Rome

[Taylor]

Just found this forum....Any fans of the history of the end of the Republic and the start of Imperial Rome? Augustus seems a big enigma, Roddy McDowell seems to have got Octavian about right in the Cleopatra movie, how to reconcile with the moralistic patriarchal figure in later life? I suspect the later Augustus is a product of very slick propaganda from the time.

My hunch is that Octavian/Augustus was similar in some ways to a modern day leader: Vladimir Putin. Both of them managed to convince their populations to give up democracy for the security of autocratic rule. I think Clinton described Putin as the "coldest" person he ever met, I suspect Octavian was the same. He was not well liked by the troops and was pretty brutal with the captured soldiers of his civil war rivals. Quite the antithesis of Mark Antony, who for a long time was the soldier's soldier. Whatever his faults, MA was prescient in relocating his headquarters in the East, presaging what Constantine would do 300 years later.

My favorite TV show of all time is I, Claudius, and I love Brian Blessed's Augustus, but I wonder how close it is to reality.... The bit where he tells Claudius that he's a closet republican (small R :D) is pure fantasy!

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[John Bridge]

Taylor,

I'll bet someone will be along who knows something about that period and that history. Hang tight. It ain't I. ;)

[Steven Hauser]

Nor I says this guy.

:)

Write some more that usually keeps them coming.

:)

[Taylor]

Well darn it....anyone know what the story is on Quo Vadis coming out on DVD?

Love what DW calls "Knees Flicks" (she's the knees fan....). Didn't like Gladiator, with all the research that's come out, they still depicted Rome as Washington DC. I think the most realistic rendering of Rome was the Claudette Colbert version of Cleopatra. Not that I was there, mind you, just judging from touristing around the Forum....

[smee]

Taylor - I wouldn't be so bold as to say I know much - however, it is a period of time that I have studied at some length.

Have you read the I, Claudius book? It's worth a go. I love that series - Derek Jacobi is amazing and Brian Blessed is a great Augustus. It's a bit dated, but besides Gladiator - every other movie on Rome is.
Gladiator was okay...just a holywood spectacle. Did you see the Titus Andronicus movie with Anthony Hopkins. The Claudette Cobert film was quite good. Though the chariot sequence in Ben Hur is still my all time favorite. Steven Boyd was a good Roman :)

Now how about books - I can recommend an excellent overview of Rome - it's a book called 'Roman Realities'. It's well written for an overview and composite enough to be able to manage in a year :rolleyes: The king of Roman history and the book is not only expensive but hard to find is Verbruggen. I have been keeping my eye on trying to find a used one - they are usually unwards of a $100. It's an undertaking, quite a series.

I think in order to really understand Augustus, if you mean the early Augustus, you must go back to the man.....Julius C. Since he basically taught ole Augustus everything he knew.

Yeee haaaa - someone to talk about Roman History with - NEEEET - O !!!!

[Taylor]

Smee sorry for the delay in responding, I've got a bathroom project keeping me busy :crazy:.

Yeah I'm strictly an amateur, but it is a fascinating period in history. The end of the republic has so many larger than life characters, perhaps because of the importing Greek philosophy into the Roman mindset. Added to this there is the end of antiquity with the battle of Actium, and the establishment of one of the two great world empires of the time.

I've read bits of Suetonius, delicious stuff. I've got Syme and several other books sitting on my bookshelf waiting for this bathroom project to end....