Caesar's 10th

I agree with the historical aspects of the show being different from what we feel really happened according to sources. I'm just personally trying to not get upset over the differences. Along with your statement about Cato being in the wrong place, it is also belived according to sources that Titus Pullo or Puleio had gone over to Pompey's side before the Battle of Pharsalus, long before in fact. His ship, among Gaius Antony's fleet, was captured by Pompey's fleet and he was a centurion by this time and encouraged his men to defect rather than face execution, etc.. Caesar later mentions that Titus Puleio fought very bravely and inspired the men under him at Durres. I knew this before the first episode and was curious what they were going to do. Obviously they had to change it, or one of our main characters would be lost half way in the first season. I do agree with you also on the rest of last weeks episode. I wish they had done more with the fight scene, that women had been more comfortable with the kissing scene (after all they didn't even undress), and I feel they need to give Caesar more drive. The scene with Vorenus was good tough, where he becames very angry but calms down and then informs Antony why he has given Vorenus mercy. To me that seems to be typical Caesar or my perception of how he should be. He is driven, commanding, inspiring, etc.. yet at times very calm and calculating. Cleopatra looked beautiful but I'm sure there will be people disappointed. It's hard to cast a role for one of the world's most beautiful women. I was disappointed with the casting of Helen in the movie "Troy". If they depict Cleopatra as being anywhere as sexy as they do Atia then I'm sure the episode will come out fine.

I read back through and found several instances but I will not copy and paste them to show proof of my point because I do not want to further alienate any other people who post regularly. I will from this point on start over and ignore previous posts. Was everyone as disappointed as I was that they didn't show more of an actual battle at Pharsalus. I was looking forward to some battle scenes. However, I would imagine the cost to organize and film even parts of a battle would be too costly even for HBO.

Glad to have joined the board! The previous reply by myself was not intended to violentilla or any one person. It's just that I found this message board and read through pages of posts and when I got to the end I was thrilled that there was a place to talk about such a great show and even talk about the connection between what we know historically about this time period and what HBO has decided to do with the show. I did notice though that a few people posted in the previous pages that the show would be "kind of" ruined if it weren't very historically accurate. Those posts I find silly, and I felt like posting that we really don't know every exact event in history, the truth isn't always known, therefore those people who will find the show ruined if it sways from what we think is history should just sit back and enjoy it for what it's worth. In my personal opinion, it's the best damn show HBO has put out in awhile.

I must say after just discovering, registering, and reading this forum I am glad there is something like it on the net. However, I have to ask...after all these posts, how many of you are actual historians? It seems most are or at least think they are, or they travelled back in time and witnessed this time period. Last I heard our viewpoints of history are nothing more than scholarly interpretation of primary sources which of course includes bias, personal idealogy, and thousands of other circustances and factors that distort what probably truely happened. So, it of course is wise to take the internet, university profs, books, articles, etc... etc.. about history lightly because viewpoints and interpretation changes and nobody knows exactly how anything occured. Even if you were there in 49 bc, your interpretation and writing of these events would be different than someone elses. Anyways, my point is take this show with a grain of salt. It is a bit like a good historical novel, which is just creating a good story out of or related to some things we believe to be historically accurate. Enjoy the show, forget the particulars, and for God's sake be openminded to the fact that you are probably wrong occasionally. This isn't meant to offend anyone really, just to open the eyes to some people who need to sit back and enjoy the show rather than getting worked up over historical correctness.