We just watched the Rome episode and we were quite favorably impressed. See a summary of the series here. We were happy to see this as not a revisionist history currently in vogue in some circles; the presentation sticks pretty closely to standard archaeological and historical thought on the subject. The main positive aspect of the program was in its attention to context. They didn't just plop out all sorts of gee-whiz technologies that the Romans either invented (rarely) or borrowed and perfected (usually); all were shown in the context of the business of the Romans: expanding and maintaining their territories, and creating and maintaining a lavish Roman lifestyle.
It was a good survey of various Roman technologies, from road building to water transport to glass making. In the process, many lesser known Roman sites, such as the Xanten Archaeological Park were shown that are as illustrative of Roman civilization as the Colosseum. The schematic illustrations of the technologies -- such as how to survey or how to create a large, heated public bath -- were simple and straightforward, leaving only the hard-core geek engineering types wanting more explanation. Any one of these subjects could be expanded into its own program to be sure, but the overall presentation made them all fit together into a coherent explanation of what made the Roman Empire tick.
That would probably be our only complaint: just surveying Roman technology in reasonable detail could be a series in and of itself. As it was, much was left unsaid. For example, the Colosseum was given about 5 minutes of air time with the basic message: It was a marvel of engineering, able to create elaborately choreographed shows that were, unfortunately, awfully violent and bloody most of the time. Nevertheless, much more could have been said regarding the degree to which this concept of continuously bloody spectacle actually represents the truth -- as a few postings here have noted, some current thought has gladiatorial bouts being less about blood and death and more about displays of combat technique. This is kind of a quibble, since the show was obviously intended to be a broad survey rather than a detailed treatment of individual aspects of Roman civilization. Still, we'd like to plant that idea with any producers out there who are thinking of a good angle on archaeological programming. (And, you know, give us kickbacks on any profits derived therefrom)
So, we here at ArchaeoBlog can safely urge our faithful readers to catch it when they can. Seems eminently worthwhile. We give it 5 skulls.
