth in American fi lm. Brian Cooke is Senior Leader of Iris Learning, an international consulting group that focuses on leadership development and teambuilding. Prior to founding Iris Learning, Brian taught history and classics at Deerfi eld Academy and Milton Academy in Massachusetts. He is the author of Frank Boyden of Deerfi eld: The Vision and Politics of an Educational Idealist (1991). Monica S. Cyrino is Professor of Classics at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of Big Screen Rome (2005) and In Pandora’s Jar: Lovesick- ness in Early Greek Poetry (1995). She has published numerous articles on Greek poetry, mythology, and classics and cinema. Her current book project explores the ancient and modern popular signifi cance of the goddess Aphrodite. Gregory N. Daugherty is Professor of Classics and Chair of the Depart- ment of Classics at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. He is interested in the reception of classics in American popular culture, espe- cially Homer, Cleopatra, and the depiction of ancient battles. He is cur- rently the President of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Alison Futrell is Associate Professor of Roman History at the University of Arizona. An abiding interest in the symbols and rituals of power led her to explore Roman spectacle in her books Blood in the Arena (1997) and Roman Games (2006). She is also fascinated with the way the ancient Mediterranean is reconfi gured in popular culture and has published articles on Spartacus, Xena: Warrior Princess, Troy, and Rome. Holly Haynes is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at The College of New Jersey. She is the author of The History of Make-Believe: Tacitus on Imperial Rome (2003). She specializes in the historiography of the early Roman Empire. Her current projects focus on memory and trauma in the post-Domitianic period and on Petronius’ Satyricon. x Notes on Contributors Kristina Milnor is Associate Professor of Classics at Barnard College in New York. She is the author of Gender, Domesticity, and the Age of Augus- tus: Inventing Private Life (2005), which won the American Philological Association’s 2006 Goodwin Award of Merit. She has published articles on Roman comedy, elegy, and the use of history in marketing BarbieTM. She was a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome (2003–2004). Stacie Raucci is Assistant Professor of Classics at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Her research specialty is Latin poetry, in particular the elegies of Propertius, and she has presented several conference papers on the topics of gender and the gaze in the Roman poets. Her current book project is entitled Vision in Roman Love Elegy. J. Mira Seo is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan. She specializes in Latin epic and post-Ovidian Latin poetry. Her most recent publication explores the ideas of divinity and prophecy in the television series Alias. She is currently working on a book entitled Allusive Characterization in Latin Literature. Jon Solomon is Robert D. Novak Professor of Western Civilization and Culture and Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of The Ancient World in the Cinema (2001) and The Complete Three Stooges: The Offi cial Filmography (2002). His current projects include an edition of Boccaccio’s Genealogy of the Pagan Gods, a volume on the infl uence of Ben-Hur, and several volumes on the Greco-Roman tradition in opera. Anise K. Strong is Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Her most recent scholarly publication examines the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ enforcement of incest laws in Roman Egypt. She has presented several conference papers on the topics of ancient prostitution, motherhood, pornography, and cannibalism. W. Jeffrey Tatum was until recently the Olivia Nelson Dorman Professor of Classics at the Florida State University, Tallahassee. He has now joined the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher (1999) and Always I am Caesar: Eight Perspectives (2008), as well as numerous