Roman Empire 

Chronicles the reign of Commodus, the emperor whose rule marked the beginning of Rome's fall.

Stars:

Aaron Irvin, Sean Bean, Aaron Jakubenko

Cast

Series cast summary:
Aaron Irvin	...	Himself - Historian 11 episodes, 2016-2018
Sean Bean	...	Narrator 6 episodes, 2016
Aaron Jakubenko	...	Commodus 6 episodes, 2016
Edwin Wright	...	Cassius Dio 6 episodes, 2016
Genevieve Aitken	...	Marcia 5 episodes, 2016
Jared Turner	...	Cleander 5 episodes, 2016
Ben Black	...	Brutus 5 episodes, 2018
Tim Carlsen	...	Mark Antony 5 episodes, 2018
Phoenix Connolly	...	Julia 5 episodes, 2018
Ditch Davey	...	Julius Caesar 5 episodes, 2018
Wesley Dowdell	...	Crassus 5 episodes, 2018
Jessica Green	...	Cleopatra 5 episodes, 2018
Will Hall	...	Marcus Wallius 5 episodes, 2018
Stephen Lovatt	...	Pompey 5 episodes, 2018
Natalie Medlock	...	Servilia 5 episodes, 2018
Andrew Robertt	...	Cato 5 episodes, 2018
Erroll Shand	...	Vercingetorix 5 episodes, 2018
Barry Strauss	...	Himself 5 episodes, 2018
Steve West	...	Narrator 5 episodes, 2018

Storyline

An academic and graphic account of the rule of the famously narcissistic Roman Emperor Commodus, who inherited the Roman Empire from his father, Marcus Aurelius, at the height of its expansion in the second century AD, told over a backdrop of violence, sex, and corruption.

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Plot Keywords:

reenactment | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Roman Empire

Filming Locations:

Auckland, New Zealand

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stephen David Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jared Turner starred in The Shannara Chronicles and Genevieve Aitken guest starred.

User Reviews

Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek, not Egyptian. Last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Usually I'm not compelled to crush historically inaccurate TV dramas or Movies. But this steaming pile of crap tries to pass itself off as being at least half documentary and half action drama, which on a side note is an absolutely preposterous and idiotic format that is so offputting and awkward it honestly never should have been released in this way, but I digress. But obviously the added documentary part of this series is clearly to legitimize the narrative and make it seem historically accurate, which it frankly rarely is. To me, this is quite insidious. It's one thing for Hollywood to over dramatize history or even misrepresent it in film, but in documentary? I honestly think this should be illegal.

I will not cover all of the historical inaccuracies as many reviews already have, I will only address the massive one in the second season.

For years now there has been this bizarre attempt to "brownwash" Cleopatra, despite there being very obvious reasons that she was indeed a Macedonian Greek. Usually revisionists, who almost never know anything about history, start from point A, which is literally that Cleopatra was from Egypt and was the queen of Egypt. Then, when given a history lesson and no real way around it, they claim, well we don't know who her mother was and the Greeks PROBABLY mixed with locals. Then, when educated even more about the incest within the Ptolemaic dynasty, that's when the real insidious players come out and say "who cares what race Cleopatra was?". It's truly unbelievable to see this full circle jerk unfold about the race of Cleopatra. Literally the only people who care are people who know absolutely NOTHING about history and buy into her being black or Egyptian simply because she lived there.

Having set that up, not only does this show "brownwash" Cleopatra, they completely strip any connection Cleopatra and Ptolemy had with Greece and they are simply referred to as "Egyptians". Ptolemy, Cleopatra, and the people in their courts are all portrayed and referred to as Egyptians. The so-called "professors" that speak (all of which should be banned from teaching of any kind) in the documentary part of the show all refer to the Ptolemies as "the Egyptians" and talk about the long standing relationship that Rome had with....."the Egyptians". Folks, this is the literal equivalent of portraying George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Regan as Native Americans, and completely disregarding their European roots.

So what is the point of doing this? Why would they completely change history in a so-called documentary? I can't fathom why, it lent zero entertainment value and completely dis-Educated it's audience. The only reason this kind of revisionism passes in America is because of a purposeful attempt to disinterest Americans in real history. Really really sad.

If this was simply a drama, I would actually be more ambivalent about it. But portraying yourself as a documentary and even having so-called college "professors" mis-portraying history? That's absolutely disgusting.