Empires: The Roman Empire in the First Century

While the title refers to a 'First Century', the time period did not extend exactly from 1AD to 101AD but was APPROXIMATELY just before the first century AD--during the time of Julius Caesar's death. And, it ended about 80AD. This isn't really a grip--I just wanted to make it clear that the title was a wee tad deceiving.

The series mostly is concerned with both the early emperors of Rome as well as the eventual switch from the dynastic model (where successors are chosen simply because of their bloodlines) to one in which a man is chosen because of ability. Most of the show is about the Julian Emperors (Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero) but also covers two non-Julians (Vespasian and Trajan). In addition to discussing the merits and deficits of these men, the show chooses important non-royal Romans of the time to discuss as well, such as Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Younger, Josephus (a Roman citizen) and Ovid. The narration is very well done by Signorney Weaver and lots of smart professors and voice actors provide color. The overall experience watching it isn't quite as exciting as watching "I, Claudius" but is still very enlightening and enjoyable.

The only quibble I have, and this is true of most stories from the ancient world, is that it is never mentioned that the voracity of the historians is not 100%. In other words, they could have made mistakes OR drew conclusions or made omissions due to political motivations. In other words, a particular emperor might be vilified simply because surviving histories paint him as evil and we just assume this to be fact--which it may or may not be. I am not saying they should have changed what they said--just explained that the accounts in the documentary are based on these sometimes officially sanctioned accounts. Still, it's a remarkably good series and I would LOVE to see one about Rome in the second, third and fourth centuries, as they are MUCH less likely to be talked about in documentaries.

This series is mostly about the Roman emperors, starting with Julius Caesar, giving the poet Ovid emperor-level-billing for some reason. It was surprisingly non-prudish, full of juicy gossip about sex lives and political intrigues. I learned quite a bit new. The video portion spends a lot of time showing you the same Roman statues and art work over and over, often out of focus. The interest comes mainly from the excellent narration. They had many commentators and narrators to hold your interest. There was quite a bit of hair-raising information about the lives of ordinary people as well.

The only part that made me gag was the section about the rise of Christianity. It was done in the turgid style of Charleton Heston in the Ten Commandments complete with 50-s style overblown epic music. They treated the bible as a literal historical document, and quoted from its errors reverently with the Hollywood "holy" accent, that conjures up an image of the narrator contending with a broom forced deeply into a body cavity. They completely ignored what we know about that period from archaeology, the Roman records and the study of other ancient documents. I think they must have had a completely different team doing that section. They may have subcontracted it to Ernest Angley's crew. It was done in a completely different style from the rest. That was too bad. An objective, non-judgemental look at that period, similar to the rest of the series, would have been fascinating.

Compare this with I Claudius where you see Derek Jacobi portraying Claudius. In this series, you hear only narrators talking about the emperors, showing you statues of them as background.

This 3½ hour walk through the Roman Empire is surprisingly good. The storyline is kept interesting by shifting between narating events as they unfold, letting experts with special knowledge tell little interesting tidbits, and having actors put voices to the writings and stories left behind for later generations to find - thus shaping the characters and plotting the events - all adding to make the 1st century come to life once again.

I cannot tell whether this documentary is accurate in all aspects, but it tells an interesting and emotionally rich story of the Roman Empire. I liked it.