A poke at religion spotted on HBO...

[onager]

I've been watching the new HBO series Rome.

This week's episode dealt with Julius Caesar illegally marching into Rome and seizing the city at the head of his army. (Hey, the Supreme Court hadn't been invented yet...)

To get away with an act that was blatantly illegal and just outrageous to Romans who still believed in the Republic, he needed the blessings of the priests at the Temple Of Jupiter.

The "poke" begins with him trying to convince the priests that the gods have blessed his power grab. The High Priest says he will need to check the Auguries and determine if that's true.

If a certain color/type of birds fly over the Temple, then the Auguries are favorable and the venture is blessed. Etc.

Caesar invites the High Priest to a sumptuous dinner party and offers him 100,000 secestres for a blessing. The High Priest holds out for more, and eventually gets the bribe doubled.

In the final scenes, Caesar is bowing in front of the High Priest and hiding an absolutely wicked smile as he bows.

Behind the Temple, some priests are preparing to release cages full of the Symbolic Birds.

The message is clear: they are fixing the Auguries to favor Caesar. The whole thing is a sham.

But wait there's more! The birds fly. The crowd applauds.

A priest comes out onto the balcony of Jupiter's Temple, wearing a long red robe, a miter on his head, and carrying a crooked shepherd's staff.

He blesses the crowd, and looks EXACTLY like any TV image you've ever seen of the Pope doing the same thing in St. Peter's Square.

:rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

1. We need visuals!!!

Some of us killed our boobtoobs, remember?

Is it worth finding a bit torrent to download?

[onager]

2. Well, I think so!

But don't blame me if you then want to go and download the first 3 episodes. The plot follows the story of two Roman soldiers, the repectable centurion Varenus and the disrespectable deadbeat Titus Pullo, set against the fall of the Roman Republic. The fictional characters interact with historical figures like Caesar, Pompey, Octavian, etc.

Some Gentle Viewers have bitched about the sex and violence. But WTF, ancient Rome HAD a lot of sex and violence going on!

BTW, I may be wrong about the miter on that priest's head. It might have been just the hood of his robe.

I've read that this is the most expensive TV production ever made, with a budget of $100 million. Most of that went to re-build the city of ancient Rome, right down to the slum district (suburra). It's also being filmed in Rome, at Cinecitta IIRC.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Ooooh!

Sounds most excellent.

I'll look for it as soon as I get more memory for my pc.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

5. I think it'll come out on DVD, eventually

If you have a DVD drive on your computer, you can see it. And trust me, whatever the cost, it will be worth it.

[arwalden]

4. I Saw That Too, And Had The Exact Same Thoughts...

... and reaction that you did!

It was great writing, and superb visuals.

[onager]

6. Update!

Somebody on the "Entertainment" forum pointed out an interesting fact: the main characters of the 2 soldiers, Varenus and Pullo, ARE based on real people.

Both are mentioned in Julius Caesar's book The Wars In Gaul. (Or whatever you want to call it.)

Haven't had a chance yet, but I will get that book out this weekend and find the reference.

Now I'm pretty sure they didn't save Octavian or hide the entire Roman gold supply IRL. But it's pretty neat that the series creators worked in their names thataway!

[enlightenment]

7. The Gallic Wars

Good stuff, along with Tacitus' accountings of the same -- and an always useful example of how the public can be manipulated by a persuasive politician.
:9

[Bzzzz]

8. I ...

saw it too!!! I love it when HBO does this type of thing!!:bounce: