Note: This is a different series from “Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire” (which is made by the BBC).
There aren't too many documentaries out there about ancient history …
If you've ever looked online for movies about ancient history, you've probably had a hard time finding any. Ancient history isn't a popular subject for Hollywood movies (or even documentaries), and so very few programs about it have ever been made. I don't know why this has been the case, but I can probably make some guesses about it. If you make a documentary about World War II (a modern topic), you have access to actual archival footage from the period. You can get it at very low cost, and advertise its benefits to your viewers. Some of them will even prefer the gritty realism of the actual footage to re-enactments, which are just educated guesses (albeit good ones, if they're done right). Thus, you can sometimes get more effectiveness for less money, which is a real advantage in the world of documentaries. But if you depict the distant past, you are usually forced to rely on re-enactments, and the cost of these re-enactments can be steep. Consequently, many of these ancient history documentaries are never made in the first place.
This documentary is primarily a military history
An ancient history topic must thus be fairly popular before a for-profit network like the History Channel will decide to throw significant money at it. No matter how much the producers of these networks might like these topics, they usually can't justify the budget for these programs unless they think that they have a reasonable chance of recovering these expenses with some added cash flow. One presumes that the Roman Empire was considered popular enough to justify these budgets to investors at this time. If it had not been, after all, it's safe to assume that this series would never have been made. I imagine part of its appeal to the general public was its focus on military history (rather than other kinds of history). Military history has long been a popular topic with certain segments of the general population (perhaps especially the male population); and although political history is sometimes covered here, the primary focus of this series is military history. This may be the most comprehensive military history of Rome ever made for television. It has some weaknesses (which I will note later), but it's still a fine series despite these.
Relief scene of Roman legionaries marching, from the Column of Marcus Aurelius – Rome, Italy, 2nd century AD
The program's near-exclusive focus on battles has its weaknesses, to be sure …
The main problem with this series is that it's directed like an action movie. They examine some of the politics behind these wars, but their time is mainly spent in depicting battle after battle (often with the same footage as was used in previous scenes). Often, it seems like they depict too many battles; and I say this as someone who has long enjoyed battle scenes of one sort or another. The focus on battles almost gets boring after a while (at times), and one wishes that they could talk more about the politics behind them. Why did they go to war with this particular tribe or nation? Or in the case of civil wars, how did these political rivalries turn into full-blown armed conflicts? Don't get me wrong – they do talk about some of these things – but the focus is on the battles, to the exclusion of almost everything else. Thus, you will not get much civilian history from this documentary; even when it pertains to the military history that is their primary focus. This is my biggest complaint, and one I have voiced about other documentaries besides this one.
Julius Caesar
… but it also has some definite strengths as well
The strengths of this series come mainly from the good information that it gives. The battle scenes often have voiceovers of actors reading some actual quotes from period sources, including various historians born in the Empire itself. They also interview the modern historians of the Roman Empire, who gives some scholarly legitimacy to their story. They make judicious use of maps to show the changes in the Roman Empire's borders, and where particular battles were taking place. These maps also show how the Empire was divided later on, and make clear the scale of these divisions. As far as the costumes went, some reviewers have criticized the documentary for “limiting its costumes to one particular period.” I suspect that these criticisms are probably accurate, and agree with these reviewers that this is probably a weakness in this series. But in fairness to the History Channel, getting costumes from all of these different periods might have been somewhat expensive; and even the private sector doesn't have unlimited budgets for these things. The fact that they use some re-enactment footage over and over again in this series suggests limited resources on their part, and a need for them to cut costs. Indeed, one marvels that they actually re-enacted as many of these events as they did.
