![]() ![]() Roman architecture featured much more bricks than marble, but in the intervening centuries most of the bricks either crumbled, collapsed or were just stolen to make other buildings while those useless marble blocks and columns were left pretty much alone, so in Hollywood movies you're now treated to the sight of Imperial Rome made of shiny, gleaming travertino marble, with little or no brick houses to be seen. It's also pretty rare to see any fictional works set in the Eastern Roman Empire of Late Antiquity, which later evolved into the Byzantine Empire in The Middle Ages. The even earlier Roman Kingdom is all but forgotten aside from the founding myth of Romulus and Remus. ![]() The Roman Republic is less often depicted in fiction, except for the bit right at the end from Julius Caesar's conquests in the Gauls, affair with Cleopatra VII and assassination to the transition into The Roman Empire by Augustus (although occasionally you will see fiction set against the earlier struggle with Carthage or, more often, the slave revolt of Spartacus). Expect to see a lion eating a Christian or two. A time when Classical Mythology was Serious Business for the pious. ![]() Also home to gladiators, mad emperors and elaborately coiffed women with slinky, see-thru stolas. Home of temples with even bigger columns, and brutal sword-wielding Roman legionaries, all of whom had extremely clean, well-kept, elaborate armour and helmets (even down to the lowliest grunt soldier). 97 A.D., providing a fanciful account based on stories from Parthian sailors. Gan Ying, prospective Chinese ambassador to Rome note He turned back after reaching the Mediterranean, having been warned that the crossing was dangerous, c. ![]()
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