Passover: Season Two, Episode One

[Caesar CXXXVII]

I did not see the episode , it will take many weeks to come to my corner...

Why it is called Passover ? (Caesar was murdered on 15th of Mars , the funeral must have been conducted 2 to 10 days later ? Passover is usually at the end of Mars or the beginning of April , That is the connection ?)

 

Me pedant...

 

I am sometimes quite oblivious to such subtleties, but my guess is that you're right and it was simply a matter of the date and general timing. There didn't seem to be any references to the Jewish holiday in the show anyway.

 

 

Thanks ,

 

I must say , it is odd...

[Marcus Caelius]

I just wished that they had spent more time on Erastes, if anyone ever deserved a drawn out death...

 

They couldn't, because Vorenus' children are not dead. I'm betting they're going to turn up in a later episode in a fairly dramatic fashion. Erastes had to die quickly as a plot device, because torture would have convinced Vorenus that Erastes initial answer, that he didn't know their whereabouts, was true, and the entire series would then have become Vorenus' search for his children, or would otherwise spoil the incident which will involve their dramatic return.

 

As for Erastes' motivation, repeated denials would have led to his torture, so he goaded Vorenus into giving him a quick death.

[Julius Ratus]

I just wished that they had spent more time on Erastes, if anyone ever deserved a drawn out death...

 

They couldn't, because Vorenus' children are not dead. I'm betting they're going to turn up in a later episode in a fairly dramatic fashion. Erastes had to die quickly as a plot device, because torture would have convinced Vorenus that Erastes initial answer, that he didn't know their whereabouts, was true, and the entire series would then have become Vorenus' search for his children, or would otherwise spoil the incident which will involve their dramatic return.

 

As for Erastes' motivation, repeated denials would have led to his torture, so he goaded Vorenus into giving him a quick death.

 

Interesting.

 

I will let my brother know your opinion. He told me to ask "those Roman people on the internet" about this episode. He is a diesel mechanic with no love for history, but he loves the show Rome.

Edited January 19, 2007 by Julius Ratus

[Violentilla]

I just wished that they had spent more time on Erastes, if anyone ever deserved a drawn out death...

 

They couldn't, because Vorenus' children are not dead. I'm betting they're going to turn up in a later episode in a fairly dramatic fashion. Erastes had to die quickly as a plot device, because torture would have convinced Vorenus that Erastes initial answer, that he didn't know their whereabouts, was true, and the entire series would then have become Vorenus' search for his children, or would otherwise spoil the incident which will involve their dramatic return.

 

As for Erastes' motivation, repeated denials would have led to his torture, so he goaded Vorenus into giving him a quick death.

 

We thought the same thing! His death was so quick, there was no way to know if he just wanted to get one last dig in before dying. Also, we never saw anything more of the children after we saw Erastes in the doorway, so we are pretty sure he sold them off for the money as soon as he heard Caesar was dead and could no longer protect Vorenus and his family.

Edited January 19, 2007 by Violentilla

[Primus Pilus]

I hope the season doesn't end with some sappy reunion, considering that throughout the entire first season Vorenus showed little to no interest in his children anyway.

[Plautus]

I believe they are chanting Jupiter-Optimus Maximus, a chant used in the first season.

[Virgil61]

I forgot the name of the deity that Lucius used to call the gang capos to the meeting. Did the procession strike anyone as soemwhat Catholic looking in its proceedings? Any speculation on the historical realism of the religious proceeding?

[Julia C]

The Goddess Concord, properly known as Concordia. You can give a guess why they invoked her.

[Jasminia]

Does anybody know what Voerenus and Pullo were collecting from the ashes of Niobe's pyre and why? Was there a designated area of Rome where such cremations were done? Vatican Hill?

 

They were collecting her bones presumably to be interred.

 

Did anyone notice the close-up of the dangling things in Vorenus' courtyard entrance when Pullo emptied the chamberpot into the street (about 3 minutes into the episode)? They looked like charred bone pieces tied together at intervals on string, some pieces had hair wrapped around it, others, not. There were also drying/dried herbs hanging. I had to rewind that scene a bunch of times to figure out what those things might be.

 

Could it be that some of these were Niobe's bone fragments? Perhaps as a ritual symbol of mourning?

[Violentilla]

Does anybody know what Voerenus and Pullo were collecting from the ashes of Niobe's pyre and why? Was there a designated area of Rome where such cremations were done? Vatican Hill?

 

They were collecting her bones presumably to be interred.

 

Did anyone notice the close-up of the dangling things in Vorenus' courtyard entrance when Pullo emptied the chamberpot into the street (about 3 minutes into the episode)? They looked like charred bone pieces tied together at intervals on string, some pieces had hair wrapped around it, others, not. There were also drying/dried herbs hanging. I had to rewind that scene a bunch of times to figure out what those things might be.

 

Could it be that some of these were Niobe's bone fragments? Perhaps as a ritual symbol of mourning?

 

 

I wondered about that too, certainly it looked like organic stuff tied to the strings, and it must have warned everyone outside the courtyard that the family inside was in mourning. I even lookd around to see if I could find anything about it in references to Roman funerals, but I came up empty.

 

Would love to know more!

[Nephele]

I am flummoxed ..I have done a fair bit of reading regards roman funeral rites..I have never come across the breast milk in the mouth rite....was that an invention of the director, or is there such a rite?

 

At last, the scriptwriters and producers of HBO's Rome explain the questioned scene of the breast-feeding of Caesar's corpse.

 

It's in the commentary subtitles, when you select the "All Roads Lead to Rome" feature on the second season DVD set. Here's what the subtitles state throughout this scene:

 

"The breast-feeding of a corpse symbolized the cycle of life and death. The dead body received the nourishment it had received as a baby when it first arrived on earth. It was a ritual with Etruscan origins."

 

Not certain how acceptable an explanation the above may be, but at least we now know what the writers/producers were thinking when they included that scene.

 

-- Nephele

[oldounce]

I don't care about the errors of history either. TV shows cannot do everything as accurate as the real ancient scene. Still, the real historians' conclusion may also have flaws.

Though I knew the result of Anthony and Cleopatra already, shockingly when I saw their dead bodies chained on the chariot and went through the street with Atia's gaze, I still felt sick. Somehow I really pitied them.

I hated Atia at the beginning, but after all I hate her son, that unforgivable, ugly, pathetic monster and his wife.