I have to refute all the negativity about this series. I watched it over 3 evenings and, while not the best ever, yes it has it's flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I have read a lot of Roman history from this era and this series stays close enough to the truth for a fictional TV series. And that is the point - it's not a documentary, it's not even docu-drama, it's fiction. I found the story engaging, the characters and acting decent, the sets were gorgeous even if not historically accurate. Rome, which this has been compared to, and which I also really enjoyed, was so much more inaccurate it was laughable. But that's not why you watch a series like this. I like to follow up after for the truth and the details. A simple Wikipedia search will fill all that in for you. My only critique is that it fell really flat in the last two episodes. The drama and action seems to drag when it should have had a more fulfilling ending. But there is so much more story to cover for another or even into a third season.
One tip to help you in keeping track of all the names and characters, especially in the first few episodes and when they change the principle actors - turn on your subtitles! Even when reading about Ancient Rome, it's really hard to keep the names and characters straight so this helped a lot.