Map of the division of the Empire into East and West (AD 395)
It may be the most comprehensive television history of Rome (at least for military stuff)
The biggest strength of this documentary seems to be how comprehensive it is. It does not focus on one particular period (as some others have), but tries to tell the whole story of the Empire's history. Even this does not cover everything, and their focus on the Empire prevents them from covering prior periods like the Roman Republic. But this documentary does cover some other periods that no one else had even attempted to tell for television. Thus, it deserves credit for its ambitions in these matters. When the BBC made the similarly-named “Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire” (not to be confused with this series), they focused mainly on certain episodes in Roman history (even exclusively on these episodes). The BBC made no attempt to be comprehensive, to be sure, but only to tell some small stories. By contrast, this series was trying to be comprehensive; and came closer to this goal than any other television program that I've seen about Ancient Rome. They certainly deserve some credit for these achievements. Although if you want more in-depth coverage of the first century, I recommend “The Roman Empire in the First Century” by PBS. And if you want something more focused on Christian history, I recommend “Ancient Roads from Christ to Constantine.” These may be good supplements to more comprehensive histories like this one, and the true Roman Empire buff will probably want to consult all of these different media options.
Constantine the Great
This documentary ends at the fall of the Empire in the West
It may be helpful here to contrast the History Channel's last episode with that of the BBC series that I've just mentioned. The last episode from the BBC was just called “The Fall of Rome.” This title might suggest that it was about the fall of the Empire, but it's actually about the sack of the city of Rome in the year 410. The BBC does some good storytelling here, and brings to life an important event. But the Western Empire actually did not fall at the moment when the city of Rome was sacked. On paper, it lasted as long as the year 476; and the History Channel goes all the way through this time in its concluding episodes. As it turns out, the Eastern Empire would last even longer; but most histories of “Ancient Rome” focus on the Western Empire. Both the BBC and the History Channel do the same thing in their programs. The Eastern Empire is today known as the “Byzantine Empire,” and actually lasted about 1,000 years longer than the Western Empire. If you want some television coverage of the Byzantine Empire, I know of only one documentary on this subject, which is “Byzantium: The Lost Empire” by TLC. Unfortunately, this documentary is more about archaeology than it is about history, but it does nonetheless have some good things to offer. I review the latter documentary here.
The Sack of Rome, in the year 410
A visual history like this gives a new approach to this topic
As far as the History Channel goes, “Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire” may be the definitive military history of the Western Empire for television. It brings this story to life for a new generation, whose school systems have often failed to teach them these things. You'd probably have to go back to a book to get a more comprehensive military history of Rome than this. Such books are indeed available, of course, but the television format obviously has its advantages with most kinds of history (including, and perhaps especially, the military kind). Whatever the flaws in costumes or storytelling, a visual history like this gives a new approach to this topic. After all these millennia of history, it's nice to have a fresh angle on these things; and the television medium certainly helps to provide that.
Footnote: “Paul the Apostle” was a Roman citizen (which may have helped him)
The greatest missionary in the history of Christianity may have been the one known as “Paul the Apostle.” Part of his success may have been due to the fact that he was a Roman citizen - something that is recorded in the Christian Bible itself.
In the words of the New Testament: “And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.” (Source: “The Acts of the Apostles,” Chapter 22, Verses 25 through 27, as translated by the King James Version of the Bible)
A later verse in this chapter adds that “the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.” (Source: “The Acts of the Apostles,” Chapter 22, Verse 29, as translated by the King James Version of the Bible) Thus, we have reason to conclude that Paul's Roman citizenship helped him, and that it may have even helped his missionary efforts.
DVD at Amazon
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If you liked this post, you might also like:
Reflections on learning about history of Ancient Greece
A review of Bettany Hughes’ “The Spartans”
A review of Bettany Hughes’ “Athens: The Dawn of Democracy”
A review of “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization” (PBS)
A review of Michael Wood’s “In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great”
A review of “The Germanic Tribes” (German documentary)
A review of “Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire” (BBC)
A review of “The Roman Empire in the First Century” (PBS)
Reflections on learning about history of Ancient Rome
Part of a series about
European history
The Roman Empire
This list covers Europe through the Renaissance. For Europe since the Renaissance, click here.
Part of a series about
British history
The Roman Invaders
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